The “leap of faith” you find so appealing is a Christian concept:
Christian dogma, according to Kierkegaard, embodies paradoxes which are offensive to reason. The central paradox is the assertion that the eternal, infinite, transcendent God simultaneously became incarnated as a temporal, finite, human being (Jesus). There are two possible attitudes we can adopt to this assertion, viz. we can have faith, or we can take offense. What we cannot do, according to Kierkegaard, is believe by virtue of reason. If we choose faith we must suspend our reason in order to believe in something higher than reason. In fact we must believe by virtue of the absurd.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/#Reli
Maimonides says a person can’t believe irrational things and mentions some Christian beliefs like the one above. This is what he has to say about Emunah Peshutah:
There are some who think a lot about G-d and mention him frequently but have no knowledge and merely follow imagination or accept tradition blindly… Such people are outside of the habitation … and do not in truth mention or think about G-d. Because that which is merely in his imagination… does not correspond to any existing being at all…
Although religious belief isn’t based entirely on logic, no “leap of faith” is necessary to recognize G-d. Part of recognizing G-d may indeed be “hearing the music” and not 100% mathematical proofs. But it is still based on reason. Avraham Avinu looked at the Universe and realized there must have been a Creator. Only than, was there revelation to him. Certainly now, after the revelation to our forefathers, we need no leap of faith.
Science doesn’t just show the “plausibility of the existence of G-d”, it is very strong evidence for it. The perfection of the laws of the Universe and of DNA are are far more rational to explain based on a belief in G-d than on atheism. Atheism and Christianity require a “leap of faith”, not Judaism.
P.S.
There was only one response to my comment on Cross-Currents, and it was from some Christian who didn't really say anything
2 comments:
I agree, people don't need to make a big leap of faith to believe in G-d. Looking at the complexities in this world shows it. Some might say things started simple and became complex. But someone had to have started it. For example, some might say that early proteins came together by atraction of amino acids and then kept growing. But these proteins need instructions which is found in DNA inorder to come together correctly or it doesn't work. The question is where did these instructions come from? Someone must have put them there.
However, even when people have a lot information in support of G-d, some still deny it for different reasons. Either they only believe what they can physically see and they think that belief in G-d is silly, or they don't like the thought of there being a higher power, etc.
And so we need both knowledge and faith
Maybe R' Gottleib was saying that it may take a long time to recognize Hashem by yourself (it took Avraham Avinu 3 years to recognize Hashem, but it took Yisro much longer), but that once you take "a leap of faith it is much easier to recognize that Hashem must have created everything. .
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