Absolute perfection is not possible

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It is well known in mathematics that qualities and quantities are unbound (there is always a higher value). Absolute perfection requires a bound. Therefore absolute perfection is not possible.
 
I expect the point is that by his logic God cannot be perfect. :roll_eyes:

So why do they call it perfect pitch? Can one sound match another perfectly?

Can something approximate perfection to such a high degree that it’s almost impossible to distinguish between it and perfection?

Is it even possible for a lowly creature such as we to gauge what is perfect and what is not?

Is it necessary for God to be perfect? He is He relative to nothing else, even perfection.
 
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Any proof for existence of God which uses the existence of absolute good as a premise is false.
 
Salmonslayer said:
Something unobtainable by us does not mean it’s unobtainable by anything.
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It is not about whether we cannot obtain it and something else can obtain it. It is about the fact that the highest bound does not exist.
 
STT said:
It is well known in mathematics that qualities and quantities are unbound (there is always a higher value). Absolute perfection requires a bound. Therefore absolute perfection is not possible.
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Baltimore Catechism
Q. 164. What do we mean when we say God is “infinitely perfect”?
A. When we say God is “infinitely perfect” we mean there is no limit or bounds to His perfection; for He possesses all good qualities in the highest possible degree and He alone is “infinitely perfect.”
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Catechism
370 In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.
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The op is saying that with number there is no end to number, no ultimate number, endless. Therefore therefore number has no bounds and so the quality of perfection cannot be reached in the same way as the ultimate number cannot be reached.

Not applicable to God imo. Perfection is a human construct.
 
STT said:
It is well known in mathematics that qualities and quantities are unbound (there is always a higher value). Absolute perfection requires a bound. Therefore absolute perfection is not possible.
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An absolute perfect quantity is not possible. You are conflating two different subject matters using a concept that takes on a different meaning in both.
 
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We are told I’m sure that God is perfect, but, what if He weren’t?

What if God was so close to perfect but not quite? What difference would it make since we are less than a grain of sand in a vast universe compared to Him.

Not that I don’t think He is perfect but just for the sake of debate.
 
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Is pure water not possible?
H2O, nothing but three elements, like the Holy Trinity.
 
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STT said:
Absolute perfection requires a bound.
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That is your erroneous assumption, that there are different degrees of perfection on some sort of quantitative scale. Do not be misled by the way people use language. Almost perfect makes about as much sense as almost unique or almost pregnant.
 
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STT said:
Absolute perfection requires a bound.
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Why do you think that that’s not a false premise?
Why do you think that you are not equivocating on the meaning of the word perfection?
 
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Best answer so far has been @Beryllos’.

I’ll elaborate on it by saying that “perfection”, as we use the term in religion, does not exist in mathematics. The perfection that religion speaks of (whether God’s or Creation’s or a saint’s) lies in a completely different cognitive domain. Of course the term “perfect” is used in mathematics too, such as in “a perfect sphere”, but this isn’t the perfection that religious writing has in mind. When you look to mathematics to find an analogy for “perfection” in the religious sense, it’s like looking for an analogy for a “best color” among sounds. It simply doesn’t exist, because it cannot exist in the cognitive domain you’re exploring.

Note also that the same goes for the term “value”. Mathematics speaks extensively of values, of course, but these values are utterly and completely unrelated to religious values. No analogy can be drawn. In fact, somewhat ironically, from a religious perspective mathematics is a value-less domain: it is dry, sterile, meaningless. It has no affective attributes. Since the perfection that religion speaks of is the apogee of value, it cannot be found in mathematics, the religious and mathematical cognitive domains being strictly disjoint.

EDIT: Dumb typo corrected in 1st sentence of 2nd paragraph. Please read again!
 
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