Unbelievable. After 150 years of steadily-accumulated evidence in favor of evolution, we’re still getting garbage like this Expelled movie?
Expelled expresses the opinion that the universal support of evolution in the scientific community is the product of some sort of bias or ideological inflexibility. It is, on the contrary, the result of decades of hard scientific work, building theory and conducting research. Similarly, the failure of intelligent design can readily be laid at the feet of its advocates, whose main activity appears to be to carp about the success of evolution.
The problem, to me, seems to be that scientists are thinking science — where everything is questioned, and nothing is accepted without a great deal of proof — and non-scientists are thinking politics, where everything is a matter of which alpha male pounds his chest in the most threatening and impressive manner. A generalization, I know, but not by that much.
Both of them are wrong. In order to know the history of the universe, you need both the written Torah, and the Oral Torah, its interpretation. You can’t even do as much as translate “In the Beginning” the way its translated to understand it. I have an excellent book that explains the history of the universe according to our sages, with all the contradictions resolved by using the intellect. No chest-pounding or threatening involved. 😉
Any book or oral tradition can only tell a very limited amount about anything, and you’re always subject to the biases of the author(s). Science isn’t as certain, but it’s not as limited either, and the scientific method ensures that human biases are kept to a minimum.
Besides which, the Torah focuses almost exclusively on human history (other than a few sentences at the beginning of Genesis), and I’m interested in a lot more than that.
The Jewish Room in the NYC research library. among other places, is pretty darned big. giving testimony to the saying that the Torah is infinite. As for human history, well, the fact is that most of history is human history, if one believes in the testimony of a few million of one’s own ancestors to be true at Sinai. I trust that my grandparents didn’t lie to me, and that their grandparents didn’t lie to them, all the way back 3,300 years ago when they heard “I am the L-rd thy G-d”. Science is undoubtedly useful, and nobody, including me, wishes to impede its progress, but when it conflicts with something like that, well, people aren’t perfect, and G-d is. Besides, there is a logical method to Oral Torah, it’s argued about on every page of our texts, and by every pair of readers of them.
Of course, why should I make you believe my grandparents? I believe them though.
Sorry, but the Torah is a book, and one that’s small enough that I can hold it in one hand at a readable type. Unless you’re using a definition for “infinite” that I have yet to hear, that’s not it.
And yes, most written history is human history — because that’s what most humans know about and are interested in writing about. But again, that’s not the only thing I’m interesting in learning about.
As for trusting anyone, even one’s own grandparents… even the most honest and honorable person can be deceived, and most people only qualify as mostly honest.
The Torah is one book and many thousands of books of interpretations, science is one equation (which hasn’t been discovered, I assume someone will also find out that it’s yet another facet of the Torah’s text) and thousands of equations. Actually scientific reductionism claims finite origins too, and near-infinite results which are only a portion of G-d’s universe. I assume there is no problem in harmonizing them.
Again, what happened at Sinai, G-d speaking in public, sounds like a bit much to deceive an entire people with. I don’t really feel inclined to argue about it though. Like I said, I trust my grandparents, and their grandparents, going back to the event we’ll be celebrating in 50 days plus a few. You don’t have to trust them.