Essay donated by Dr. Zvi Shkedi

"6. Torah & Science: Conclusion and Appendix A

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Conclusion:

There are no contradictions between Torah and science. As we have seen, the apparent contradictions are only a result of misrepresentations of Torah, misrepresentations of science, or both.

At this point, it is worth repeating two quotes. The first is by Charles Darwin, showing that Darwin himself believed that life on earth was started by "the Creator", as described in Genesis:

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one..."

Darwin himself, whose theory is often quoted by anti-religious proponents, testifies to the greatness of "the Creator".

The second quote is by the Rambam, showing that, in science, evidence takes precedence over personal credentials and authority.

"We do not worry about who is the author (of the knowledge), whether it was authored by the prophets or by the gentiles. Because, in every subject for which its reasoning was discovered and its truth became known through faultless evidence, we do not rely on the person who said it or who taught it, but, on the evidence which was discovered and the reason which became known."

The Rambam, who wrote the first complete codification of the God-given Jewish religious law, teaches us that when it comes to establishing scientific truth, it is only the evidence, and nothing but the evidence, that counts. However, as we learned above, it must be real scientific evidence of facts - not imaginative or speculative theories.

The Rambam said that through the study of science a person comes to appreciate the greatness of God - the Creator. A thousand years later, Anthony Flew, the Brittish hard-core philosophical atheist who was considered for 50 years to be the world's champion of atheism, demonstrated the truth of what the Rambam has said. Through the study of science, and science alone, Flew changed his mind and started to believe in God.

Appendix A:

This appendix shows two examples of deceptive mathematics. We start with an identity, then we apply the same mathematical operations to both sides of each equation.

Let's start with the following identity:
-1/1 = 1/-1

Take the square root of both sides:
(-1/1)^½ = (1/-1)^½
(-1)^½ / (1)^½ =(1)^½ / (-1)^½

Using the symbol i: [ i = (-1)^½ ]
i / (1)^½ = (1)^½ / i

Now let's subtract  i  from each side and simplify:
i/1 - i = 1/i - i

multiply both sides by i:
i² - i² = 1 - i²
(-1) - (-1) = 1 - (-1)
0 = 1+1
0 = 2

We just proved that 0=2.     Now let's prove that 2=1 :

Let's start by establishing the following identity:
a=b

Multiply each side by a:
a² = ab

add a² to each side:
a² + a² = a² + ab

which is the same as:
2a² = a² + ab

Subtract 2ab from each side:
2a² - 2ab = a² + ab - 2ab

Multiply each side by b:
2a²b - 2ab² = a²b + ab² - 2ab²

Which is the same as:
2a²b - 2ab² = a²b - ab²

Now take the common factor b out of parenthesis:
b(2a² - 2ab) = b(a² - ab)

Which is the same as:
2b(a² - ab) = b(a² - ab)

Cancel (a² - ab) on each side:
2b = b

Cancel b on each side:
2 = 1

Since 0=2 and 2=1, we can combine these two equalities to yield the additional conclusion that 0=1.

So far we proved that 0=1, 0=2, and 1=2. By adding 1 to each side of the equation we can extend the proof to show that: 2=3, 3=4, 4=5, 5=6, and so on.   Not only that, but, since 1=0, we can multiply each side of this equation by any number, to show that 2=0, 3=0, 4=0, 5=0, and so on. This proof, that all numbers are equal to zero, is the mathematical verification of the famous saying: "Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet; vanity of vanities, all is vanity."  (Kohelet, ch.1, v.2)

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Copyright© 2007-SEP by Zvi Shkedi. The author permits not-for-profit republication of this article with proper credit and without changes.
Originally posted: 2008-MAR-30
Latest update: 2008-MAR-30
Author: Zvi Shkedi