How is God perfect?

[Rubia Warren]

When the bible talks about God being perfect, what does that actually mean?

[yxboom]

It means he doesn't slip on banana peels.

[The Laughing Man]

I don't slip on banana peels either. Am I perfect? :tongue:

In all seriousness, I think it means that He is blameless and faultless. He carries no burden of sin.

That's probably neither complete nor entirely accurate, but hey...

nobody's perfect! :rofl: Ohhhh, I crack me up.

[Blake Reas]

He is perfect in all of his attributes: Holiness, Justice, Love, Sovereignty, Immutability(not immovability), etc, etc, etc. He is the most perfect being period. Better yet let's put it as he tells Moses that Burning bush "I am that I am!"

By His Grace For His Glory,
Blake

[Tassadar237]

When the bible talks about God being perfect, what does that actually mean?
I have heard many people ask, "Why would a perfect God create a universe with so much that is evil in it?" Of course, you see, they miss the greater conundrum: "Why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"

[smaller]

When the bible talks about God being perfect, what does that actually mean?

Well, first of all picture God in your mind....

got it?

Now if you have a picture in your mind, you are wrong.

See how Perfect that is?

[Ryokan]

When the bible talks about God being perfect, what does that actually mean?
God is the scale. There is God. He's perfect. So everything else. Not so perfect. God=perfect.

[Tassadar237]

God is the scale. There is God. He's perfect. So everything else. Not so perfect. God=perfect.
Ahh, yes. The amazingly simple view of god being your definition of perfect. What ignorance. Can you back it up? How perfect is god? if you rate perfection on a scale based on God at the top, isn't it then only possible to be perfect if you killed off the entire population of the earth except for one family? (the flood) Or maybe you are only perfect if you have crushed empires that you created (fall of israel). God disobeys his own rules. How is that perfect? God said you cannot have fruit of the tree of life, and have fruit of the tree of knowledge. Yet God has both. Is it perfect to be a hypocrite? Get your story together and then give it another shot.

[Ryokan]

Ahh, yes. The amazingly simple view of god being your definition of perfect. What ignorance. Can you back it up? How perfect is god? if you rate perfection on a scale based on God at the top, isn't it then only possible to be perfect if you killed off the entire population of the earth except for one family? (the flood) Or maybe you are only perfect if you have crushed empires that you created (fall of israel). God disobeys his own rules. How is that perfect? God said you cannot have fruit of the tree of life, and have fruit of the tree of knowledge. Yet God has both. Is it perfect to be a hypocrite? Get your story together and then give it another shot.
The problem is how you define perfect. it means different things to different people, and to God. the perfection of different beings, presumably, would be different. A perfect cat isn't the same as a perfect person or a perfect God. As the only all powerful, eyernal being in existence, God reserves the right, I'd imagine, to define perfect how he desires. Honestly, ascribing human ideas to God like that probably isn't very useful. And I am not an innerrantists, so some of your concerns above don't really apply.

[Ryokan]

Ahh, yes. The amazingly simple view of god being your definition of perfect. What ignorance. Can you back it up? How perfect is god? if you rate perfection on a scale based on God at the top, isn't it then only possible to be perfect if you killed off the entire population of the earth except for one family? (the flood) Or maybe you are only perfect if you have crushed empires that you created (fall of israel). God disobeys his own rules. How is that perfect? God said you cannot have fruit of the tree of life, and have fruit of the tree of knowledge. Yet God has both. Is it perfect to be a hypocrite? Get your story together and then give it another shot.
How do you define perfect?

[Shadow Phoenix]

I would speak of God as an absolutely perfect being in that he is his own existence. He lacks nothing and he cannot be improved in anyway in his essence.

[Ryokan]

I would speak of God as an absolutely perfect being in that he is his own existence. He lacks nothing and he cannot be improved in anyway in his essence.
I still don't know how much sense that makes. In fact, reflecting on it, I am not sure what we mean when we say God is perfect, or how useful a concept that is. A perfect being, in the sense you use, is an automaton.

[freelight]

I would speak of God as an absolutely perfect being in that he is his own existence. He lacks nothing and he cannot be improved in anyway in his essence.



Adding on to this view as a springboard.....which is nearing my own concepts of divine perfection....God is .....in his All-ness and Totality of Being... 'perfect' in the sense that His All-ness contains All that IS. God is the Source, substance, Origin, Upholder, sustainer of All that exists in Truth...being the Sole Absolute Reality. He is Complete in the Entirety and fullness of His Infinite BEING. ONE.







paul

[Straylight]

God is perfect because he's the only who can define what right, wrong, or what perfection is. He's perfect merely by virtue of having absolute might and authority. He's perfect because he isn't you or me.

[Tassadar237]

The problem is how you define perfect. it means different things to different people, and to God. the perfection of different beings, presumably, would be different. A perfect cat isn't the same as a perfect person or a perfect God. As the only all powerful, eyernal being in existence, God reserves the right, I'd imagine, to define perfect how he desires. Honestly, ascribing human ideas to God like that probably isn't very useful. And I am not an innerrantists, so some of your concerns above don't really apply.
It is true, some of those concrens were superficial, but I did not intend them to be important, they were merely there to make a point.

[Tassadar237]

How do you define perfect?
I don't. Perfection is an illusion, as are all things subjective. This of course places the vast majority of things into the illusion category, and it isn't all innately irrelevant. Perfection in general is impossible to attain. Perfection is only possible in a purely objective, and therefore mathmatical, subject. And in said subject, it would not be perfection, merely the best possible ratio. Ex. You might say that the perfect efficiency is 1 to 1, with no loss of energy, time, etc. whatever is being measured. But this is wrong. It is not perfection because perfection has no basis in objectivity. a 1 to 1 ratio is merely the best possible efficiency, and has nothing to do with perfection. I have gone over this at length on another thread, but sufice to say I don't define perfection.

[Keith Johnson]

I have heard many people ask, "Why would a perfect God create a universe with so much that is evil in it?" Of course, you see, they miss the greater conundrum: "Why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"

Honestly, I don't see the conundrum. It seems to assume that there not being a universe would be better than there being a universe. Why think that?

your friend
keith

[Keith Johnson]

I still don't know how much sense that makes. In fact, reflecting on it, I am not sure what we mean when we say God is perfect, or how useful a concept that is. A perfect being, in the sense you use, is an automaton.


Here's what I think it means to say that God is perfect: it means that (a) there is an objective standard for goodness even if we fallible humans aren't able to accurately assess things on our own, and (b) on that standard God has no flaws or limitations. By that definition, God would not be an automaton because being an automaton is a flaw (or if God is an automaton then being an automaton isn't a flaw or limitation:-)

keith

[Tassadar237]

Honestly, I don't see the conundrum. It seems to assume that there not being a universe would be better than there being a universe. Why think that?

your friend
keith
Then the question is, why did God create the Universe? Or is it that by creating the Universe that he created something "less perfect" than him, and thus, by comparison, MAKE himself perfect? It is impossible to say. Thus, ringing parts of the universe into question, before the whole of the universe is answered, doesn't make much sense.

[Keith Johnson]

Then the question is, why did God create the Universe? Or is it that by creating the Universe that he created something "less perfect" than him, and thus, by comparison, MAKE himself perfect? It is impossible to say. Thus, ringing parts of the universe into question, before the whole of the universe is answered, doesn't make much sense.

One reason might be that it is (maybe) better that the universe exists than that it doesn't exist. A perfect being would tend to make things better than otherwise.

you friend
Keith