The Problem With Perfect

I'm going to attempt to explain something that isn’t fully polished. I’m tempted to write about it anyway, because I suspect that the act of writing it might help me think it through.

I want to preface this odd little post with a caveat of sorts. It’s not my intention to fight anyone, or to convince anyone that I’m right and they’re wrong. I’m simply putting into words the storm brewing in my head.

I’ve heard from plenty of people in my life that God is a perfect being. The word perfect is key to what follows, so I want to plant a flag there. Perfection, by necessity, implies rigidity—it cannot change. If something changes, then either it wasn’t perfect to begin with and is moving toward perfection, or it was perfect and the change moved it away from it. This matters for the rest of the thought.

When it comes to faith and theology, I’ve often been conflicted by the idea that morality is dictated by a holy book. Not because I can’t find good things in the Bible or the Quran—I obviously can—but because historically, interpretations of these texts have supported ideas that would be unacceptable in civil society today.

To put it plainly: slavery was once not only commonplace, but considered morally correct. The idea that some humans were lesser was treated as obvious truth. I’m grateful we’ve moved away from those barbaric beliefs, and that aside from fringe voices, no one seriously argues for their return. A practice, mind you, that was at times justified and guided by scripture.

Apologetics offers answers here, and for years I’ve been able to square that circle, at least temporarily. It’s not unreasonable to say that we, as flawed humans, misunderstood. That we evolved—if that’s the right word—in our moral understanding.

Recently, I learned that Jehovah’s Witnesses have updated their stance on blood transfusions. They now seem to allow them, but only if it’s your own blood that was stored beforehand. I suspect this may be a transitional position before fully accepting established medical science, but it illustrates my point.

As I said, for people of faith, this isn’t necessarily a problem. Many issues can be attributed to human error. But a new thought entered my mind while hearing this reasoning again.

Perfect. That word keeps coming back.

If God alone is perfect, then is the Bible perfect? Logically, it would seem not. That would explain the changes, the versions, the reinterpretations.

Sitting with a strong cup of coffee, turning this over in my mind, another thought surfaced:

Am I to conclude that a perfect being can be an imperfect communicator?

Yes, we may be flawed listeners—limited, biased, prone to misunderstanding. But a perfect communicator would know how to overcome those limitations. It would know how to make things unmistakably clear to minds like ours.

I can’t say I’m in the same place I was the first time I heard the apologetic arguments about shifting morality versus a perfect source. But maybe because I’m older now, I find myself less bothered… and more fascinated.

—MenO