Scientific Myth: Why the Theory of Evolution Is Just a Fragile Hypothesis?

The Limits of the Scientific Method

True empirical science is based on observable, reproducible experiments. A scientist can measure temperature, record a chemical reaction, test a hypothesis in a laboratory — and that is indeed science. However, when science attempts to reconstruct events allegedly occurring millions or billions of years ago, it steps beyond its domain of competence. The Rebbe emphasized: such reconstructions are not "facts" but "extrapolations" — assumptions based on the premise that the laws of nature have always been the same as they are today. But this very premise is impossible to prove. Any theory, no matter how popular, can be disproven tomorrow by new data. The history of science is full of examples where "accepted truths" collapsed under the pressure of new discoveries. Science is a process, not a set of dogmas, and an honest scientist always acknowledges the limits of their knowledge.

The "Mature Creation" Argument

The Rebbe put forward a profound argument: if the Creator made the world, He could have created it already "mature." The first man, Adam, was created as an adult, not an infant. Trees were created with annual rings, and the Earth with fully formed geological layers and fossils. When science discovers dinosaur bones and concludes that the planet is billions of years old, this is merely one possible interpretation. A Creator capable of creating atoms from nothing could have created them as complex structures instantaneously. This is not "deception" — it is a manifestation of Divine wisdom that created the world with a complete history, much like an artist paints a picture of an ancient tree: the tree in the painting "appears" to be thousands of years old, yet was created in a single moment.

Torah as the Absolute Frame of Reference

The Rebbe urged: do not "adjust" the eternal Torah to fit changing scientific hypotheses. The Torah is "Torat Chaim," providing absolute, unchanging truth received from the Creator Himself. Science is useful in its domain — studying nature in the here and now, developing technologies, curing diseases. But it is powerless to answer the questions "why?" and "how did it all begin?" Faith does not contradict reason — it begins where the limited human intellect ends. When we accept the Torah as our frame of reference, we gain solid ground beneath our feet that no "new theory" can shake. G-d created the world with a specific purpose, and that purpose is revealed in the Torah — the only source that does not change with the ages.