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Augustine on sin and moral evil
Augustine on sin and moral evil
Augustine thoughts about sin
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Doctrines are used as a foundation to Christian beliefs. They serve to many churches as fundamentals in the direction their members chose to live their lives. It is important to understand the historical backgrounds of the doctrines that pertain to one’s particular beliefs. I will be discussing this very information for the doctrine of original sin. The doctrine of original sin mostly pertains to the Roman Catholic religion. I will be covering when, where, and why the doctrine was originated. Original sin is the theory that every man is born into sin because our mother and father have sinned. The definition given by the Catholic Encyclopedia is: “(1) the sin that Adam committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam.”# Saint Augustine was the fundamental theologian in the formulation of this doctrine, which states that the essentially graceless nature of humanity requires redemption to save it. The purpose of Baptism is to wash away original sin and to restore the individual to an innocent state, although even after baptism a tendency to sin remains as a result of original sin.
Although the concept of original sin is derived from the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience recorded in Genesis, the term "original sin" and the concept of a hereditary sin passed on to the entire human race are totally absent from the Old Testament and the gospels. Jesus is not recorded as ever having mentioned original sin, and Genesis relates only that the sin of the first parents brought consequences upon them. The theology of original sin developed out of questions that arose in the third century concerning the custom of infant baptism. “St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) is credited with developing the traditional doctrine in response to Pelagius, who denied original sin.”# Augustine appealed to Scripture to blame Adam for original sin and to the existing practice of infant baptism to defend the idea that the sin is passed on to all Adam's descendants, an idea subsequently endorsed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Original sin was taught by the Council of Carthage in 418 A.D. and the Second Council of Orange in 529 A.D. “The doctrine was formally defined by the Council of Trent in its Decree on Original Sin (1546 A.D.)”# The basis of ...
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...seph, and since Mary was a virgin there was no sin passed along. I have also discussed that since this doctrine believes that everyone is born with sin that everyone has to be saved and baptized to receive the gift of heaven. The purpose of Baptism is to wash away original sin and to restore the individual to an innocent state. The Doctrine of Original Sin is a very controversial subject among the denominations today for many reasons, there will probably always be differences in beliefs about this doctrine and there is probably not going to be any advances for common ground in the near future.
Bibliography
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company by K. Knight Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Reverend M. James Divis, Original Sin http://users.binary.net/polycarp/origsin.html
William B. Lindley, Original Sin (New York, New York 1972)
Jim Stoffels, Original sin: an understanding from human psychology © Copyright 2001
J. Weatherman, “The Importance of Doctrines,” (1984) 101-102
Wikipedia: The free Encyclopedia Copyright © 2001 by Penguin Publishing Company
Saunders, William P. Straight Answers: Answers to 100 Questions about the Catholic Faith. Baltimore, MD: Cathedral Foundation, 1998. Print.
Also, he considered Gods creation to be harmonious and so evil is not a separate entity, but a deviation from good. Augustine’s view is that evil came into the world through the ‘fall’. He said that angels were all created perfect, but misused the freedom God had provided for them and as a result decided to turn from God, the Highest Good, to ‘lesser goods’. Adam and Eve were then tempted by Satan, a fallen angel, in the Garden of Eden. By breaking Gods command, and eating the forbidden fruit, Adam brought original sin into the world. Sin was now seminally present in Adam, and so therefore every generation is guilty due to them inheriting his guilt for disobeying God. The reason being that when Adam was teste4d in the Garden of Eden he was representing the entire human race, therefore all humans- including innocent babies, deserve to suffer. This is emphasised by Paul, who came up with the idea that sin was present ‘in the lions of Adam’. He wrote in ‘Romans 5:12’: “therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have
Theology and different religions, all contain information about sin. Sin is recognized as an unholy thing to possess, therefore, sin is not taken lightly. In Roman Catholicism, if one’s sins are serious enough, one may not receive eternal life with God, in Heaven. Severe punishments may occur, if one sins. Sin is thought to have been caused by mankind. The perception of sin continues to evolve as the analysis of texts continues.
A philosopher named Augustine helps to clear up the controversy over infant baptism being right or wrong. Augustine raises the issue that, the apostolic creed states that there is “one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Since the creed presents this then the church followed that infant baptism remitted original sin.
All around the world, people have different points of view as to when and how sin originated. The Bible gives a clear explanation for how sin originated in Ezekiel 28 (Graham 66). In verse fifteen God refers to Satan when He says, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created” (KJV). Satan was created as an angel at the beginning of time, which meant he was also perfect at first. Every being, along with Satan, that was created to live in heaven was made perfect and sinless. Somewhere inside of the Devil is a prideful heart and the
nature was born. According to many theologians, this ‘original sin’ was passed on to every
First, I am going to talk about one of the most important concepts in Christianity, original sin, which is the belief that all mankind has inherited a sinful nature brought about by Adam and Eve. In Romans 5:12 it says, “ Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Which means that since Adam sinned everybody else who lives on this Earth has sinned, because of him. Also, in Romans 5:19 it states, “For as one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…,” and in 1 Corinthians 15:22 it says, “For as in Adam all die,…” No reasoning can make an inherently unjust idea seem right. Punishing billions of people for the acts of one is not only inherently unfair; but also opposes other Bible verses such as: Deut. 24:16 “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” That verse says that you won’t be punished for somebody else’s sin. Also in Ezek. 18:20 states, “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” That verse also says that when you sin you will be the one punished, not somebody else for your sin. Original sin makes as much since as if I was sitting at home one evening and the police came over and arrested me because my aunt from Germany robbed a bank.
First articulated by Augustine (A.D. 354–430), the doctrine of original sin holds that all of Adam’s descendants inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin and thus incur the punishment for Adam’s sin. Inheriting Adam’s guilt at birth, then, presumes one guilty before God at birth and destined for hell. This is the basis for the Catholic need for infant baptism, for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (that Mary herself was uniquely conceived free of Adam’s guilt), and for the belief that salvation is only available through connection with the Church via baptism. Moreover, the belief that God holds Adam’s descendants personally accountable for Adam’s sin calls into question the importance of our own free will as it relates to our moral accountability to God. That is, if God holds us accountable for the sin Adam committed, then the exercise of our own free will must, in God’s sight, be of little or no consequence. This leads to the Augustinian belief in predestination — that who is saved and who is lost is determined entirely by God’s sovereign election, and...
Tinder enforces this notion by stating that “Nothing in Christian doctrine so offends people today as the stress on sin.” (Tinder p. 7). Many people outside of the Christian faith either do not believe in sin or see it as an archaic notion touted only by Christians as a way to “judge” or point a finger of blame. However, no matter how offensive the topic, the issue of sin is very present and must be acknowledged in order to understand the natural tendencies of human beings. “The political value of the doctrine of original sin lies in its recognition that our evil tendencies are not in the nature of a problem that we can rationally comprehend and deliberately solve. (Tinder p.7) “The universe is moral by nature” (Wilberforce 108) therefore, sin must be addressed through the lens of morality and spirituality to be dealt with properly. “The problem that we see in our time is that because there is so little reverence for or sense of the holiness of God, we have no basis on which to take sin seriously.” (Wilberforce 108) Until we as a society begin to recover the “faith of our forefathers” (Wilberforce 157) and begin to make more efforts “…to raise the standards of public morality in our nation” (Wilberforce 159-160) , we will continue to approach, as Wilberforce states, “the collapse of a system due to the lack of beliefs in the principles in which it was
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
I have a very pessimistic outlook on human nature. I genuinely believe in the statement made by St. Augustine, in his writing of the “City of God”, that the “man is marked by the original sin” and has “fallen after disobeying God”. All this, of course is in reference to the sin
Sin has been defined as many things by many groups throughout the ages. In the Old Testament it was defined as a failure to hit a mark or an attitude of rebellion. In the New Testament it is defined as failing to conform to a standard or as a condition. However, we must decide for ourselves what it means in our own lives. The Holy Spirit will guide us in our definition. Without being taught right and wrong we still are able to decipher between the two.
The doctrine of original sin can be defined as the belief that “all of humanity is born with a built-in urge to do bad things… stemming from Adam and Eve's disobedience to God” (BBC). The traditional story as imprinted in the Christian Bible claims that original sin emerged in retaliation to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit despite God’s clear commands, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (New International Version, Genesis 2:4-3:24) This friendship, or covenant, with God was then broken, marking a separation. From a theological standpoint, we are the children of our parents – Adam and Eve – who inherit this submission to sin. Nonetheless, regardless of theological background, original sin is merely a sense of weakness humanity has imbedded to yield to sinful or evil acts. Moreover, this embedded drive in humans to commit evil doings is additionally used to rationalize “the need for police, the collapse of great civilizations, suicide, war, suffering and so on” (CNA).
Pollen, John Hungerford. "St. Ignatius Loyola." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910. 23 Mar. 2014 .
Bainvel, Jean. The New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York City: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15006b.htm (accessed September 23, 2011).