Q&A: Knowledge, Free Choice, and Logical Contradiction
Knowledge, Free Choice, and Logical Contradiction
Question
I once asked Rabbi Yuval Cherlow various questions about the Creator of the world, and this is how he answered me: "I have a very strong reluctance to deal with questions relating to the Holy One, blessed be He. Because attempts to answer the question of what the 'motives' of the Holy One, blessed be He, were, and the like, seem ridiculous to me. Not because the questions are not troubling, but because we simply have no tools to answer them. I would be happy if you read: https://www.ypt.co.il/3816 in order to understand my spiritual world. (It is a beautiful article, 'They imagined You, but not according to Your reality')."
But I am asking you, Rabbi Michi:
Is it possible to understand how there can be such a thing as a Creator whom no one created?
Is it possible to understand how there can be such a thing as creating something out of nothing?
Is it possible to understand how One who is above time communicates with us, who are within time?
After all, the human intellect has no ability to understand such things, and they can certainly be defined as at least logical contradictions, if not more [this is why Plato (and also one of the sects mentioned in the Guide for the Perplexed) opposed creation ex nihilo, because in his opinion this is a logical impossibility; but our faith is that He did indeed create something from nothing, and in any case no one created Him Himself].
And if so, why can we not add to the above list of incomprehensible things also that the Creator knows everything in advance and nevertheless we have free choice, as in the plain meaning of Maimonides?
Answer
If you want to ask a concrete question, formulate it clearly. What we have here is a collection of assertions that, in my view, are nonsense.
Discussion on Answer
I asked for questions, not opinions. Fine, I’m ending this here.
Rabbi Michi, I am sorry that you are angry with me by mistake,
I already said in the second line that these are indeed questions, as you requested,
and I also phrased them in the form of questions,
and I even wrote to you that if you disagree with them, then give your arguments and explanations.
Hoping for understanding and a substantive response.
Okay, thanks.
So I would very much appreciate hearing which of these assertions you disagree with, and why.
Assertion A – It is impossible to understand how there can be such a thing as a Creator whom no one created.
Assertion B – It is impossible to understand how there can be such a thing as creating something from nothing (and I noted above that this is why Plato believed in primordial matter, just as he believed in the eternity of the Creator, because he held that creation ex nihilo is a logical contradiction).
Assertion C – It is impossible to understand how One who is above time communicates with us, who are within time.
Assertion D – And if so, why can we not add to the above list of incomprehensible things also that the Creator knows everything in advance and nevertheless we have free choice, as in the plain meaning of Maimonides?