Un Fallible Seducer-He Wins The Soul

I agree with Augustine on his spiritual principles. It is essential in the Christian faith to study the scriptures to gain wisdom and knowledge on how one is to live life. I refer to scriptures from the Holy Bible; scriptures that encourage us to seek knowledge from God. In the book of James 5:1, we are told to seek wisdom from God, not from the books written by men. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him,” (Holy Bible) and here we are advised in the book of I Corinthians 3:19-20, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (Holy Bible)

Later when Augustine left for Rome, his mother followed with the hope and goal to convert Augustine to Christianity (“Saint Augustine”). She also remarked later on in Augustine’s life, “One thing there was, for which I desired to linger a little while in this life, that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. God has granted this to me in more than abundance, for I see you his servant” (Ryan 165). Even though he had been raised in a Christian setting and sat in on Saint Ambrose’s sermons, Augustine still wasn’t fully convinced enough to change his life and convert.

Augustine, who lived from A.D. 354 – 430, was a genius in certain aspects of biblical exegesis. He was part of the Western School of interpretation. He developed significant theories of biblical interpretation such as: the interpreter must possess a genuine Christian faith & the literal and historical meaning of Scripture should be held in high regard, to name a few. Unfortunately, Augustine forsook most of his own principles and tended to follow a method of allegorization. His theories, however, became the predominant view of the middle ages.

Augustine openly criticized his family’s wrong because God was his heart and the only truth (II, 5).

The next important topic I want to talk about is condemnation. Now what is condemnation? Webster’s definition of condemnation is this: an act of judicially condemning. Condemnation to me means not only condemning someone, but also condemning ourselves, because of sins we have committed. Romans 8:1 says this “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” What is this saying? Through Jesus we do not have to feel guilty for the wrong we have done. Jesus has already paid for our sins through his sacrifice. Justification is a term that goes with both condemnation and grace. Justification is defined in the Praxis the assigned book for Theo 104. “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoned all our sins, and accepted us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness

St. Augustine was a theologian and philosopher born in Africa to St. Monica. Although he is now known as a an incredibly influential Christian writer and thinker, his early years were defined by rebellion and discord that did not, in the least, reflect Christianity or the values that he is now known for supporting. His early years were freckled with mindless disobedience, wretched behavior, and characterized godlessness that makes his conversion to the faith incredibly remarkable and one that is worth defining in Saint Augustine 's Confessions. His incredible turnaround from a faithless man to a devout supporter of Christianity is significant and is freckled with many major milestones that truly demonstrate his spiritual and internal growth into one of the biggest spiritual icons of the fifth century. These major milestones include his realization that his boyhood was defined by pointless rebellious behavior, even though he grew up in a Christian home, his new found appreciation for philosophy as well as God and his incredible mercy during his years as a student at Carthage,

The book expresses three main concerns. One is Augustine’s frank and detailed acknowledgment of his personal sinfulness and the power he came to recognize as God’s provident grace—protective, creative, salvific—in every moment of his life. He also wrote in order to confess his own Christian faith and clearly repudiate any supposed lingering connections on his part with Manichaeism. Finally, The Confessions are a heartfelt paean of praise and thanksgiving in honor of God’s glory.

I disclosed to Javier and Makayla there was a youthful family who had a young child deciding whether their child should be dedicated or not. I expounded that baptism is best optically discerned when analyzed with the Old Testament ceremony of circumcision as an example. Wesley perceives through Scripture that circumcision was made as a sign of the contract God made to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:7-8). Baptism is the “appropriates this covenant relationship with God.” Consequently, the contract blessings relished through circumcision are kenned through immersion.

Before submitting himself to God, Augustine lived a life controlled by various sinful tendencies such as theft and lust. Surrounded by strong believers of Catholicism, such as his mother, St. Monica, Augustine grew up questioning Christ and the faith and rather explored other religions. Two religions that Augustine devoted himself to were Manichaeism and Neoplatonism. While both religions had strengths and flaws, neither truly satisfied Augustine’s spiritual emptiness. Before devoting himself fully to the Catholic faith, Augustine is seen as an honorable saint because of the significance of his works and teachings. Augustine’s conversion from Manichaeism to Neoplatonism to Catholicism as noted through Confessions, transformed his life from being powered by sin and immortality to a life dominated by rectitude and devotion.

It is obvious from The Confession that Augustine was a man who struggled endlessly to extricate himself from the bondage of sin, but the more he tried, the more he failed and sinks deeper into its abyss. And with every failure, comes a sense of disappointment and despondency, until he had a strange experience. In AD 386, while sitting in his garden, Augustine heard a voice from some children playing not far away urging “him” to pick the book—the Bible, and read. What he read from Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman Christian in Chapter 13 transformed, not only his understanding of the hopelessness and despair man encounters in trying to solve the problem of sin on his own, but he saw the provision that God has made to remedy the consequences of sin and the grace he has graciously provided to live a life that is acceptable to God. That moment was the turning point in Augustine’s life and how he developed his sotoriological

Augustine lived in an era when the stake of strength and stability, the Roman Empire, was being shattered. To believe in God, he had to find an answer to why, if God is all-powerful and also purely good, he still allows suffering to exist. “But if you know or believe that God is good 9 and it is not right to believe otherwise), God does not do evil. Also if we admit that God is just (and it is sacrilege to deny this)”

Augustine experienced thoroughly in himself, and analyzed with pain and with a sense of real tragedy, what happened to this world of ours, namely, the fall of Adam and the redemption of Christ, sin and the forgiveness of sin. He experienced the wretchedness of fallen human nature and its healing through grace. This inner experience thus defines his approach to all things of this world, both material and spiritual, as well as explains his profound is trust of all that is purely on the natural level and so foreign to the supernatural, yet he shows an unshakable trust in the work of salvation through Christ and his Church. Should this not be our guiding

Theologians, Biblical scholars and Christians all over the world often wrestle with two extremely important questions about their faith. These questions are, "What is God like?" and "How should we live in response to God?" Some feel that we need others to direct us, some feel we need them to challenge us, but everyone agrees that we need others. That is exactly how Saint Augustine struggles to find his faith and beliefs. He found it extremely difficult to come with a conclusion when it was staring at him straight in the face, but just as he did, we draw up our own conclusions with the guidance of others.

At this point in his life, Augustine is recognized for doing many things for the Church as a priest, author, and defender of faith. As an author he wrote Confessions, his spiritual autobiography, and City of God, his great work describing the Christian philosophy throughout history. In this magnificent work,

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, was one of the greatest philosophers of the roman period. He was raised in a religiously divided home, but through time he found his own truth. He was always an excellent student. He fully mastered the Latin language, however, he never did well with Greek. Saint Augustine was also a man who had a way with words. After his teenage rebellious stage, he found an unorthodox religious group that he decided to become involved with for a while. He traveled the area and ended up staying in Milan for a while. This is where he met Bishop Ambrose and began to listen to his teachings. This caused for Augustine think about his life and ultimately converted him to Christianity. After converting, he wrote books such as: Confessions, The City of God, and De Doctrinia (On Christian Doctrine), along with many others. Saint Augustine was and still is a great Christian influence in the world today.