Voltaire’s Perfect World

Voltaire’s Perfect World

Voltaire put it this way: “All’s for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” There is reason to challenge this statement from a hypothetical standpoint. For example, the best of all possible worlds might actually be a horrible place if the range of all possible worlds is from horrible to brutal. What do we know about possible worlds. 

But to address his statement more directly: “Is the world we live in the best of all worlds?” As it turns out, Voltaire did not think so, citing the ubiquity of conflict and suffering in our world. 

Christians tend to agree with Voltaire, pointing out that the world was a perfect place when there was a Garden of Eden. Then they would then point out that sin brought all sorts of harm to our world. Women experience pain in childbirth, married people suffer conflict, thorns and thistles fill the earth, work is often frustrating and threatening and, worst of all, people are doomed to die. Paul commented in the book of Romans that, “creation is subjected to futility” and is hoping to be “set free from its bondage to corruption”.

Christians might also point out that God has promised a glorious resurrection for his people in which they will occupy a new earth that is unbothered by the corruptions of sin and death. They could further explain that the new heavens and earth will be superior to Eden in that those who inhabit it will have pure hearts, knowing hearts, hearts committed to loving God. There will no longer be a threat of falling into sin. Unlike Eden, it is a secure place for Christians. 

But it is not clear that these answers actually address Voltaire’s complaint. The Fall came about because of human disobedience, human pride, and human distrust in God. But is the Fall something God did not anticipate? Is it possible that the God who is a Spirit, the God who lives outside of time, and yet maintains all that is bound by space and time, would not know that the Fall would happen? 

If we believe that God is good, and we believe that he is omniscient, do we not also have to believe that he created a world he knew would become subject to sin and death, because he determined that those problems would ultimately result in something better than if they had not been present? Does not the drama of the cross, the crucial event of all history, reinforce this idea? Is it not a pattern of God’s—that he rules over all, bringing great good even out of great evil?

If this is so, this also explains how Paul can write, “For those who love God, all things work together for good.” He goes on to point out that those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. What does this mean? To image Christ is to have all the capacities that God has given to humans and, more fundamentally, it is to have Christ’s character. This means that Christians will certainly become other-centered, genuinely loving, and self-sacrificing, even to the point of death. 

Now, circling back to Voltaire’s statement, let us ask, “Is our present world the best of all worlds?” I think we can answer in this way: “No, the heaven God is preparing for us is the best of all worlds.” But we can also say, “The world we are presently living in is the best of all worlds for God’s purpose of preparing us for that perfect world.” Our present world is the perfect boot camp. Our present world is the perfect place for us to train, mature, and become sanctified. It is a hard world, but the difficulty of it is the necessary context for our opportunities to exercise the character of Christ. We must pass through this hard world in order to be made like him.