God is perfect: he cannot change, he cannot please or hurt. How so?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2020 Book of the month, "Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.
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Re: God is perfect: he cannot change, he cannot please or hurt. How so?

Post by zulfiyya »

Perfection is the ultimate form of whatever the prevalent belief of "good" morality entails. Basically, whatever is regarded as moral, the ultimate highest level of that morality would be considered "perfection".

Although I do not believe in God, the biblical depiction of God is indeed a "perfect" one because he represents what is considered the highest form of morality, at least in the Christian religion.
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Post by MarcellaM »

From my perspective, being perfect is without blemish. I believe God is perfect but sometimes i think this is because of what i was raised up to believe. From the teachings, God has no mistake, He doesn't make faults. I would view perfection being related to Him being hurt or pleased because i know He can be hurt at times when we sin against him. But that wouldn't mean He is not perfect.
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Post by markodim721 »

I would say that God is perfect for both reasons: He cannot change and cannot please or hurt.
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Post by Njatha77 »

I agree with the author that God is perfect , and cannot change. In fact, I prefer calling God "The Absolute" and yes, he cannot be reasoned with to influence his hand.
I take the fact that he cannot please or hurt as only one reason why God is perfect. Others include: the accepted notions of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience – surely it is ridiculous to imagine that an all-powerful, all-knowing Being can be reasoned with to "change his mind", or offended by our interpretation of what's evil and what's good. Again, God must be perfect as nothing exists outside of Him. He is omnipresent and must therefore be intrinsic of every creation, no matter how lowly. Hilariously, someone argued that during creation the "material" God used for "moulding" the Universe and its contents must have come from within himself, rather than from an outside source. :D Whether this material be physical matter, energy, or mentality is irrelevant.
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Post by ROSEY-ANN »

AnnieOgoo wrote: 08 Dec 2020, 06:42 In a bid to explain God's perfection, the author states that;
a. God cannot change
b. He cannot please or hurt.
The reason behind this later conclusion being that: "Admitting the possibility of such would be admitting to an inherent defect in God’s perfection and would completely negate the concept of perfectness. Pleasing him admits to the existence of a pleasure port that is insufficiently filled, a partial void, a defect, and certainly not perfect. Hurting him would admit to the existence of cracks in His armor where noxious agents could penetrate and cause damage eliminating His perfection."
I find the reasons behind this conclusion (that God is perfect) to be unconvincing, even faulty.
Yes, I believe God is perfect, but not because he cannot be pleased or hurt. That would make him an unfeeling God. Perhaps he is perfect because he is the highest authority and the standard for perfection, i.e God is perfect because he is God.
This whole syllogism brings to mind the question, "What is perfection?"
So I ask:
a. Is God perfect because He cannot change, or please or hurt? And;
b. What is perfection?
God Almighty indeed is perfect. I do think that God can be pleased. For me, pleasing God means doing what God says. God can determine if what we have done is good (pleasing) in fact this demonstrates that he is all-knowing and perfect concerning everything.
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Post by Emidio Inocencio »

In my point of view, he was not able to explain well how God was: he didn't explain the perfect side of God at all. the only thing clear to me was that he was frustrated with what happened to him while religious.
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Post by Suzer6440 xyz »

how do we define perfect??? I think everyone has a different definition. When it comes to asking a question, based on Gods perfection , I struggle to answer because People see his perfection ( or non perfection) with different eyes and beliefs. The author seems to be frustrated and not clear
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Post by Abi1 »

Firstly, God Almighty, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is perfect in all ways. We as human beings are perfectly made in His image and likeness, however, we have fallen short in many ways where God will never. If we look at God: He is just and faithful, where we as human beings waver in our actions, in the things we say and many other things in life. God is constant and always the same with all. He has no prejudices against one individual or groups of individuals over another - doesn't matter their age, race, socio-economic status, beliefs, or anything else you could think up. Where we as humans give one individual another chance after making mistakes and not other individuals, God is just and gracious in giving everyone of us the same amount of time to make a change and correct our mistakes.

These are just a few reasons as to what makes God perfect and in light conveys what perfection is. Being constant and not swayed by the exterior of mankind but by their inner hearts that no one can see but Him, being just and gracious and so many other amazing things, is what perfection is.
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Post by Phooko Tebogo PC »

Katie Canedy wrote: 09 Dec 2020, 19:25 I do not think that He cannot be hurt by our actions, but I do believe that He is perfect. God is not affected personally by human concepts such as time, marriage, and conditional love. Perhaps trying to understand God in these areas is a little too complex for us.

Humans have the idea that perfection means that we cannot mess up or commit any sins at all (without error). But I believe that God's definition of perfect is different from ours.
You've definitely explained it best. Having to think about it, I actually kind of believe that we possess that perfection that is too complex to understand, with close proximity to that of God's. I too, believe that God's definition of perfect is different from ours.
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Post by Gandhi_D 1st »

AnnieOgoo wrote: 08 Dec 2020, 06:42 In a bid to explain God's perfection, the author states that;
a. God cannot change
b. He cannot please or hurt.
The reason behind this later conclusion is that: "Admitting the possibility of such would be admitting to an inherent defect in God’s perfection and would completely negate the concept of perfectness. Pleasing him admits to the existence of a pleasure port that is insufficiently filled, a partial void, a defect, and certainly not perfect. Hurting him would admit to the existence of cracks in His armor where noxious agents could penetrate and cause damage eliminating His perfection."
I find the reasons behind this conclusion (that God is perfect) to be unconvincing, even faulty.
Yes, I believe God is perfect, but not because he cannot be pleased or hurt. That would make him an unfeeling God. Perhaps he is perfect because he is the highest authority and the standard for perfection, i.e God is perfect because he is God.
This whole syllogism brings to mind the question, "What is perfection?"
So I ask:
a. Is God perfect because He cannot change, please or hurt? And;
b. What is perfection?
God is not perfect because He cannot change nor please or hurt although he doesn't need our approval to do something. He hurt but not, please. He hurt when His flocks/children are suffering when they have him.
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Post by Fajarr »

I assume that the author refers in this case to God's perfection, not as a lack of feelings (he doesn't feel pain when we make a mistake towards Him) but more as an existential state in which He accepts us as faulty and loves us anyway. I don't think that pain, in God's heart, acts in the same way as we humans feel. I think it manifests itself in a more parental form, much like a mother feels some inner discomfort when her child makes a mistake, but she knows (accepts) that that mistake is part of both the natural course of life and the child's path of development, learning, growing.
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