@KingReef,
KingReef wrote:
Quote:What do you call it except 'semantics,' when you suggested changing the meaning of 'perfect,' to 'better than expected?'
I said what I said because I didn't want the conversation to turn into something nitpicky. I wanted to make sure you knew I was aware of the semantic angle to the discussion.
As for perfect, I was referring to absolute perfect, which I doubt exists here on their earth and in the way we see things, and describe some things. That's all. I imagine perfection is something that would cause us to stand amazed were we to see it for real.
Perfection exists as an ideal. Seeing it 'for real' implies that material reality is 'real' and ideals are not. In reality, ideals exist at the ideal level and everything at the material level is imperfect. That is why we have to develop a forgiving attitude toward imperfection, i.e. because that is the reality of material existence. On the other hand, we shouldn't give up thinking in terms of ideals and perfection, because that is the direction we are supposed to be oriented toward, i.e. toward God.
We should also strive toward clarifying our awareness of how flawed we sinners are relative to perfection. Because of the sin of pride, we have the tendency to whitewash and rationalize failures and imperfections. We do this because we haven't gotten very good at forgiveness yet. The better we get at forgiving bad, the more clearly we allow ourselves to see it. I have read that St. Paul viewed himself as one of the worst sinners by the time of his death, presumably because he got so good at accepting forgiveness that his clarify of self-evaluation was able to develop very far.
The human tendency is to deny sin in ourselves and our friends and put the spotlight and ridicule on others; but forgiveness allows us to see sin everywhere in contrast to true perfection, which exists nowhere except in ideals revealed to us by higher authority.
