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I'm not really sure how I stand on religion and science. I just try to keep them separate. Science makes sense, and explains everything, and I like explanations. 3nodding Religion works with science but is also separate from it. I guess. confused I like the theory that the 7 days were really much longer. Billions of years each or something.

I have been involved in this discussion many times before. Before I share my opinion on this manner, I introduce a quote from Albert Einstein:

"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

I believe that the Torah had some sort of divine inspiration, but was written down my humans over a period of many years. The Torah was written in a poetic manner, with metaphors and sometimes exaggerations of the truth. This might have been done because humans can have trouble relating to a God that has no physical form. On several occasions, especially in Sepher Sh'mot, the "finger" or "hand" of God is mentioned when God unleashes God's power. (I have issues assigning a gender to God for the aforementioned reason.) Considering that the Torah is composed of poetry and exaggerations of fact in some places, one could say that the world was not created in seven twenty-four hour periods.

But it goes beyond that. Each of the seven 'days' can represent a distinct era in the history of our planet, though they do not each last a fixed period of time. The first 'day', for example, during which light was separated from darkness (the Big Bang, perhaps) lasted billions of years longer than any of the others. This brings us to the fifth 'day,' when fish and birds first appeared. Science has proven that life began in the sea (fish), and also that modern birds began to appear before modern mammals. However,the Torah also mentions a third item is said to have been created on the fifth day: The Taninim G'dolim. I have heard several interesting translations for this. Some people translate this as Leviathan, a mythical serpentine creature that lived in the sea; Leviathan has been mentioned in the folklore of other civilizations as well. However, another translation for this that I have come across is "giant lizards," dinosaurs in in other words. It is quite possible for people of ancient civilizations to have discovered fossils and not understand exactly what they were. For example, it is believed that the legend of the Griffon was created when ancient Greeks discovered the bones of Protoceratops. In conclusion, dinosaurs existed, and the Torah aknowledges their creation.

i wish you would stop bringing up the obscure stuff... sweatdrop

Hey, some of that was pretty good... sweatdrop

sorry about that.

knee-jerk reaction sweatdrop

You could go into a more detailed explanation... Some of it made sense, while some of it I can understand why it troubled you. Like my rabbi always says: "Kol hamosif goreah" and "Lo katuv? Lo nahon!".

I think it would be funny if the Leviathan was Nessie xd

nessie's got nothing on leviatan.

hell, leviatan can't fit in loch ness.