perfect

Perfect Belittles Good

When I was in math class during high school and college, I had two different experiences. In high school I was given credit on a math test only for the correct solutions that I turned in. While in college I was given credit for the steps that I took to arrive at an answer even if that answer was incorrect. While high school only accepted "perfect", college embraced "good". I may not have arrived at the "perfect" answer, but my teacher could see the steps that I took and affirm the positive steps while at the same time pointing out where I had strayed. In high school math class, the pursuit of perfect belittled the good.

imperfect and good.

imperfect and good.

The perfect belittling the good is something that you can see when an adult tries something for the first time. For instance, many adults do not like to dance in public in part because they are not perfect at dancing. We feel that since we "cannot dance" (read, we are not perfect dancers) we do not dance. And since we don't dance we remain crappy dancers. We do not see practice as making good progress that is to be affirmed. We just sit on our hands and marvel at those who seem to be able to dance "flawlessly". The pursuit of perfect belittles good.

You also see the pursuit of perfect belittling good when it comes to public policy. One party might propose a solution to a situation, fully aware that the proposal will not perfectly solve the problem. Critics point out the imperfections in the proposed solution and deem it as garbage since it is not going to address the problem 100%. Since the solution is not perfect it is belittled. 

Good does not have to be the enemy of perfection. Just because something may not be perfect, it still can be good. Just because humans are not perfect, humans are still good.

"Very Good" is not perfect

It may be obvious, but when someone says something is very good it is assumed that the thing is not perfect. In fact the use of the qualifier "very" denotes that "goodness" is collection of shades of grey. Something can be very good, good, sorta good, kinda good, almost good, formally good, etc. There is no grey in perfection. Something is either perfect or it is not. If something is kinda perfect means that it is not perfect. 

This is important to remember when Christians read Genesis this point that God does not declare creation as perfect but "very good". Creation was never perfect. Even the garden where Adam and Eve trotted was not perfect. It was very good. 

There has never been a state of perfection that we "fell" from. There are only shades of good. 

Which means that we can see places and times in the world that are very good. We will never see perfection. But when we see very good, we get a glimpse of what God intends. 

Looking for a geographic location for "Eden" is a red herring. Creation is infused with good and the very good. Stop looking for perfection. 

It was never made.