If any adult said the fairy tale about the princess who kisses a frog and he turns into a prince was a true story everyone would instantly brand him the village simpleton and ignore him. But when so called professors say that a similar fairy tale is true everyone believes them and their books become best sellers.
Evolution is not a fairy tale. There is evidence that evolution occurred in many ways. To compare it to a princess kissing a frog and turning it into a prince is plain ignorance. It just shows you do not understand what they actually claim about evolution. You do not understand what the scientists claim. If you want to deny reality and have a more simple view of the world and a simple faith, and focus on other matters, that is your prerogative, but do not "missionize" that other people should live in denial and delusion and ignorance with you. And do not do the terrible sin of denigrating the scientific endeavor, which the Rambam says is a mitzvah.
I think these people ought to know better. The only reason they believe in evolution is because they want to take G-d out of the picture and be free to follow their lusts and to do what ever they want.
Why do you inappropriately label every scientist like this? Scientists "believe" evolution like they "believe" that the earth is an oblong spheroid and that the sun is hot. They are trained to "believe" facts. It is not really "believing" - it is
accepting facts because facts are proven and do not require 'belief.' As Torah Jews we are also supposed to accept facts. When there is sufficient evidence for a given idea without refutation, it can be accepted as true. You do a huge injustice to all peoples by attacking all scientists. This is absolutely an outrage. Scientists do not have an "agenda" except to understand the world, and more often than not to use understanding of the physical world to help people. (There are a few, a handful of scientists who become politicized and write polemic books about their views on religion and/or G-d and/or other life issues, to which I say that no one should care what they think about these matters, and these are obviously exceptional cases that go out of their way to dogmatize and propagandize to other people in matters of philosophy and personal belief - When they write such books (Dawkins etc) they are not engaging in science! Writing a philosophy text is not science. It is philosophical endeavor. And it is their conclusions in this regard that we should dispute/ignore/reject).
There are frum Jews who are in science, or they at least accept the truth and facts of science because they want to know about G-d's creation. And many religious non-Jews also work in science. And there are many frum Jews in professions that rely on the facts that science has uncovered in the daily operation of their field, whether it's the medical field, or psychology, special education, fertility treatment, dna testing in medicine or police/forensics work etc etc. And there are many frum Jews who are not necessarily connected with science but believe in many of its basic facts (such as several-billions year old universe, reliability of genetic testing and dna procedures, that the earth revolves around the sun, etc) and they do not cease from their clinging to Torah or their faith in Hashem due to any of this. Why do you spread evil talk about all such people?
And will we be such hypocrites and do such a desecration of the Torah and G-d's name (G-d forbid) by abiding our lives on daily basis in practical ways that assume the truth of proven facts, but then at the same time speak out both sides of our mouth and while we benefit from our own acceptance of scientific reality, try to smear those who make the discoveries, and at the same time deny that the science and facts behind our daily lives have value or truth in them?
Why do you sling mud at so many honest, well-intentioned people, Jew and non-Jew alike, religious and nonreligious, who enter the fields of scientific research because they wish to help other people - a desire so basic to the human fabric and such a praiseworthy endeavor? We all know that without Hashem's rachmanut the world would cease to exist, and that we are to emulate G-d by also having rachmanut. Yet people who do so, you will characterize them as criminals with an agenda to destroy the world?
Research in academia for instance is not a lucrative profession compared to being a doctor or lawyer or what have you, and yet there are so many people who go into that because they want to help advance science and the understanding of diseases to help people and treat them, so that the medical profession can advance and others reap the benefits of their toiling in long hours in the lab, with little pay, little recognition except their own self-pride, and all the difficulty that comes with competing for grant money and keeping a lab up and running and producing results. And all because it might relieve some suffering and bring new knowledge into the world. (Knowledge about G-d's creation that G-d made). You have no idea what that is about. You obviously are completely ignorant of these matters. About things which one is ignorant of, one should keep his mouth SHUT.
But what is worst about the theory of evolution is the germans believed in it and they used it to justify doing the Holocaust. They beleived the blond haired blue eyed ayran race was the most highly evolved while the Jews were closer to the animals so killing them was not like killing human beings.
This is called "social darwinism" which was a distortion of Darwin's science to something.... get ready for it.....
social.... NOT scientific. They took a scientific fact here and fact there (or even things that are not scientific facts which they claimed were) and turned it into a sociological homicidal Jew-hating philosophy. So that means I must now deny the facts that they hijacked and distorted into something of their own creation? Who says I must do like they did? And for the lies they passed off as facts which were not factual, why must I believe in them? And out of the billions of people who today "believe" evolution occurred, where are the ones advocating Nazism based on that? Please, get real.
Anyone can take any fact or any theory and use it to rationalize evil behavior. This is obviously wrong. A person can do science, just like he can do anything else in the world, without resorting to such stupidity, which is wrong in any case.
The most important thing about learning science is to have the proper kavanah (intentions/mindset/concentration). Science does not demand that you utilize the facts of science to deny G-d. Science, participation in it, or study of it, only demands that a person accepts objective, demonstrated and observed proof and facts. What you do with them is up to you. From the perspective of science, one is free to do with these established facts as he sees fit. One can synthesize them and conclude whatever he wants as far as 'science' is concerned. If we are Torah Jews, we have the proper kavanah and the proper understandings of the world, that we can use the facts of science to deepen our understanding of Hashem through his creation (according to the Rambam, the only way to know G-d is through contemplating his creations) and to formulate beliefs accurately from the facts of science, to cause a stronger relationship with G-d and a greater appreciation of G-d and love of G-d. If a person uses science to derive his own conclusions and deny G-d that is his own sin to do so. No science demands that of him, nor does it demand any "belief," philosophy, social theory or anything else. And if one or two or three thousand or three million or however many people choose to do that, that does not mean science is evil or that a believing Jew or believing gentile cannot delve into science or accept science and draw their own conclusions from it - theologically correct conclusions.
There is no reason for religious people to be "against" the endeavor of science. On the contrary, the Rambam says it is a mitzvah to get closer to Hashem by contemplating His creation through study of science, to improve knowledge of His creation and see it in its vast complexity.
And can I ask if you think science is so bad and that people should denigrate those who participate in it, why do Chazal disagree with you? They disagree so strongly that we make a bracha (we say a blessing) when we see a tremendous non-Jewish scholar, thanking G-d for giving His chochma (wisdom) to flesh and blood, and likewise when we see a tremendous genius talmid chacham (Jewish Torah scholar), we also say a blessing that G-d gave wisdom to his people. According to Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky that blessing for a gentile prodigy/genius of a scientific field can also be said for a secular Jew who excels in a science (ie Einstein) even if he does not study Torah since it is about the wisdom rather than the person. There is a machloketh over whether the bracha goes on the person or the wisdom, based on the lashon (language) of it, so whether you can say the 'wisdom to flesh and blood' blessing on the Jew who excels in science rather than Torah is a discussion, but nonetheless, No One argues that we do not make a bracha if we encounter a genius scholar of the gentiles (ie if you are literally in the same room as him and see him in front of you).
It may be that you were taught some distorted ideas by people in kiruv, which caused you to become inflexible and vocal about certain hot-button issues, or you came up with this stuff on your own by assuming (mistakenly) that Judaism is against science, but it is wise to rethink what seems to be a very entrenched position you have for not any justifiable reason. And if you will refuse to do that, at the very least do not spread the untruths you have embraced.
The seal of Hashem is truth.
Topic: The theory of evolution (Read 8047 times)