God, being perfect, can He create the imperfect? From perfection, can imperfection emerge? A dialogue between two members of the Lecatho Discord server.
I. Introduction of the Question
This question frequently arises in digital communication spaces focused on religion. We will quote parts of the inquiry from the person who publicly questioned the Lecatho server https://discord.gg/cxrzWgmgG9 to present the questions as they are commonly formulated:
“Were we born with the sole purpose of detaching ourselves from what was given to us?
Should we live for God and not enjoy what He has made available to us (emotions, pleasures)?
The principle itself, why this test of life? This leads me to see God not as Love, but as Cruelty, which would explain my way of evangelizing… I cannot consider hell and think that God is Love rather than Cruelty. It's more the principle of the test than hell itself…
And how to explain original sin? Were Adam and Eve not perfect at Creation? And if they were, why did they taste the fruit? If Adam and Eve are not perfect, how could God stoop to non-perfection if He is totally perfect?”
These questions are interesting and difficult, and knowing how to answer them is fundamental for each individual believer. Let us attempt to rephrase the question, reading the previous quote from bottom to top:
–God is perfect, but created imperfect beings, which is paradoxical, because the perfect can only engender the perfect;
–these imperfect beings, namely Adam and Eve, committed original sin, and since then, man risks hell from birth;
–the real possibility left to man to go to hell is a malicious act by God (God would therefore be cruel);
–finally, we should live without enjoying life, because enjoying life is an evil that turns us away from God.
One last idea expressed, not transcribed above, is that faith opposes reason.
We find here very famous objections: If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist?
If God is good, why does hell exist? Does faith oppose reason? All these questions are textbook cases, simple questions raising a paradox in a few words, and seeming to very simply call the Christian religion into question.
Let us approach the question from the angle of perfection as it was raised: Can a perfect God create imperfect creatures?
II. What Does the Church Tell Us?
Let us take up the Catechism of St. Pius X, which has the virtue of being clear and concise:
Does God care for the world and all the things He has created?
Yes, God cares for the world and all the things He has created; He preserves and governs them by His infinite goodness and wisdom, and nothing happens here below without God willing or permitting it.
Why do you say that nothing happens here below without God willing or permitting it?
It is said that nothing happens here below without God willing or permitting it, because there are things that God wills and commands, and others that He does not prevent, such as sin.
Why does God not prevent sin?
God does not prevent sin, because even from the abuse that man makes of the freedom granted to him, He knows how to draw a good and always make His mercy or His justice shine forth more brightly.
Why is it said that man was created in the image and likeness of God?
It is said that man was created in the image and likeness of God, because the human soul is spiritual and rational, free in its acts, capable of knowing and loving God and of enjoying Him eternally; and these perfections are in us a reflection of the infinite greatness of the Lord.
The Church therefore teaches us that God is good, that in His wisdom, He allows evil to occur, because He can draw a greater good from it.
III. Faith and Reason
Faith and reason go hand in hand and do not oppose each other, as St. Paul tells us in Romans 1:20:
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”
Likewise, the Holy First Vatican Council, in its dogmatic constitution *Dei Filius*, Chapter IV, Faith & Reason, goes in the same direction:
“But even though faith is above reason, there can never be any real disagreement between faith and reason; since it is the same God who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith, and who has endowed the human mind with the light of reason. God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.”
Therefore, if we see a contradiction in the problem: “Can a perfect God create imperfect beings?”, the incoherence is only apparent.
The approach is therefore, starting from known things, to find a solution to the problem, which does not distort the definitions, and which provides a solution.
IV. Resolution
God
God is perfect. In one sense, God is the only perfect being, because He suffers from no imperfection.
Man
Man is, depending on the adopted viewpoint, perfect or imperfect. Man is perfect, because his nature was created by God, and he can reach his end, which is salvation, despite the wounds of original sin. However, in common language, we say that man is imperfect, because he would lack perfections: he can do evil, he could run faster, he could fly, survive in space, walk on the moon, teleport, etc.
One can only agree with these facts, which, however, in no way contradict what precedes: man can reach his end, his eternal salvation.
Problem: man's potential to do good is also a potential to do a lesser good, or even evil. Is this an imperfection?
Answer: The answer is no.
–The perfection of man lies in the possibility he has to choose the good;
–let us understand that man is, by nature, like the angel, a personal creature, endowed with intelligence, will, etc.; and the will is what allows us to choose the good.
–Furthermore, to affirm that a personal creature is imperfect means that God cannot create personal beings, because they are by nature imperfect.
–Moreover, the Church holds that God offers His salvation to every man, by means known to Him alone, cf. Vatican II, pastoral constitution *Gaudium et Spes* 22:5: we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all, in a way known to God, the possibility of being associated with the paschal mystery.
–Finally, this cooperation, this participation of man in salvation is accomplished by grace, which elevates human nature to the divine plane in a transcendent way, as St. Thomas Aquinas says:
“Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.”
V. Epilogue
Let us therefore return to the initial questions, sweeping away what remains of objections with a wave of the hand. Were we born with the sole purpose of detaching ourselves from what was given to us? Should we live for God and not enjoy what He has made available to us (emotions, pleasures)?
Gen 1:10b; Gen 1:12b; Gen 1:18b; Gen 1:21b; Gen 1:25b “And God saw that it was good.” the Bible affirms to us many times; creation is good. There is therefore no evil in enjoying, within just limits, the goods created by God for man.
According to the adage of St. Ignatius of Loyola, we can enjoy creatures:
“As much as they do not turn us away from God, no more than one can enjoy them without being turned away from God.”
I cannot consider hell and think that God is Love rather than Cruelty. It's more the principle of the test than hell itself…
Life is a gift that God gives us so that, ultimately, He may love us, and that we, in turn, may love Him ultimately. We realize that here below, the imperishable and most profitable good is the love we most often have for the members of our family. Leisure and entertainment are merely ways of passing time that do not affect us, Cf. Pascal, *Pensées*.
The principle itself, why this test of life? This leads me to see God not as Love, but as Cruelty, which would explain my way of evangelizing…
Perceiving life as a test in view of the judgment that follows death is a bias that totally modifies reality. From this perspective, some pass the test and go to heaven, and the others go to hell; this is very far from the reality of things. Once again, God predestines each one to go to heaven, and offers to each one, by means known to God alone, to go to heaven.
Also read | The Spirit of Faith is Trust in God Despite Adversities
And how to explain original sin? Were Adam and Eve not perfect at Creation? And if they were, why did they taste the fruit?
Adam and Eve are different from us because, in addition to nature, they were granted four gifts beyond nature. They sinned through pride by preferring the creature to God, which is an intrinsic potentiality of human nature, as was said above.
If Adam and Eve are not perfect, how could God stoop to non-perfection if He is totally perfect?
They are perfect.
A.B.G.M.C.C