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
It's good to think about complex things like this sometimes, gives the brain a workout! :)
I've heard stuff along these lines in some YouTube videos, I think by both Paulogia and Mindshift.
The idea, at least in my religion of Christianity is that God/Jesus/Holy Spirit wants to have a relationship with me. A relationship requires 2 entities that actually exist. If God is all knowing then He would know what to do if I pray to him for some confirmation of His existence. He did it for "doubting" Thomas who was invited to put his finger in Jesus' wounds to convince him, but seemingly hasn't done that for anyone else ever again.
But then it is said we're supposed to take it on faith, and being proved that He exists takes away our free will to believe or not. I guess that's fine but the stakes are so high. Knowing that, is it really free will? If I tell my kid that there's a unicorn in the garage, and if you believe me without seeing it then we're going to Disneyland but if you don't then I'm putting you in the basement and lighting you on fire, does the kid really have free will? And why did no one care about Thomas' free will?
I'm also not bothered but fascinated by all these kinds of things.
In the end, there's no proof of anyone's religious supernatural claims. But one can choose to believe in something because of the psychological and sociological benefits even if they conclude the actual truth of the thing is highly improbable. Our brains evolved to help us survive, not necessarily to always find the true things in this world. Picking a religious team to join can help one survive better.
Or something like that, who really knows! :P Just throwing words in a reply box. No one needs to take what I say seriously. I don't always agree with my former self when I read comments I've left in the past. I change my mind when I have looked at something from other angles. It's good to adapt to new knowledge and change our minds, maybe.
Thanks for the thought provoking post. Wishing you all the best!
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thank you for reading for your input as well... The topic of free will is also one of those recurring themes in my brain dumps.
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Good to hear about JW's updating things, I did know a work colleague who passed away because of that. We need to evolve our thinking.
But perfect, when we talk about human beings or even beings... can anything really be perfect. Personally I think not.
Most faiths are edified on the notion that perfection belongs only to the creator, hence why its fascinating. The concept of perfect is impossible to grasp for most of us.
right.. I hear things now in a much different way than I did before when I was younger. also, time goes on and things change. what was true 100 yrs ago is not usually how it is now, at least not 100%.
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Perfect but confusing? Makes way more sense than I thought.