Monday, August 27, 2007

Perfection Perplexion

What is the Christian God? Not who, but what. You've all been told the same basic details: God is omni-this and omni-that... They also say he is perfect. What does that mean?

For one thing, he's said to be able to create perfect things. They say the world was perfect when he created it. The sad thing is, it isn't perfect now. Supposedly, the world was perfect but then it stopped being perfect. That doesn't make sense to me, because I have very high expectations of perfection.

I expect a perfect entity to have no past or present flaws; nothing's gone wrong with it yet. Christians tend to agree with me on that part, but I think their idea of "perfection" is inferior. Where we disagree is: I expect a perfect entity to have no future flaws; it ought to be flawless and stay flawless.

But the world didn't stay flawless, did it? By the Christian definition of "perfect" the world was created perfect, but by mine it wasn't. (If a perfect entity is a perfect entity wherever it is, it should be a perfect entity whenever it is. Why should space and time be so different.)

So I'm wrong? Well, consider that if it is possible for perfection to be lost, then it may be possible for God to stop being perfect. It may have happened already and Christians would be none-the-wiser. You could ask some Christians if their God is perfect, but they're imperfect so they might give the wrong answer. You could ask God if he's perfect, but he might be imperfect and give the wrong answer. They might say the right answer but you might misunderstand. (You're not perfect, are you?)

But Christians are sure their God is perfect so, it would seem, it must be impossible for perfection to be lost. But then the world could not have been created perfect. Having dropped that conclusion on you, I'd like to elaborate on my idea of perfection.

I believe that perfection, being the ultimate good quality, must be infectious. A perfect can-opener, for instance, would be able to open any can with ease and never wear out. Not only that but it would prevent you from cutting yourself on the sharp edges, it would recycle the can for you, and do so without expending any resources. Eventually, I conclude that it would prevent the depletion of the world's resources, bring peace, and prevent the heat death of the Universe. It would be one helluva can-opener.

That is what I mean by perfection being infectious: its effects must spread. But it hasn't spread, else it would have conquered, nay prevented, all of the world's flaws. Therefore there is no perfection. Perplexing isn't it?