“The best of all possible worlds.” Just the idea seems strange to me, but I guess even I’m not that much of an optimist. Of course the world isn’t perfect. In the novel, Pangloss was accused of heresy because someone who was that optimistic couldn’t believe in original sin. An ideal world is one in which sin never entered. How could sin possibly be part of the best possible world? Our world, however, is full of sin. We are not perfect people, and that is why we need forgiveness for our sins. While we as people can be made new through Jesus, our world is not even close to being the best possible.
P.S. Commented on His Beloved
Of course they thought he was a heretic. He can't possible believe in god if he thinks that anything in this world is perfect. If everything in this world is perfect then there is no reason to believe in god. I beleive that Pangloss is an atheist in disguise.
ReplyDeleteI think that in disguise it may mean that this is the "best possible of all worlds" if man continues to advance and progress. Perhaps not that it's perfect, but that it has a possibility to become perfect? Idk my bff Jill
ReplyDeleteI think "the best of all possible worlds" could be because we have all our needs taken care of. Also, the relationships in this life help us get through the less than perfect situations. If not, we have heaven to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteLike I said in my blog post, I think that 'best of all KNOWN worlds' would be more fitting. This is the best world that we know, but we could always think of possibilities that would make this world better. Like wings. The world would be so much better if we all had wings.
ReplyDeleteThe world can never be perfect by God's standards because we failed him. In the beginning though it was perfect. If Pangloss had been looking at the world from that perspective I can see where he could have considered it so. God created all things perfectly. We fall short not him; but through him we can become perfect again. Like when the earth will become perfect again, by God's standards, when New Jerusalem descends.
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