The Best of All Possible Worlds

This is "the best of all possible worlds," a quote from Gottfried Leibniz, 1710, in his book "Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil."

Why did Mr. Leibniz make this outrageous claim?

Because he believed God would have created another world if there could be a better one. Would an almighty God, capable of creating any of the infinite number of possible worlds, create an inferior world? So, why is this world so flawed if this is the best of all possible worlds? Why do people kill each other? Why do they abuse each other? Why are so many people selfish? James 4:1-2, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not."

The answer to all these questions is us. We are the reason this world is not perfect. Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" And any world a loving God could create would have to include free will. If God created the world in a way that no one could sin, there would also be no love. We would be robots, unable to choose love since choosing would not be an option. Theoretically, robots merely follow their programming, although glitches, whatever they are, allow the robots to disobey their original programming. It is not a choice the robot makes; it is a defect in the original programming or the hardware programmed to carry out the instructions.

So, even robots are susceptible to sin. Therefore, people, given free will, are infinitely more vulnerable to sin. Sin, in these cases, is defined as robots or people executing actions that disobey their created intent. In either case, there is a creator. People write the programs that the robots are to perform. And God created the programs people are to execute, whether that is DNA or free will choices. Our free will allows us to disobey God's created order. So, when God tells us He created everything to work together for good, He means we can choose to live within His created order, and when we do, things work out best for the collective we. John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Now, back to the original question. How can we know this is the best of all possible worlds. Because free will means we are free to be the best, worst, or a mixed version of our created selves. Given the potential outcomes this creates, this world is pretty good. Growing up, one of my favorite shows was Star Trek. Each week, the show took the characters to other worlds. We got to experience how other worlds had taken one of the infinite numbers of free-will choices that led to an inferior world. We saw an episode where the Nazis won WWII. Freedom was lost. People lived like robots, and when they tried to exercise their God-given free will, they were killed. Gene Roddenberry allowed his imagination to run wild. He explored the possibility of a better world. Each time our choices were fully allowed to play out, the world being explored turned out to be more flawed than our own. I often wondered why those people who seemed willing to do anything to expand their power over other people, like Hitler, had not already enslaved the entire world. This leads to the lesson learned by all the great thinkers: something, or someone, prevents evil from creating the ultimate evil world. Matthew 24:22, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

We could explore our ideas of a theoretically "better world" or see how much better this world would be if we followed the Creator's advice on living. The only thing keeping this world from being the ideal world is us. We do this by choosing to live in a way that opposes God's truth. John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." and John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Want a better marriage? Learn to love the one we marry as much as Jesus has loved us. Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" Want a better family? Show the family we have the same love Jesus showed us. 1 Timothy 5:8, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Want to be happier? Make other people's lives happier. Matthew 7:12, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." If we want to follow Jesus to a better world, we only need to follow His only new commandment, which we will all be doing in heaven, John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

God has placed us in unique places throughout this world. This blog is about sharing His Word; please share it with those you believe would be blessed by hearing it. Bless you! If you want to receive the Quarterly Newsletter, email us at bill@reasoningwithgod.com. If you want to read past blogs, go to https://www.reasoningwithgod.com/blog.