Augustine Free Will

C.S. Lewis calls Christian belief a ‘shocking alternative’ to other views because humans have free will (Lewis 52). People might wonder why the ‘almighty’ Christian God unable to prevent humans from temptations. Free will is a gift to humans; God does not force people to do anything because He wants them to love Him ‘whole-heartedly’ (Matthew 22:37). This paper will explain why Lewis is right based on the possibilities to do evil and commit sin, and yet also be forgiven.

Augustine’s work is extremely logical and provides much evidence proving that free will is the cause of evil. He explains very clearly that evil is a result of human desire and their free will to do what they want. The most major flaw in his argument is that there is an omnipotent being that controls everything, yet doesn’t control everything, which would unravel his entire argument, resulting in evil being created by said being. Thus, the message that God exists would actually be detrimental to the argument that free will is the cause of evil. However, Augustine writes that “I hold by faith, not by something I see for myself” (Cahn 362), which means that God is not proven, so logically he doesn’t exist. Therefore, if

In Book two of Confession a 16 year old Augustine stole a few pears. This demonstration of robbery frequented Augustine for quite a long time. As he reevaluates his life to compose admissions he finds key reasons on why he had stolen the pears and done other corrupt acts even after he discovered Christianity and turned into a supporter of God's oath. The principal reason he gave was that he didn't have whatever other choice yet to sin. Augustine trusted he was not given a privilege, but rather a wrong and a lesser wrong and he picked the lesser wrong in light of the fact that he didn't know which wrong was correct and it was difficult to pick nothing. Augustine trusts he would have just made the best choice yet he didn't realize what that was and this left him with no alternative yet to pick

The theological issue that most perplexed Augustine in his youth was that his mother Monica was Christian. He had turned his back on Christianity in his days as a youth and always tried to hide his views about Christianity. His mother never give up and always prayed that one day he would return Christian. I believed his Mother prayers had a lot to with him converting to

Augustine concluded his theory with a reminder of God’s grace: if God was simply just, everyone would go to their rightful punishment in Hell. Through His grace, however, God sent His son to die on the cross so that some might be saved and go to Heaven. This shows that God is merciful as well as just.

Augustine is in “bitter agony of his heart” (Conf. 8.29). His lusts bind his souls like chains. He knows that his life is immoral; however, he is unable to free himself. Every time he thinks of giving up his sordid live, he asks himself, “Do you think you can live without them?” (Conf. 8.28). Augustine receives a divine call, not unlike the call Aeneas receives from Jove. He hears a voice singing “Pick up and read, pick up and read” (Conf. 8.29). Heeding the words, he takes up his copy of the Scriptures and reads the first passage he opens: “Go, sell all you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Conf. 8.29). Like Aeneas, Augustine receives a call to a voyage. However, Augustine’s voyage is a spiritual one. At once, Augustine is freed from the chains of his lusts. It feels as if a “light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart” (Conf. 8.29). God has “delivered his heart” (Conf. 8.30). Augustine is baptized shortly after, a sign of his allegiance to Christ. Augustine’s duty is now towards his God. He devotes the rest of life in spiritual service to Christ and to the

With god aware of the evil that humanity has created, Augustine’s explanation of how god has already forgiven and created a way for humanity to embrace the light provide spiritual reasoning for sins that are committed. As with the sacrifice of Jesus and offered redemption of the many sins that are committed reflect the all-knowing and forgiving nature of god. Through his personal experience Augustine’s mental state throughout his life until finding god is one of the factors for his conclusion to the problem and question. Putting this in perspective, to know the god has already forgiven through redemption and has already sacrificed for humanity, further prove key elements in his perfect state being that he is all loving and all knowing. Furthermore, to think god in the event of being merciless and vengeful or angered by humanity which causes him to inflicts evil onto the world by his will is not a valid reason due to the sacrifice and redemption which he has allowed to happen in restoring the good which his creation lacks.

Augustine warns against taking the Bible lieterally if it flies in the face of reason and observation. He understood why the Bible was written as it was. He rationalized that while the authors knew the truth about the nature of the skies, but it was not the intention of the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, to teach men anything that would not be of use to them for their salvation. It must be realized that the bible was written by humans, and not necessarily a direct quote from God. Boethius similarly discusses about something that does not necessarily directly relate but does support and explain how to understand Augustine’s words. He asks how one can reconcile human freedom with the notion of an all-knowing God. If God knows what we do before we do it, how can we be said to be free agents who must accept responsibility for personal acts? The answer is to look at the problem form the point of view of God, not from the human vantage point. God lives in eternity. Eternity does not mean

Rather we are given the idea that one lives a fulfilled life by being understanding of others, and wanting to care about people. This kind of fulfilling life is living with a freedom, to choose to be human and accept the responsibilities life throws at us. However, you have Augustine on the other hand that mentions that free will allows us to choose to do many things from good and evil; yes, Augustine agrees with the belief that we often chose to do a majority of things for our own interest, but that is the unconscious human, where on the other hand, you have a person that wants to live a full life and chooses to do good not for one’s self but for the betterment of the overall population. However, he feels that we are capable of choosing more then just what we decide to worship; we are capable of deciding what is wrong and what is good. We established laws because we chose to do so. We choose to do things whether they be good or bad to obtain some type of benefit, whether it be stealing something to obtain that item or getting a job to make money to obtain the item. We choose to do many things, and we are capable of choosing whether or not we want to live a fulfilled life, we can either pretend to

Augustine implies God initiates the God/ man relationship. God created man in his image, gave him the power of prayer to speak with him whenever he wants to, and before the fall, speak with him face to face. I believe God does initiate the relationship for the very reason that he created us, he clearly wants us, and he sent his son to die for us, how or why would someone do all this for someone/thing he does not love and desire a relationship with? Man did not create God, God created man.

He philosophised original sin and about evil and free will. Original sin is the teaching that everyone is born sinful and with a desire to disobey God, as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). The effect of original sin is damnation, where, until a person dies, that person will be distanced from God. There is possible redemption through baptism. According to Augustine, original sin explains the “presence of sin in human history” (genocide, war, cruelty, exploitation, abuse) (Class notes, August 8 2015). This means that evil has entered the world due to a disconnection with God. The reasons for evil according to Augustine is that God is not present in all things and that evil only happens because of God’s distance from material reality Class notes, August 8 2015). Augustine stated, “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” This purports that humans are too distracted by the materialistic to fully accept God into their lives. Also, people have the free will to live ‘Godly’ lives, but individuals can also choose evil by giving into the pursuit of worldly pleasure, therefore, being less like God. Additionally, humans cannot take all the credit for when they do good, but take all the blame if they do evil. Augustine philosophised about original sin and its occurrence through evil being present in the world, this

In Northern Africa when Augustine was a young child, he met a friend. He became very close with this friend and they grew up together. Augustine always seemed to be the controlling type. He often swayed his friend’s minds and their feelings. Augustine explains this by telling us that he often turned his friend away from the thought of Christianity and more towards legends and ideas he believes in. His friend became very ill all of a sudden. Augustine began to worry because this was one of his closest friends. While his friend was sick, his parents baptized him. Augustine was

To be able to discuss Augustine’s claim, let alone agree and further explain my own interpretation of it , I will have to set certain boundaries. For example, the God we are talking about. I will let this God be the Christianity definition of God, because we all know that there are other religions who have other Gods or a different God they “look up to”.

Augustine believed that God created the Earth all at the same time and that the creation of the seven-day period came from the Bible that represents a logical framework. Augustine believed that time was nothing in reality but that it was all in the human mind and did not really exist. He said that time could not be infinite because God himself created it. Augustine always believed that the Bible should not be interpreted literally, because it contradicts what science has taught them and the God-given reason. When the scatter of Jews occurred, by the Roman Empire, Augustine believed it was a fulfillment of prophecy and they would convert to Christianity at the end of time. He also believed that God had chosen the Jews as “special” people.

     According to Augustine, “Human beings are endowed with a power that he calls the will.” He emphasizes the will to being the center of freedom. Unlike other philosophers, who are determinists, Augustine, who has a libertarian view, sees our will as free choice. So for whatever we may choose to do, we become solely responsible for our actions which are caused by external factors instead of internal ones.