Timeline for Age of Universe and Shabbat
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 17, 2020 at 5:19 | comment | added | Turk Hill | Let us continue this discussion in chat. | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 5:18 | history | edited | Turk Hill | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 17, 2020 at 4:55 | comment | added | Alex | Maimonides’ view is that that G-d formed the world out of pre-existing matter As I’ve noted on previous occasions (e.g. here) if you claim that Maimonides’s view is the opposite of the straightforward meaning of what he says, you should provide evidence to support your claim. At the very least you can say something like “Rabbi Micah Goodman understands Maimonides to be saying...” | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 4:44 | comment | added | Alex | You still haven’t addressed why Shabbat has to be one literal day, which is the thrust of the question. | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 3:10 | comment | added | Turk Hill | I added some of this in my answer above. I think that there weren't actual "days" at all. I think that the Torah does not try to teach people about history or real science but instills proper behavior and correct ideas about G-d. The creation story teaches us that we should keep Shabbat because G-d does so, even though G-d does not actually keep anything. | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 3:07 | comment | added | Alex | But why do we observe Shabbat for one day if Shabbat in the creation story was not one day? I think that is the question being asked here (though phrased in the reverse). | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 3:06 | history | edited | Turk Hill | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 17, 2020 at 3:03 | comment | added | Turk Hill | I also think the creation story is more human-orientated than G-d-orientated and that it teaches us to have a day of rest. But it does not mean that G-d rested. The creation story is a parable; it certainly does not teach real science. For example, Maimonides felt that the creation of humans in the “image of God” to mean that people are like God in the sense that they can think. It does not mean that Adam was literally created from the dirt or Eve from his rib. | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 3:03 | comment | added | Turk Hill | @Alex the Rambam felt that G-d created the world instantaneously. Yet others felt that G-d did it in billions of years (ie six days meaning eons). All agree that G-d works through nature, meaning that G-d does not interfere with nature and allows the universe (ie through laws of nature in what the Bible calls “good” things) to take shape. I think this explanation is perfect since it is in harmony with science and the Bible. In this view, I think we keep Shabbat because it recalls that there is a G-d who created the world. | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 2:50 | comment | added | Alex | Does this explain why we observe Shabbat for one literal day? | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 2:49 | comment | added | Alex | An all-powerful god shouldn't need six days so instead he needed billions of years? | |
| Feb 17, 2020 at 2:27 | history | answered | Turk Hill | CC BY-SA 4.0 |