Are we imperfect from birth?
There may be some scriptures that say we are imperfect from birth because of (fictitious) Adam’s sin. Such verses make no sense like many other prima-facie meaningless verses such as Joshua 10:13; Isaiah 40:26; John 3:13;11:26 …….
However, there are scriptures that say we are capable of displaying perfection which is already within us. (Job 1:8; Habakkuk 2:4; Mathew 5:48 ……. ) When Jesus spoke of perfection, he was realistic and did not imply perfection as belonging to our PHYSICAL body whose very nature is growth, maturity and decay. Look at his words: “Be PERFECT as your heavenly Father is” and “Father is spirit.” (Mathew 5:48; John 4:24) How? By acting beneficially towards others, without expecting any reward in return. (Mathew 5:44-48) This statement of Jesus has universal approval (if someone tells you: “I love you BECAUSE I NEED YOU,” you call that love selfishness and abhor it). Thus Jesus linked perfection with our inner self from which we can draw out any virtue to any extent we like.—Mathew 7:12
This has been discerned in the East and the West alike. In the East sages say God’s qualities (truth, benevolence and beauty)* could be seen in the creation. Hence we have the famous quote from Socrates:
“Speak only what is truthful;
Speak that truth ONLY IF it is beneficial to the listener;
Present that truth to the listener in most pleasant [beautiful] manner.”
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates talked about the nature of virtue and argued that it could not be taught for virtue already existed within our inner self which could be drawn upon at will and utilized. Interestingly, the word virtue comes from Latin, virtus, meaning strength and refers to the inherent qualities and powers of our inner self. This has been clearly understood by another Eastern Philosopher who declared: “When your constant virtue does not go astray, you will return to the condition which has no limit.” (Lao-tzu)
Virtue lie in each and every one of us, awakened only to the extent that we contemplate them. Sometimes our virtues are so natural that we do not even realize their presence. When others admire a particular quality that they see in us, we often tend to shrug off, saying: “Really? You think so? May be, I don’t know.” To us that particular virtue others noticed is just like an arm or a leg, a basic part of us. No wonder people seek cover of darkness to perform vices and often deny having performed them even when confronted with evidence!
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*Foot Note:
They looked at the fruit-bearing trees. They are actually an interplay of truth (or eternity) and transience—memory of all future generations of a particular tree remains protected in the memory of its seed, hence there is something like a substratum in the seed that can be called TRUTH. Tree clothes its seed with sweet, nutritious flesh which teaches us BENEVOLENCE, and tree presents the fruit in appealing colors which teaches us BEAUTY. Hence Socrates taught: Whatever you speak, speak only the TRUTH, convey it if it is only BENEFICIAL to the listener, and convey it only if you can do it in a most pleasant manner (or with BEAUTY)
