Monday, August 6, 2012

Perfection?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would just like to take this time to apologize for not posting anything for way too long. Lets just say I was on sebaticle... I wasnt, but that sounds better.

Anyways, over the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about this idea of perfect and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. I hope you enjoy.

Perfection?

Are we ever perfect? Were we ever designed to be perfect? Or were we just designed to know that we aren’t perfect? If we were perfect then we would not need God because we wouldn’t need saving. But we cannot exist without a God. And if we cannot exist without a God does that mean we have to be imperfect to exist with a God? And does that mean that we are not perfect and can never become perfect until we die and meet Christ? Because perfect people do not need anything to fill the cracks in their life. A perfect circle needs no extra work done to make it perfect. An imperfect circle, however, needs the work of the one who knows perfect to come and work on that circle. Without those imperfects can we ever truly experience the work of the One who knows perfect? Because when we are perfect there is no room for God to come in. Is it true that only broken people can be saved? And if so, will be ever become unbroken in this life? Because if we do then we become unsaveable, right? Is this just a catch-22 that God didn’t see coming? Probably not. So is this the reason why we will never be perfect? Maybe. Or is there something bigger that I am just missing? Also maybe. Going on that for a few sentences, what if we could become perfect? Do you think it’s possible in this life? Jesus was perfect but I don’t think that counts. Does the washing of our slates when Jesus forgives our sins mean that we are perfect? Or does it mean that our life debt has been paid for us? Are those two things the same thing? I don’t think so. I think to have a debt paid means that you are forgiven, but you aren’t perfect. Because you will still sin again and have another debt to pay, another debt that has to be forgiven. Or, and hear me out for this one, as Jesus forgives our debts, wipes our slate clean, are we, for that moment, perfect? For those few seconds have we reached what people have been striving for since the very beginning? Have we reached perfection? Even for those few seconds, minutes, or hours before we sin again, have we obtained perfection through Jesus Christ? Because if so that is momentous. If for those few minutes we have attained perfection then that is huge. We need to blog about it or something. That means that, throughout history, people have reached perfection. Dude!, you need to tweet this. This is huge.

Or does perfection really exist outside of God himself? Was perfection as we know it just an idea handed down to us? Because do we really know what perfection is? I know that Jesus was perfect, some people may disagree but for the sake of argument, I’m not even gonna go there cause that could open a whole new can of worms. So we kinda have an example of perfect. But do we really? Is the concept of perfection like the concept of sophistication? Sophistication only exists because we’ve said it enough times and we believe it now. Sophistication is a word used to describe one way of doing things and to make it seem like that way is superior to other ways. When you say something like “He is more sophisticated than his friend” what you are really saying is that the friend is improper and probably sloppy. People have used the word sophistication to describe the class system, i.e. the upper class is more sophisticated than the lower class. And then in that we have come to view sophistication as something that makes someone superior to someone else. But that word was created by us, and we said it enough times and used enough examples that we kinda know what it means, but if we think about it, it’s just a meaningless word. Why does the upper class have more sophistication than the lower class? Who says the poor people aren’t sophisticated and the upper class aren’t? Have you ever thought of those questions? The first definition of sophistication that the Merriam Webster dictionary uses is: the use of sophistry: sophistic reasoning (which, by the way, is stupid. I hate it when dictionary’s do that). The second definition is: the process or result of becoming cultured, knowledgeable, or disillusioned. This is, in itself, useless. Because culture is not a word that you can really describe. How do you define knowledgeable? And disillusioned? How can one say the other is disillusioned? What if the person stating that claim is disillusioned and the other is actually not?

Perfection may be the same way. Perfection may just be an idea that we have created, said over and over again to make ourselves believe that it’s real. Because how do we even define perfection. And if it’s not definable can we reach it? How can we strive for something that doesn’t exist? Was Jesus perfect? Or was he just whole? Cause I don’t know if those two things are necessarily the same. Is this perfection just an idea? Let’s try and take it one step at a time. Let’s say somebody obtains perfection. They are just great. Everybody wants to be them. And I would definitely say that this person has friends, right? Now let’s take someone who isn’t perfect, far from it in fact. That person isn’t all that great. They are broken, maybe lost. But in this, they have found something. They have touched on something greater. Because it is through trails and imperfections that great friendships are made, that great thoughts are thought, and that great things happen. That “perfect” human being would never go through that because he/she is perfect.  They wouldn’t fight unjustly, they wouldn’t get angry unjustly, they wouldn’t etc., etc., etc. So is that perfect? It doesn’t sound perfect. Or is that just a shallow perfect? Do you have to be broken to become a deeper perfect? (I’m starting to see a flaw in our idea here.) Since when was broken perfect?

I think we deviated off course. Personally, I don’t think we were ever intended to be perfect. I don’t even know if perfect exists. I think Jesus was whole. But the perfect thing I just think we made up because having something to strive towards is a lot safer than being down here, broken and lost. I think perfect was never meant to exist. And I think it only exists because we’ve said it enough times. I think we are screwed up people, and if we are gonna get anywhere then we need to recognize that. Perfect doesn’t work because nothing can be added to that to improve on it. A jigsaw puzzle only works because each piece needs another piece to attach onto in to make it more complete. We work the same way. I believe that, if anything fits the description of perfect its Jesus. But that whole idea of perfect I think needs to be revisited. We destroy ourselves trying to obtain perfection, and sometimes end up destroying others in the process as well. Or, if perfect does exist, which is possible, we have to bring our idea of it back to the drawing board and seriously reconsider what it means.

Because if perfect doesn’t exist, can imperfect exist?

I don’t know. Those are just my thoughts.



By the way, these are thoughts. I don’t necessarily believe all that I say here. I try to ask questions from all sides to get an understanding. I think that is much better than finding a definite answer for questions like these. Because, most of the time, there is no definite answer… but that’s a whole other issue. Maybe I’ll blog about that next.

1 comment:

  1. dude, that is makes my head hurt, that is some good stuff! i wish i knew at your age that i don't have to wait until i know something before i can start wondering about it, even if to some i sound like a heretic. keep wondering, asking, seeking. love it

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