Is God Perfect?

[ThisYouWillDo]

Tom: I do not want to believe that divine perfection is beyond human contemplation - and I would not disagree with you for saying divine perfection depends upon human contemplation.

However, I have trouble with the suggestion that perfection depends upon a prime mover, as you appear to hold. Is this because you consider the prime mover creates everything, including concepts like hard and soft, abstract and concrete, early and late, perfect and imperfect? I am of the view that these concepts do not get created and would be the same in any other universe as they are in this one.

We have discovered (or I have anyway) that the early Christians and the Ancients did not link the two things: God was not perfect because he was not limited, and to be perfect, a thing had to be complete, entire or finished. But they also believed He was the prime mover notwithstanding his "unfinished" condition.

So why is it necessary for perfection to depend upon a prime mover?

TYWD

[TomOfSweden]

Tom: I do not want to believe that divine perfection is beyond human contemplation - and I would not disagree with you for saying divine perfection depends upon human contemplation.

However, I have trouble with the suggestion that perfection depends upon a prime mover, as you appear to hold. Is this because you consider the prime mover creates everything, including concepts like hard and soft, abstract and concrete, early and late, perfect and imperfect? I am of the view that these concepts do not get created and would be the same in any other universe as they are in this one.

We have discovered (or I have anyway) that the early Christians and the Ancients did not link the two things: God was not perfect because he was not limited, and to be perfect, a thing had to be complete, entire or finished. But they also believed He was the prime mover notwithstanding his "unfinished" condition.

So why is it necessary for perfection to depend upon a prime mover?

TYWD

Actually I think it does. The prime mover has to set up the rules. The whole point with the idea of the prime mover is that it was nothing before it at all. Compare it to the Hindu god Brahma who not only had the power to create the world but also itself. It must be the same deal with the Christian concept of god. They just ignore anything "before". What is considered perfect is relative and strongly dependent upon the universe it exists in. It's also dependent on context, but let's ignore that for now. All the concepts: hard and soft, abstract and concrete, early and late, perfect and imperfect are all highly context sensitive and are of course not the same regardless of universe. I'm sure you'll agree if you just gave it a little extra thought.