BitterSweetLife

My bro Paul flirts with disaster in the Grand Canyon. Could "infinity" present a similar threat to personhood?

Lately I've been thinking about the implications that God's "infinity" has for personality. What got me started was a statement from the memorable Apostle Peter: "...the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." Perfect? Confirm? Strengthen? Establish? This is a soul-overhaul. More than a life's work. "Legacy" doesn't begin to describe it. And we're talking a very wide constituency.

I can't imagine the attention it really takes to bring out the nuanced edges of a personality, to quell insidious weaknesses that threaten chaos, burnish all traces of virtue to an ambient gleam. I'm not even sure a lifetime is long enough. In fact, "time" may be a poor context to conceive of such a project.

The reality is that none of us can understand this kind of artistry, much less actuate "perfection" in even a solitary person. You or I could invest ourselves in someone indefinitely, and after 80 years or so, that person still wouldn't be perfect. More pertinent to my case in point, we still wouldn't fully know her.

God's "infinity"—an endless continuum of "time," "space," and personality (I suspect I'm beginning to fray the edges of these terms)—is the only foundation for vivid identity in a vast multiplicity of souls. Only in the framework of an infinite being could there be significance for a multitude of "saints." Without the unfathomable capacities of God we would be lost in a sea of faces. God isn't extending mere recognition. He's promising more than an office plaque. Rather, he's guaranteeing heart-authenticity to myriads—to be fully formed and fully known. And no one else could do it.

Animated by a limitless being, the faces of a million "perfect" people will overshadow Hollywood's finest and our university intelligentsia like the sun outdistances a piece of quartz. This will be a civilization no Who's Who list could ever begin to fathom—a society where everyone will be Somebody. In a titanic, world-conquering crowd, no face will lack definition.

As the real thing outstrips the knockoff, as the Grand Canyon puts mere photos to shame, what passes now for "friendship" and "security" will seem like shadows. At the end of the day we'll be seeing Mankind, the genuine article, complete as planned.

And if you'll allow me to indulge a penchant for categorical statements, I'll sum up: Perfect identity in vast multiplicity is a tension only the Infinite could maintain.