I remember one of my first lessons in at university by a philosophy professor. He was talking about Leibnitz and how he believed that the order in the world given by God was the best imagniable. If this world were different, it would be worse. The example was that in 1755 an eartquake hit Lissabon, Portugal, very hard causing ten thousands deaths. According to this theory it was the best imagniable, because in another world were those people wouldn’t have died more deaths would have occured (for example) somewhere else. And every “evil” in the world could give birth to a better thing (huge impact of philosophy and the European Enlightment). I found it a beautiful theory to explain the horrors, pains and suffering in the world.
Careful; that sounds like you’re preaching the need for “works”.
You could add the ongoing murder of unborn children: apparently more than a billion in the last 50 years. etc. etc. etc.
t allow evil unless a greater good can come out of it; but in this life, we dont necessarily see and/or understand the good. We have to be prepared to try to think outside the proverbial “box”.WelcomeI remember one of my first lessons in at university by a philosophy professor. He was talking about Leibnitz and how he believed that the order in the world given by God was the best imagniable. If this world were different, it would be worse. The example was that in 1755 an eartquake hit Lissabon, Portugal, very hard causing ten thousands deaths. According to this theory it was the best imagniable, because in another world were those people wouldn’t have died more deaths would have occured (for example) somewhere else. And every “evil” in the world could give birth to a better thing (huge impact of philosophy and the European Enlightment). I found it a beautiful theory to explain the horrors, pains and suffering in the world.
He also told the story of a female professor he knew, of Jewish origin. She was a Leibnitzian and gave a lecture to an auditorium of students. After the lecture a student asked her about Leibnitzs theory and why God would have let the Jews being massacred during WWII. She repeated that it was the still the best imagniable world and also good came out of it. Without the concentration camp we wouldn’t for example have the exepticional art works made by the prisoners.
I probably didn’t express myself well in English and using philosophy in English would for me be a challenge of course. I hope my point didn’t go lost.
You are assuming God** never** intervened during the Holocaust…
How do you know clearly that God doesn’t physically intervene with any great frequency?
John, the warmth of your post is a refreshing contrast to those that envision God as an aloof Creator who takes little interest and almost no action to help His children when they are in dire need. How can we possibly know what occurs in the bodies, minds and souls of the victims of torture and massacre?My dear friend,
I believe all creation is a miracle , and whenever anything or everything happens in creation , no matter what it is , it is miraculous , as God can only work miraculously , and just because you may think you have logical or rational explanations for something or everything does nt mean they / it are not miraculous. Indeed you cannot really explain anything at all , let alone everything , without in the end concluding it must be miracuolus. Every time a prayer is answered it is a miracle too , many don’t know. My 2 cents dear friend.
God bless and Love you
John
Your English is fine, and I think you just proved that female philosophy professors can be every bit as silly as their male colleagues
. The best possible world is one in which some pictures made by slaves are a greater good than their six million pointless deaths? That’s the very best imaginable world? Wow!!! Logically then, we should enslave as many people as possible to make the world even better 
. Some philosophy professors need a smart tap on the head every so often.Careful; that sounds like you’re preaching the need for “works”.
The problem is that this best possible world stuff discounts the pointless deaths of six million people in favor of us survivors. It looks at the world from our perspective when the six million probably wouldn’t have seen it our way. Evil can’t become less evil by re-categorizing it as a good or as a warning, not for the victims.
I wouldn’t dream of demanding that of God, I’m simply stating the fact that for six million people He didn’t intervene, and for millions of others in natural disasters He didn’t intervene either. This is a rock solid fact we know about God.
Perhaps He did, but for many, many more He didn’t. This is just an inescapable fact of life.
Aren’t miracles supposed to be inexplicable and wondrous?
I’d agree that ultimately creation is inexplicable and wondrous, i.e. a miracle. But we can agree on that without redefining evil to wish it away. Are we really supposed to think that the world is a better place because of 9/11 or the Japanese earthquake? What would be the point?
Inocente, I very much respect your thinking. My feeling is that a great deal of the ‘good’ to which people refer when they talk of the ‘greater good’ to be found in suffering is actually the means we sentient beings seek to cope with the evil and misery we experience as a matter of course. This is absolutely not to devalue the efforts people make to find the best in a bad situation, but simply to acknowledge that if an omnipotent, perfectly benevolent creator existed and actually intervened, those who produced such poignant art would be far happier than they were…Your English is fine, and I think you just proved that female philosophy professors can be every bit as silly as their male colleagues
God does not **have to **intervene but a loving Father intervenes on every possible occasion to help and console His children even when He wants to do so - and does so - without making Himself known!
Rev 21? Isn’t that about a future where death is conquered, not the here and now.
Hi, inocente,