KETCHUP ON THE HAMBURGER

A man said, “God is absolutely perfect in all things.” 

The Gadfly said, “If I asked you to pour ketchup onto a hamburger, you would probably be able to do it perfectly and not spill a drop.” 

The man said, “Of course.” 

The Gadfly continued, “But there are other things in your life for which you experience a lack of competence.” 

The man answered, “Yes, that is true.” 

The Gadfly said, “Yet being incompetent in other things is not an indictment against your competence as a ketchup pourer.  That we may perceive perfection in the creation of this life does not imply that God must be perfect in all things.   It is enough for God to be competent in some things.” 

The man said, “But the Bible says God is perfect.” 

The Gadfly replied, “If God is perfect, without limitation, then we will have to use another word to describe that.  For perfection always implies a limitation.  If you want to tune a guitar perfectly, you do not have the freedom to tighten and loosen the strings anyway you choose.  Whatever standard of tuning you choose imposes a very precise limit on how you can tune that guitar.  This is true with any particular measure of perfection.   The more things God is able to express in perfection, the more God must comply with the limitations, which those standards of perfection impose.  The more God complies with the limitations of perfection, the more bound to limitations God becomes.  This bondage to the limitations of perfection will eventually accrue into a lack of ability to reach perfection in some other area.  If God is able to soar to the pinnacle of perfection in some things, then God knows well the misery of incompetence in other things.