Augustine's "Confessions"
A philosophical question faces Christians, and in fact all theists, that
challenges the belief in God. To theists, God is an omnipotent, perfect God.
He is good. Theists accept this, and embrace it, for how else can they worship
God and give their lives to Him unless He is good? However, n this world evil
is constantly seen all around us. Because God is the author of all things in
this world, and he is good, theists must then ask themselves what evil is and
where it came from. Augustine sets up an argument I his Confessions that
attempts to define evil, and in doing so he explains its existence.
To follow this argument, it is important to realize that Augustine
accepts some ...
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clearly sets forth that God is
the creator and source of everything. Not only is He the source, but he is the
reason for its continued existence. The next step Augustine takes regards the
nature of God's creation.
For Augustine, God is good, because everything He made is good. “You
are our God, supreme Good, the Creator and Ruler of the universe” (1.20), and
again, “Therefore, the God who made me must be good and all the good in me is
His”(1.20). Everything about God is good. There is no aspect of Him that is
lacking, false, or not good. These characteristics are in turn transferred to
His creation. “You, my God, are the source of all good”(1.6). However,
Augustine makes an important distinction regarding the creation of good and evil
when he says, “O Lord my God, creator and arbiter of all natural things, but
arbiter only, not creator, of sin”(1.10). The question of what evil is, and
where it came from, still remains.
Augustine establishes that ...
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would cease to exist in a physical
realm. “And evil, the origin of which I was trying to find, is not because if
it were a substance, it would be good”(7.12).
Augustine approaches this issue from an entirely different angle. First
he says: Do we have any good evidence that God even exists? If He does, is He
good? So he develops his argument from natural theology. He looks for
independent evidence available to us that God is real and He is good.
That is why Augustine properly starts with proofs for the existence of
God and once establishing that there is good reason to believe He exists and HE
is good, then that produces a different kind of series of statements. ...
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Augustine's "Confessions". (2006, August 13). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Augustines-Confessions/50667
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"Augustine's "Confessions"." Essayworld.com. August 13, 2006. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Augustines-Confessions/50667.
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