[Avodah] Torah precheit?

[Alexander Seinfeld]

>
>
>
>But there is a more thoughtful response: Perhaps the only way we can
>have teva today is if the universe we have now looks like it always
>ran by teva. Otherwise, the effects of nissim would still be causing
>anomolies we could pick up today. So much for hesteir Panim.
>
>In which case, we need a universe that is so big that our place is in
>looks like some unnoticable backwater. We need a universe that looks
>like it had a Big Bang and Inflation area in order for us to live with
>the set of laws of nature we have.
>
>And then their existence does impact us.

Just want to point out, or remind, that there are two independent
questions here that often become conflated.

1. Can a rational person believe in ³young Earth² (i.e., >6,000 years old)?
2. Why would God create a universe making it look like it is far older
than it really is?

The basis of answering yes to #1 has nothing to do with #2. I do not need
to know why in order to examine the evidence for #1 and conclude that He
did probably make the world 5,778 years ago. The fact that I cannot answer
#2 should not be entered as evidence against #1. This is the m¹haleich of
R¹ Dovid Gottlieb. The fallacy of the skeptics is to mock #1 based on #2,
when in fact it is irrelevant.

My own personal belief is merely that the vastness of space and time give
us the opportunity with our puny minds to have an analogy for God¹s
infiniteness.