[Avodah] Local, Non-Global or Global Flood

[Micha Berger]

On Dec 1, 2010, at 5:10 AM, Eli Turkel wrote:
> We have already mentioned the Rambam that if he was convinced that the world
> was eternal he would have accepted that. Only because a finite time
> earth was conceivable was he willing to not accept Aristotle.

I still think this is a misunderstanding of the Rambam. He is
writing about there being only a single truth, and therefore that the
contradiction was necessarily impossible.

Had their not been a clear precedent from "our sages and prophets",
AND had the proof for eternity been more solid. the Rambam says could
have reinterpreted the verse.

See Moreh 1:25, where the Rambam explains the difference between declaring
anthropomorphications to be metaphor or idiom, and our case:
    WE do not reject the Eternity of the Universe, because certain
    passages in Scripture confirm the Creation; for such passages are not
    more numerous than those in which God is represented as a corporeal
    being; nor is it impossible or difficult to find for them a suitable
    interpretation. ... For two reasons, however, we have not done so,
    and have not accepted the Eternity of the Universe.

    First, the Incorporeality of God has been demonstrated by proof:
    those passages in the Bible, which in their literal sense contain
    statements that can be refuted by proof, must and can be interpreted
    otherwise. But the Eternity of the Universe has not been proved; a
    mere argument in favour of a certain theory is not sufficient reason
    for rejecting the literal meaning of a Biblical text, and explaining
    it figuratively, when the opposite theory can be supported by an
    equally good argument.

    Secondly, our belief in the Incorporeality of God is not contrary
    to any of the fundamental principles of our religion: it is not
    contrary to the words of any prophet. Only ignorant people believe
    that it is contrary to the teaching of Scripture: but we have shown
    that this is not the case: on the contrary, Scripture teaches the
    Incorporeality of God. If we were to accept the Eternity of the
    Universe as taught by Aristotle, that everything in the Universe is
    the result of fixed laws, that Nature does not change, and that there
    is nothing supernatural, we should necessarily be in opposition to
    the foundation of our religion, we should disbelieve all miracles
    and signs, and certainly reject all hopes and fears derived from
    Scripture, unless the miracles are also explained figuratively....

(I quoted as far as I did because the subject of nissim as violations of
nature is also a recurring one.)

But it's not that you can or can't reinterpret the whole thrust of mesorah
because Aristo proved something -- it's that the situation can't arise.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When faced with a decision ask yourself,
micha at aishdas.org        "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
http://www.aishdas.org   at the closing moments of Yom Kippur?"
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter