A Perfect God

In the last post we discussed faith in Jesus Christ. I want to continue that discussion. However, I’ve realized over the course of the past week that we need more of a foundation before I can continue as desired. So today I will discuss a perfect God.

Throughout the history of the world, many have believed in imperfect gods while others have believed in perfect gods. Yet God can’t be both perfect and imperfect. So which is it? Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize God as a perfect being.

To support our belief, I turn to the various forms of evidence provided by the world in which we live. Take, for example, the life of a flower. Each flower is perfectly suited for the demands of the environment in which it lives. It builds a perfect symbiosis with its surroundings, taking nourishment from what is provided. At the same time, it provides food for other living organisms around it. Trees do the same in the environments where they can be found. Insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even humans all have this relationship with the environments in which they live.

The environments are also so diverse, yet perfect. We have tundra or deserts on our planet. Forests or jungles can be found. Mountains or islands dot the earth. There are so many different sorts of terrain to meet the needs of the diverse organisms of our world.

In addition the atmosphere and the makeup of the earth provide evidence of perfection. Our atmosphere is perfect for life, containing just the right level of substances to keep the earth warm with breathable air. At the same time this same set of substances is designed to burn up harmful objects, such as meteors, before they can do much damage to our way of life. Trees and vegetation convert carbon dioxide to oxygen while animal life and humans convert oxygen to carbon dioxide. Gravity keeps the world in working order. We are in the perfect location relative to the sun for life to exist. Indeed the earth is built to keep the life-supporting environment in and the harmful substances out.

An imperfect being couldn’t have created a world so perfectly organized and structured. However, a perfect being couldn’t create imperfection either. How, then, do we account for the many imperfections found within the world? If God is perfect, how could this God create imperfection in our world?

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t believe imperfection was created by God. Instead we recognize imperfection as a result of the fall of Adam. God created the heavens, the earth, and everything found therein. This includes Adam and Eve, whom He placed in the Garden of Eden. Now all that was in the world was created by a perfect God and was therefore perfect.

God then instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth. He also told them they should not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would surely die.

Many may wonder how a perfect god could give two conflicting commandments, setting the first man and woman up for failure. I don’t believe He did. I think it would have been more like this: “You are to multiply and fill the earth. But you must know the laws of the world you live in. These laws specify that you cannot eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil. If you do this world will lose its perfect state and all that is in it will become subject to imperfection and death. You will surely die.”

In other words I believe the second instruction was merely instruction to provide Adam and Eve with the knowledge of the consequences of their choice. In order to obey God, they would need to partake of the fruit, but partaking of the fruit carried consequences that God wanted Adam and Eve to be aware of. In this way Adam and Eve could transgress the laws of the perfect world they were in with knowledge of what it would mean to them. They would not be sinning against the commandments of God. They would be transgressing (violating) against the laws of their world, causing that world to leave its perfect state and enter an imperfect state with death, pain, and other imperfections.

Thus I believe Adam and Eve had knowledge of what would become of them for partaking of the fruit, but chose to do so anyway in order to obey the commandment of God. Thus it was a righteous choice, though it brought about their fall. And in this way God was able to provide a way for us to enter an imperfect state without creating imperfection Himself.

So why would a perfect god punish them for a righteous choice?  Again I don’t believe God did.  Adam and Eve had to suffer the consequences of their choice.  This is why they were expelled from the Garden of Eden and had to suffer the pains of the world.  This was according to the perfect plan of God.

However, this leaves room for a question. The bodies created for Adam and Eve were perfect weren’t they? How, then, could they choose imperfection if they themselves were perfect? This will be the subject of the next post.