FB discussion # 3 W04 The Human Person

Over the years, I have gathered ten myths students have expressed about the human
perfection. Here they are in the table below:

Ten Myths About Human Perfection

MYTHS DR. BORJAS RESPONSE

1. Only God is perfect. Start with the proper defn of perfection. Are we referring to God
(Were imperfect perfection or human perfection? We are called to be humanly perfect.
b/c were human.) Our basis is Christ who came down to be among us and totally and
radically transformed our humanity. He upgraded it! Virtue Ethics
precisely works on the idea of a growing perfection, where we become
more holy by practicing the virtues until Christ is formed in you. (Gal.
4,19)
2. To sin is human. Did God who is all-loving create us flawed? Did He create us to sin? How
can this be if we were created in His image and likeness?
3. At least were Is trying to do good, good enough? Trying not to murder good
trying! enough? We need to succeed, not just try.
4. We are imitating Christ is the God-man who is 100% human and 100% divine at the same
Christs human time! You cannot separate Christs human self from His God self! We are
self. imitating Christ, not just some part of Him!
5. If we were perfect, Perfection doesnt spell boring. Being good doesnt mean one is corny!
life would be Perfection is not static, but dynamic. Its pushing the envelope all the
boring. time! Thats challenging and NOT boring.
6. Christ didnt have Thats why theres GRACE unmerited, undeserved gift of Gods
sin but were presence. Christ died for us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. On our own we
tainted by sin so we cant be perfect. But Christ already died for us to save us! When we
cant be perfect. accept Christ as Savior in baptism, we can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.(Phil. 4, 13)
7. We cant be perfect Jesus was tempted! As the perfect man who is our Norm, He never gave
b/c were tempted. in. Christ was like us in all things but sin!(Heb. 4, 15)
Council of Chalcedon (451 AD):
Following the holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and
the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity and
perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, composed of
rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity
and consubstantial with us as to his humanity; "like us in all things but
sin."
Jesus felt hungry, tired, afraid and lonely, but He never sinned.
Gaudium et Spes # 22:
For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion
with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human
mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the
 Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things
except sin.
8. We cant be perfect Being limited isnt a flaw. Its just how we were created. Would you
b/c were limited. expect a rabbit to fly? No! Because that is not the nature of the rabbit.
(Were only The human persons nature is to be loving and good.
human!)
9. Mistakes are good While it is true that we can learn from our mistakes, we must not rejoice
b/c we learn from in them. Its not like, Yay, I made a mistake. Mistakes can hurt
them. relationships.
10. Perfection is No. Perfection is based on the Truth! It isnt relative. It is objective.
subjective. There is that universal call to holiness. The Norm/standard is Christ!

After reading and understanding the ten myths, and based on knowledge picked up in
class on the human person and freedom as well as from the article of Timothy OConnell,
choose ONE to comment on. If you are the first one to respond, just comment and POST
your answer to this thread.
The next one to respond (and succeeding ones) must answer the question, read all
previous responses, and comment also on what the 3 persons ahead of him/her said. That
way we have a conversation going.
Ex.
Kat: I agree with her when she said...
Andy: I do not agree with his take on the false image....
Remember to always cite your sources, if the ideas aren't your own. Quotation marks if you
are quoting directly, no quotation marks if you are paraphrasing (saying it in your own
words.) Non-citation is equivalent to plagiarism, which is a serious offense.
You have 8 days to do this. The deadline is Feb. 10, 11:59 pm. Any posts after this, including
edited posts, will not be considered. My FB is synched with Manila date and time.

Growing in Perfection,
Dr. Borja