Some things never change. So it is that some exceedingly crazy notions about the word ‘perfect’ keep doing the rounds surprisingly consistently. The baloney that is believed and expressed regarding the word is mind boggling to say the least. For some mysterious reason, it is very common to forget that whether something is or is not perfect depends on its intended purpose or function and has nothing whatsoever to do with arbitrary fancies of anybody.
A perfect toaster, for example, is one that toasts bread in a reasonably convenient and safe manner. The idea of a perfect toaster in no way implies that it plays appropriate music for every occasion, or it tucks its owner in bed every night. Similarly, a perfect bomb is one that explodes when it is triggered, and a perfect soda can is one that opens when its tab is pulled– destruction and breakage are integral to the fulfilment of the function of both. It will simply not do, to have a ‘safe’ bomb that refuses to go off or a soda can that is so ‘strong’ that it cannot be opened and emptied.
In case you have begun to wonder why all this is important, how people perceive ‘perfect’ is not merely a pedantic complaint regarding improper use of language. Instead, one of the most popular ‘arguments’ pressed into service by atheists to reject God is based on this error. The argument is this: the world as we know it is not perfect, and therefore cannot be the handiwork of a perfect deity. Therefore, God does not exist, and there is no other way around.
This is just another example of how low the benchmark for arguments that pass muster among the atheists is. There are so many things wrong with the ‘way too much pain and suffering in the world for a rational belief in God’ line of reasoning (if it can at all be called reasoning), that to list them all would be a monumental task. Fortunately, that is not necessary. For our purposes, it would be enough to point out the fundamental flaw, which happens to be a faulty understanding of the word ‘perfect’.
As is so often the case, the lesson to learn here is humility. God is under no obligation to comply with mere mortals’ fanciful wishes regarding how the world should be. One is well-advised not to overestimate one’s importance in the grand scheme of things and to deal with the world as it is, not the world he would like it to be. Delusions are always dangerous. But especially so when they are of a hubristic nature.
You are familiar with how the rest of the argument proceeds: Why do innocent children get sick and die? Why is there so much sorrow and injustice in the world? If God exists, why does He allow all this? Is He too powerless to do anything about it (in which case He is not Omnipotent)? Or is He unaware of all the evil in the world (in which case He is not Omniscient)? Or is He simply indifferent to good and evil (in which case He is not All-good). This is the classic triple-bind offered to the theist. There is no reason why any of the three ‘options’ must be accepted. For the correct answer here is an emphatic ‘none of the above’.
Instead of dealing with the world as it is, those who employ this sort of reasoning are guilty of conceiving, from pure imagination, a world as they would like it to be. Then, (surprise, surprise!) when they fail to find the world around them to be anything like what they had imagined, they declare that that can only mean that God does not exist.
The ‘too much suffering in the world’ objection would have been valid if the theistic position had been that the life of man (as God created it) was meant to be a merry and perpetual party. As it happens, the sensible theistic position has always been that this life is temporary and that primarily it is a test, in which an individual’s performance will settle his station in the next life. This is also the only narrative found in the revealed texts. If life is temporary, then man is going to die one way or the other. And if it is a test, then disease, poverty and suffering are as essential to it as are health, luxury and happiness. These are no flaws, then, in the design of life or of the world for that matter. In fact, considering its purpose, a life devoid of such ingredients would be a grossly imperfect one. If you want to know what a perfect world would look like, all you need to do is look around.
As is so often the case, the lesson to learn here is humility. God is under no obligation to comply with mere mortals’ fanciful wishes regarding how the world should be. One is well-advised not to overestimate one’s importance in the grand scheme of things and to deal with the world as it is, not the world he would like it to be. Delusions are always dangerous. But especially so when they are of a hubristic nature.
