Is the Bible True?

[cnorman18]

Some here have expressed doubt that my take on Judaism is more than an idiosyncratic interpretation of Jewish tradition. For those and others, I offer the following; it is my rabbi's column from the November-December edition of The Shofar, my synagogue's newsletter. This is the same Rabbi Gershon quoted in my signature.

Is the Bible True?

Excerpt from Rabbi Gershon's Yom Kippur Sermon on Science and Religion

Jews do not read the Bible as if it were a book of science or a book of history. Torah is not science. It's not geology and it's not history. Our sages never claimed that the Bible is presented as empirical truth and the rabbis of the Talmud were for the most part not fundamentalists when they read the Bible.

Do we really believe the world is 5,769 years old? Listen to Rashi, the 11th century great interpreter of the Bible who lived quite before the 19th century Darwinians. Asked about the [Hebrew] date and the age of the world Rashi answers: "The Torah doesn't tell you the order of the ages." And he cites the remarkable rabbinic commentary that God had created many worlds before this one. Torah is not archaeology nor is it scientific treatise. If you look for science in the Bible or for religion in science you will end up confused and dispirited. If you read the Bible literally you are going to read it into absurdity. The Rambam [aka Maimonides] in Perek haHelek puts it sharply: "Literalism robs our religion of its beauties, darkens its brilliance, and makes the laws of God convey meanings quote contrary to their intended meanings." Literalism reduces religion to absurdity. If you want to ridicule the Torah, just read it literally. One example. God said: "Let thee be light." To whom was God speaking since there was no one there in the unformed, void and chaos of the universe? Is God speaking to Himself? What does it mean that God speaks? Does God have a voice, a larynx, vocal cords and in what range does He speak: alto, tenor, bass? Does He sound like James Earl Jones or Woody Allen? As I always tell my students, "If God can speak, then He can blow His nose."

But the sages of the Talmud and the Midrash realized that when the Torah says vayomer Elohim, "and God said," it means to teach something else than a literal account of God's method of communication. In all the other stories of creation - the Mesopotamian and the Babylonian - the world is created by bloody warfare between gods, by collusions and conspiracies among the gods. But the God of Israel created the world with words alone, with speech alone. Vayomer Elohim means to instruct us that there is no primordial battle between rival gods, no dualism between a good god and bad god. In the Biblical view, the world did not come into being by wars and violence between contending deities. The world was created by one God with the word, and we should learn to sustain with the word, not the sword.

To understand Torah you have to understand symbols and parables and metaphors and allegories. The Torah was written, to quote the rabbis, bil'shon adam, "in the language of human beings." Language by definition is limited and needs interpretation.

God communicates with human beings, so we speak of God having a mouth. God shows us love, so we speak of God having a heart. Faith in God ultimately can only be spoken of in poetry. What we learn is that there is not only scientific truth; there is also religious truth. You need both science and faith. To use Heschel's formulation: "Faith without reason is mute; reason without faith is deaf."

[JoeyKnothead]

I'm with you after a fashion. I think many folks would do well to quit trying to read the Bible so literally.

[cnorman18]

I'm with you after a fashion. I think many folks would do well to quit trying to read the Bible so literally.

In my opinion, reading the Bible literally isn't just going off in the wrong direction; it's marching full speed ahead in the directly opposite direction from the one the Bible itself intends.

Watch out on that signature, by the way. We old hippies stick together.

[Zzyzx]

.

I'm with you after a fashion. I think many folks would do well to quit trying to read the Bible so literally.

In my opinion, reading the Bible literally isn't just going off in the wrong direction; it's marching full speed ahead in the directly opposite direction from the one the Bible itself intends.

I have no comment regarding anyone reading the bible literally, but strongly oppose those who PROMOTE the bible as literally true – and those who attempt to debate that point of view without substantiation.

[JoeyKnothead]

.

I'm with you after a fashion. I think many folks would do well to quit trying to read the Bible so literally.

In my opinion, reading the Bible literally isn't just going off in the wrong direction; it's marching full speed ahead in the directly opposite direction from the one the Bible itself intends.

I have no comment regarding anyone reading the bible literally, but strongly oppose those who PROMOTE the bible as literally true – and those who attempt to debate that point of view without substantiation.

Now that I've been corrected in front of my public, yeah, what Zzyzx said.

[Zzyzx]

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Now that I've been corrected in front of my public, yeah, what Zzyzx said.

As I am confident you realize, Joey, my comment was not intended as correction or criticism of what you said – but was simply a statement of my opinion regarding the matter (which may vary from that of others – and frequently does – I find to my "astonishment").

[JoeyKnothead]

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Now that I've been corrected in front of my public, yeah, what Zzyzx said.

As I am confident you realize, Joey, my comment was not intended as correction or criticism of what you said – but was simply a statement of my opinion regarding the matter (which may vary from that of others – and frequently does – I find to my "astonishment").

Oh no problem, I was funning around. Your statement was the more accurate. I was admitting my bit of an error.