The Crossroad Of Christian Sin Versus Moral Vice

During that time, not only did he face numerous bouts of “soul searching,” he also engaged in intellectual examinations of events often viewed as acts of dissidence. Whether by acting out his erotic desires or by playful thievery, Augustine delved into examining the nature of sin as a means of understanding man’s true intentions with every action. As Augustine discussed and acted out his sexual desires, he stood firm to his idea that he did it out of an innocent need for love. In addition, Augustine’s pear theft acted as a means of showing that one who commits a criminal offense may not fully understand all of the implications it may hold for that person.

Confessing his sins Augustine recalls the first sin that he can remember, thievery. As a boy Augustine “and some other wretched youths” had gone and stole pears from trees. Augustine himself having no need to steal out of poverty or hunger, as the boys end up disposing of the pears to pigs in the end (Augustine, 30). Augustine explaining that “I loved my sin - not the thing for which I had committed the sin, but the sin itself” (Augustine, 31). This task of thievery seeming to be trivial, is a significant obstacle as Augustine is not only discovering why he and others sin. As well as the important difference between what Augustine describes are lower and higher goods. Augustine explains that while following worldly law, we also have to keep in mind and not stray from the Lord’s law (Augustine,31). With the aspect of worldly honor and greed, sin was committed for the reason in acting due to the love of something

Young Augustine weeps for the woman who dies for her love, as an older Augustine weeps over his complete ignorance and incontinence. Young Augustine is ignorant of the presence of God in his life, and is compelled not to weep for his own spiritual distance from God, but instead for a tragedy that, in the mind of the older Augustine, is incomparable to the tragedy of being without God. The older Augustine is compelled by his advanced knowledge of the Lord’s proximity to lament his previous lack of control over his habits, proclaiming “I had no love for you and ‘committed fornication against you’ (Ps. 72:27); and in my fornications, I heard all round me the cries ‘Well done, well done’ (Ps. 34:21; 39:16) … I abandoned you to pursue the lowest things of your creation.” (Conf. 16). This reveals that Young Augustine lives an entirely habitual life, never thinking of God or his importance, instead concerned with material and worldly concerns such as reputation and honor. This state of pure habit does not leave space for Young Augustine to have continence, and leaves him to act out his life according to passion and emotions.

Augustine’s Confessions is an autobiography written around 400 A.D which details his spiritual journey, and each of the books address a certain element of Augustine’s steps in his spiritual path. In Book III, he develops his overcoming of lust by introducing the book with the line: “I went to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lust.” (III.1, pp55). The theme of non-sexual lust instantly becomes the focal point of the book and Augustine presents the “hissing cauldron” as a low point in his relationship with God, for he wanders away from his creator by loving his own ways; however, he later discovers this was merely lust compared to the true love of God. In this essay, I will argue that Book III of Confessions

This is a study about one’s ethical and moral behavior and Christian World View as related to personal and professional growth and development. This study examines my personal views of moral behavior and Christian World View as it relates to my expectation of what a manager in a leadership position should posses and why. Growing up in a African-American Baptist church and ultimately landing in a diverse Christian Church has shaped my life and viewpoint when it comes to values and beliefs. There are 5 characteristics that I believe a Manager should possess: Authenticity, transparency, empowering, trustworthy and competence. These five characteristics help to build rapport and trust in a manager, which are good qualities to possess when leading a team.

Most Christians these days see every sin as equally bad. In other words, no one sin is worse or should draw worse punishment than another. In Dante's The Inferno, however, this is not the case. In The Inferno, the deeper one delves into Hell, the worse the sin that has been committed. The punishments that the souls incur are representative of the sins they committed in their corporeal state of being. Sins that affect others are considered worse then those that only affect ones self by Dante. The Wrathful in Canto 8 are lower down then the Hoarders and Wasters in Canto 7 because according to Dante, The Wrathful commit violent acts, or sins against others, while the Hoarders and wasters only against themselves. This is how one sin is

Augustine sates there are three general kinds of sin, those of the flesh, mind, and will. He reaffirms this saying “I sinned because I disobeyed them not in order to choose something more worthwhile, but simply because I loved games. I hankered to win myself glory in out contests, and to have my ears tickled by tall stories, which only made them itch more hotly; and all the while that same curiosity more and more inflamed my eyes with the list for the public shows which are the games of grownups (Augustine, 1,16).” Augustine is saying we commit these forms of sin, not because we are finding something more worthwhile, but because of our human nature. We sin because we love the feeling we get when we do something wrong. Even though we can will ourselves to do good and not sin, it is in our very nature to do wrong every since the fall. In Himes “Ancient Israel’s response to the dilemma is that evil does not come from God; it comes from us when we reject ourselves and refuse to accept the goodness of our own being (Himes, 31)” Himes uses the word evil instead of sin, however both are synonymous, in religion. Ancient Israel relies that sin is part of our nature and something we will have to deal with even though it is wrong.

Augustine considers his greatest sin to be the sin of lust. He is held fast by the chains of love and its physical pleasures. Augustine says that his “one delight was to love and be loved” (Augustine 1118). As an adolescent he “could not distinguish the white light of love from the fog of lust” (Augustine 1118). There is a difference between love and lust. Love is pure and noble; lust is a base desire. Augustine went to study at Carthage, “where a cauldron of illicit loves leapt and boiled about [him]” (Augustine 1121). Interestingly, Carthage is the city where Aeneas had his affair with Dido. Augustine says that he “in

In religious contexts, sin is the act of violating God 's will. Sin can also be viewed as “anything that violates the ideal relationship between an individual and God, leading to a period of estrangement between the two”. This is not necessarily a permanent separation, but if one dies without correcting such problem, then the separation does become permanent. In order to atone for one’s transgressions, salvation –deliverance by redemption from the power of sin and from the penalties ensuing from it – is necessary. This entails sorrow for one’s sins and a fundamental change in attitude as well as a confession of sin to God. Following this repentance, one may again seek a personal relationship with God. The nature of sin is explored in Dante’s Inferno where the main character travels through Hell, where sinners receive punishment according to God’s justice. Dante Alighieri portrays himself as the “Everyman” in order for the reader to easily identify with him. In addition, the characterization of Virgil, the setting depicted in the Inferno and the story of Ulysses enhance the substance of the poem and contribute to its allegorical interpretation. However, allegorical interpretation does not detract from the original story as told but contains an added significance intended to represent not only Dante’s life but also what Dante the poet perceived to be the universal Christian quest for God.

Hi Roneshia. I enjoyed reading your thread, as it had touch various interesting points explaining the presence of sin in the modern culture. Indeed, the lives of human now around can revolves around technologies, and through technology, information can reach more people than ever. Nevertheless, if used negatively, this can cause human to behave immorally. The media had manipulated the belief of people repeatedly through the news and stories. The role models of many people, the celebrities, sometimes also commit immoral actions. Moreover, one of the components that strongly shape a person's world view is the culture. As time change, culture change along with it, and the view is shaped by the majority of people. If the dominant number of people

In this paper I will write about Augustine and his thoughts and ideas on sin in the Confessions, where sin originates and whether or not I believe that Augustine’s conception of sin has a place in modern society. From all of this I will conclude that through Augustine's work and findings, Augustine’s conception of the human person and their human actions are somewhat relevant today, due to the fact Augustine set a standard for what human nature is, known as the ability to desire, think and do, yet, people see the human differently today than Augustine did. At the same time his ideas of original sin and how the evil nature of humans is associated with original sin are still very relevant today.

It’s all around us, it evens resides in us an evil that we can’t get complete be rid of. Nathaniel Hawthorne believe that the only way to be rid of this evil was to admit your actions and receive your punishment. He exercised this believe through his characters: Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale in The Scarlet

Unlike Medea, Augustine’s confessions provides directions for controlling passions as well as explanations of ancient passions. During puberty, Augustine “was unable to distinguish pure affection from unholy desire” but he later learns how to control his passions. He later explained an act of theft which he committed out of desire to be disobedient. His friends and he “carried off a huge load of pears. But they were not for our feasts but merely to throw to pigs” because they wanted to feel the

The theme for ‘’The Worst Sin ’’ is Justice. I think it is justice because god is getting justice on people who have committed terrible things like just watching some horrible crime just happen. Also someone committing murder, that’s a terrible thing to do. God sends the people who have done these things to different chambers in Hell from 1-7 with 1 being the best and 7 being the worst.

Morality only exists if we believe in God; therefore if God doesn’t exist there is no morality. There have been so many evil acts committed in the name of God that it is difficult to maintain that a belief in God equates to morality. There are situations that happen every day where decisions are made based off of human rights that contradict the word of God. Morality comes from within, it is an understanding of right versus wrong and the ability to choose what is right. Knowing all this a belief in God is not a requirement for a person to be moral. (Mosser, 2011)