Perfect

Some have said that in Buddhism one attempts to push the imperfect out and allow the divine perfect in. Islam suggests that we must be moral in order to over come our fate, and be made ready. Various religions, along with Christianity suggest we must overcome our immoral nature... but not every religion has a figure like Christ as the center point.

Someone I respect as a creative talent and person asked me if it was true that I believed all that “Jesus Magic, that Jesus lived died and came back, that he did all that groovy magic stuff, and never f‘d a woman.”

Well, you’d have to admit I said, if he did all that, he’d have to be magical, or different. No man born of flesh could have or has done that. The person said his biggest thing wasn’t the miracles, but the coming back from the dead. I understand that I said, but Jesus was flesh born but the son of God. His way was prepared, his goal was achieved, and his example offers us a chance to overcome death. The person looked incredulously at me.

But if you look at the way the world looks at Christ, it shouldn’t surprise you. Christ is presented as almost impossibly good, impossibly moral, and perfect. Even the nonbelievers see him as someone presented as moral, good, positive and would be great if true. But their belief in his reality, the true Christ, is stunted, by a world view that nobody is perfect, 1, nobody should bother to be because it cannot be done, 2, and, the reason he would have been perfect is because he was actually a God and thereby it is a false comparison, humans are imperfect.

The cult of imperfect is one that is far greater than any religion, because it encompasses people from every religion and every state of mind. Cynicism is poison, because it cripples your ability to believe, and it exists for a few important reasons. Nihilism is a belief pattern that suggests that there is no meaning inherent in the universe and thereby we are free to create our own belief structure. There is also failed perfectionist logic. We believe that perfection is good, but it is wholly impossible to achieve, therefore it is foolish to attempt.

But Christ was made of flesh, whatever we know from what he told us, we know that he suffered same temptations, and same flesh bound pains and worries.

While the nonbelievers look at Christ positively, if askew, the same is not for Christians. The world looks at Christians from a variety of perspectives, only a few being positive, because, when you’ve done wrong in the name of your religion it stains you, but also, when you tell others that there is only a single path, it stains you too. So it isn’t just the bad Christian acts and bad Christians, but that the world hears what Christians say as being judgment, and damnation. But we are both imperfect and hopefully striving to become perfect, and born of flesh

Christ did not die to make us perfect however. Christ died to allow us to have communion with one who was perfect. The perfect lamb had to be slaughtered and its blood poured out, to bring forgiveness. Yes we pursue faith, yes we pursue doing righteous things, but perfection is not our goal. By giving ourselves over to the promise of redemption through the blood, we take upon ourselves a desire to become better. Better is better than nothing, and nothing is exactly what you will accomplish if you never seek to grow, morally or otherwise. It is the journey of a Christian that seasons their wisdom, we learn every time we succeed true, but we grow with every step, so long as it is an attempt to become what we are told we can become, moral.

Perfectionism, and the lack of it, Cynicism and its prevalent stain, and Failed Perfectionism all present the Christian with an obstacle. But none stand in the way of how Christians can escape the common view, by just attempting to live what we’ve been told, instead of telling others what to do, and presenting them with a seemingly impossible accomplishment.

All redemption by us for sin is impossible, by the way, for it is only by the blood anyone can be saved.