- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Jul 2, 2021 8:15:17 GMT -8
This is more a why we keep Torah than a how; an op-ed piece in Kehila News Israel by Elhanan ben-Avraham: born in 1945, [he] is a professional artist, poet, writer and father of two, grandfather of four, living in Israel since 1979. He has served in the IDF, taught the Bible internationally, published five illustrated books of poetry, painted two large Biblical murals in public buildings in Jerusalem, and most recently produced THE JERUSALEM ILLUSTRATED BIBLE, among many other works. He and his wife live in a quiet village in the Mountains of Judah.
As I mentioned in another post, when I first became a moderator I wrote and asked KNI if I could reprint the occasional article from them. They said yes, as long as I gave full credit. KNI is a Messianic online publication from Israel, and often a good source for what is happening there as it concerns the Messianic community. It costs nothing to get their newsletter, though as a ministry they do have a donation page. I recommend signing up for their newsletter. Here is the piece:
‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’
“The fool says in his heart, There is no God.” – Psalm 14:1
Yesterday I watched that very devout and learned arch-Atheist and man of great faith Richard Dawkins explain to us how really, with modern Science as his sure guide by way of quantum physics, Something can actually come from Nothing, finally resolving that age-old conundrum, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” After all Mr. Dawkins, author of the very popular and influential “The God Delusion,” should certainly know.
If indeed Everything has arisen from Nothing, then it follows that there are no eternal laws or values or morality other than those found in the evolving fabric of the material universe. Furthermore, there can exist no divine law given to humanity to govern behavior, and no divine Messiah that has come or will ever come- other than one who may arise from a desperate and floundering humanity with his own vision for a solution to the human condition, and his own arbitrary laws with which to tame the natural law of the jungle.
Following this trend, there can be no inherent right or wrong, good or evil, and no intrinsic value in human life, and all become expendable, all ends justifying all means. We have already seen the fruit born of such Atheist Nothing in the slaughter of multi-millions in just the 20th century in the name of its promised utopia, its ends justifying its vicious means.
Truth then is only in the eye of the beholder, there being no objective Truth other than that which may be derived through ever-changing scientific inquiry into material reality. If Everything arose from Nothing, then there cannot be any suggestion of any non-material reality, and religion becomes only anachronistic. Morality and values then are measured only by the size and needs and appetites of the human creature, decided by consensus on the shifting sands of a human court of law. I might add here that IMHO it takes a good deal more faith to believe in a speculative and counter-intuitive theory that Something comes from Nothing than it would in an intelligent Creator.
An ultimate and unchanging fixed point of reference outside the material universe and beyond the trap of time and the eye of the microscope or telescope, a conscious and loving reality from which arose all there is, gives to humanity not only an anchor in reality, but meaning and purpose, comfort and hope for our existence. The unwise denial of that living Source sends humanity into hopeless chaos and ultimate despair and self-destruction as mere clusters of soulless cells, and so to be left ultimately with that espoused Nothing.
Me again: Quantum Physics is the most ridiculous, foolish theoretical approach to "scientific poison and mind control" I have ever heard. It almost makes the "Big Bang" theory sound logical, but it fails miserably. One site says "Quantum theory and the theory of relativity fail in this almost infinitely dense and hot primal state of the universe. Only an all-encompassing theory of quantum gravity which unifies these two fundamental pillars of physics could provide an insight into how the universe began." Now Einstein's Theory of Relativity does have merit. He had both proofs and good logic in his method. But Quantum Physics, at least what I have heard of it (from Quantum physicists) is another extremely illogical, though very imaginative attempt to explain away God. A child could poke holes in their arguments, their methodology, and their theories. So while most Messianics have heard Mr. ben-Avraham's thinking before, it is good to be reminded of it. And he says it a lot better- both more eruditely and eloquently than I could; so I thought it worth sharing here.
As I mentioned in another post, when I first became a moderator I wrote and asked KNI if I could reprint the occasional article from them. They said yes, as long as I gave full credit. KNI is a Messianic online publication from Israel, and often a good source for what is happening there as it concerns the Messianic community. It costs nothing to get their newsletter, though as a ministry they do have a donation page. I recommend signing up for their newsletter. Here is the piece:
‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’
“The fool says in his heart, There is no God.” – Psalm 14:1
Yesterday I watched that very devout and learned arch-Atheist and man of great faith Richard Dawkins explain to us how really, with modern Science as his sure guide by way of quantum physics, Something can actually come from Nothing, finally resolving that age-old conundrum, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” After all Mr. Dawkins, author of the very popular and influential “The God Delusion,” should certainly know.
If indeed Everything has arisen from Nothing, then it follows that there are no eternal laws or values or morality other than those found in the evolving fabric of the material universe. Furthermore, there can exist no divine law given to humanity to govern behavior, and no divine Messiah that has come or will ever come- other than one who may arise from a desperate and floundering humanity with his own vision for a solution to the human condition, and his own arbitrary laws with which to tame the natural law of the jungle.
Following this trend, there can be no inherent right or wrong, good or evil, and no intrinsic value in human life, and all become expendable, all ends justifying all means. We have already seen the fruit born of such Atheist Nothing in the slaughter of multi-millions in just the 20th century in the name of its promised utopia, its ends justifying its vicious means.
Truth then is only in the eye of the beholder, there being no objective Truth other than that which may be derived through ever-changing scientific inquiry into material reality. If Everything arose from Nothing, then there cannot be any suggestion of any non-material reality, and religion becomes only anachronistic. Morality and values then are measured only by the size and needs and appetites of the human creature, decided by consensus on the shifting sands of a human court of law. I might add here that IMHO it takes a good deal more faith to believe in a speculative and counter-intuitive theory that Something comes from Nothing than it would in an intelligent Creator.
An ultimate and unchanging fixed point of reference outside the material universe and beyond the trap of time and the eye of the microscope or telescope, a conscious and loving reality from which arose all there is, gives to humanity not only an anchor in reality, but meaning and purpose, comfort and hope for our existence. The unwise denial of that living Source sends humanity into hopeless chaos and ultimate despair and self-destruction as mere clusters of soulless cells, and so to be left ultimately with that espoused Nothing.
Me again: Quantum Physics is the most ridiculous, foolish theoretical approach to "scientific poison and mind control" I have ever heard. It almost makes the "Big Bang" theory sound logical, but it fails miserably. One site says "Quantum theory and the theory of relativity fail in this almost infinitely dense and hot primal state of the universe. Only an all-encompassing theory of quantum gravity which unifies these two fundamental pillars of physics could provide an insight into how the universe began." Now Einstein's Theory of Relativity does have merit. He had both proofs and good logic in his method. But Quantum Physics, at least what I have heard of it (from Quantum physicists) is another extremely illogical, though very imaginative attempt to explain away God. A child could poke holes in their arguments, their methodology, and their theories. So while most Messianics have heard Mr. ben-Avraham's thinking before, it is good to be reminded of it. And he says it a lot better- both more eruditely and eloquently than I could; so I thought it worth sharing here.
