Many religious critics have questioned Christianity because of the simple fact of “blind faith”. This meaning faith in the unseen or believing in something that you have never actually seen for yourself. Saint Augustine of Hippo, a very influential Christian theologian, explored this in his essay “Concerning Faith Unseen”. He makes the point that many people refuse to believe in something that they cannot see for themselves. What possesses Christians to believe in God if they have never seen him with there eyes? Our minds are mad to believe the things which cannot be seen and thus it is ok to believe in them.
Augustine’s main argument is that all people believe in things that they have never seen for themselves. Augustine uses this example, we choose to believe in our friends when we first meet that we will have a good friendship and it will work out. The unseen part is that we trust in each other without ever knowing what the future holds. Just as those who believe in God give their faith to an “unseen” being. Augustine believes since those who deny the idea of believing in God because he is unseen but they believe in the good will of others then there belief system is inconsistent. If they can believe in the good will of others but can’t believe in a supreme being then what do they really believe.
We put our faith in a friend without knowing that they are a true friend just as Christians put their faith in God without seeing him with their eyes. This is the same through all human relationships. We give our hearts to our spouse or friend without knowing what the future holds. The question that Augustine raises is how we can put faith in a friend or spouse but we cannot put faith in God. Christians believe that they will one day...
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...se who believe in God believe that one day they will meet there lord face to face. Faith is something that may be hard to understand because it relies upon things that may or may not be true. This can be very hard for people to wrap their minds around because it’s like gambling. Augustine wants people to understand that they already do this in their everyday relationships. If they can give their faith into a human relationship then they can give their faith in the “unseen” God.
Works Cited
Augustine. Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen, 2012. Print
Augustine. Trilogy on Faith and Happiness, 2010. Print.
. N.p.. Web. 3 Dec 2013. .
New International Version. Bible Gateway. Web 27 November 2013
Olson, C. n.d. n. page. .
Augustine remarks that he sees man as seeking what gives him glory rather than what brings glory to God. When talking about self Augustine shares that he enjoyed studying Latin in school simply because it came easy to him, not because it brought glory to God. As he grew, he was, in the eyes of his society, an upstanding citizen, he did nothing inherently wrong. However, Augustine believes he did considerable wrong; rather than living for and seeking after the Lord, he was living for and seeking after his own desires. These claims exemplify mankind’s tendency to turn its back on its beliefs and the One in whom they
St. Augustine said in the beginning of this chapter, “My desire was not to be more certain of you but to be more stable in you (pg. 133).” One remaining thing that was preventing him from converting is becoming a member of the Church. St. Augustine now possessed a good understanding of God and the perception of evil and considered himself on the path of Christianity, but was still unable to get past becoming a full member of the church. When talking to Simplicianus one thing resonated within St. Augustine that he had said, “I shall not believe that or count you among the Christians unless I see you in the Church of Christ (pg. 136).” St. Augustine was ready to believe in Christ, but was looking for a reason, something that would push him over the edge to devoutly follow Christ and leave his last doubts in the past. He still struggled with the desires of his flesh and the desires of the spirit and has continued to try and find rest in this struggle. Not long after his conversation with Simplicianus he meets with another friend Ponticianus. He tells St. Augustine a story about two men, friends of his, who went on a trip to a monastery and during their trip their eyes were opened and both came to Christ and began to serve him from that moment on.
In “On Free Choice of the Will”, Augustine indicates the importance of his beliefs and opinions of human nature and of God. He thinks as greatly of God as possible and centralizes his thoughts of goodness with the concept of being/form (God); he also gives a description of how God’s rightness can be interpreted clearly through the evil doings of the world. One of the biggest and most difficult problems facing people is the problem of doing evil. If God is being, unchanging, eternal and all-powerful, then how is it that people do evil? Augustine tries to solve the problem by examining the “source of evil” and “what evil is”. He explores the ways in which to live a happy life and an evil-free life by having a perfectly ordered soul—a life willed by the virtues—through free will. In the pursuit to find out how it is that evil exists, Augustine explores how people sin with inordinate desire as the driving force and free will. He lists the things we need to possess in order to sin and to live a happy life—goods of the will and temporal goods—that is, one cannot sin without temporal goods, inordinate desire, and free will. In the same way, one cannot live a happy life without goods of the will and free will.
You prompt us yourself to find satisfaction in appraising you, since you made us tilted toward you, and our heart is unstable until stabilized in you. Quintessentially, this quote from Confessions symbolizes Augustine’s perilous journey towards Christianity. Although appearing earlier in what is colloquially known as the “first autobiography”, Augustine expounds on this very idea throughout his writings. Whether that includes his attraction and disdain for Manichaeism or his affinity with Neo-Platonism, one could argue this quote acted as the foundation of his inquisitions of these pre-modern dogmatic sects. Augustine, despite his perils with intellectual paradoxes, sought to understand these rigid entities that seemed to have variant positions on God’s goodness and temporal nature. Although Augustine eventually found refuge in Catholicism, nevertheless, he continued to explore the relationship between Gods benevolence and human dependence, even until his death.
their praises to God would not be so meaningful. For Augustine, it is free will
Why does St. Augustine seek God? Through his Confessions we come to understand that he struggled a great deal with confusion about his faith, before finally and wholeheartedly accepting God into his life. But we never get a complete or explicit sense of what led Augustine to search for God in the first place. Did he feel a void in his life? Was he experiencing particular problems in other relationships that he thought a relationship with God would solve for him? Or perhaps he sought a sense of security from religion? A closer analysis of the text of St. Augustine’s Confessions will provide some insight into these fundamental questions.
7-12- Again Augustines thoughts on God reflect that of the religious teachings of his day, namely those of the Neoplatonists. For example he refuses to speculate on how the soul joins the body to become an infant and even follows Plato when he suggests that this life could possibly be some kind of “living death”. He then goes into an examination of his infancy, which he depicts as a quite pitiful state. He described himself as a sinful and thoughtless creature who made demands on everyone, wept unceasingly, and gave everyone a hard time that took care of him. Though very brutal in his self examination, he later states that he does not hold himself accountable for any of these sinful acts because he simply can’t remember them.
This is ultimately what is so shockingly egalitarian about Augustine’s Christianity in contrast to the thought of the ancients. The Supreme Good—eternal life—is accessible to both the simple and the sophisticated. One may either contemplate the duality of the universe and figure out where each aspect of creation fits into the scheme, or one may bypass the attempt to understand the temporal world in relation to heaven, but so long as one finally accepts faith and, through it, becomes obedient to God while discarding self-will, the extent to which one used reason in his life is irrelevant. Reason, except insofar as it is necessary in a basic sense for man to use it to accept faith to and differentiate himself from beasts, is not necessary for eternal life. What is necessary is the choice to stop exercising the self-will—to stop making choices.
A foundational belief in Christianity is the idea that God is perfectly good. God is unable to do anything evil and all his actions are motives are completely pure. This principle, however, leads to many questions concerning the apparent suffering and wrong-doing that is prevalent in the world that this perfect being created. Where did evil come from? Also, how can evil exist when the only eternal entity is the perfect, sinless, ultimately good God? This question with the principle of God's sovereignty leads to even more difficult problems, including human responsibility and free will. These problems are not limited to our setting, as church fathers and Christian philosophers are the ones who proposed some of the solutions people believe today. As Christianity begins to spread and establish itself across Europe in the centuries after Jesus' resurrection, Augustine and Boethius provide answers, although wordy and complex, to this problem of evil and exactly how humans are responsible in the midst of God's sovereignty and Providence.
A Philosophical Criticism of Augustine and Aquinas: The Relationship of Soul and Body The relationship of the human soul and physical body is a topic that has mystified philosophers, scholars, scientists, and mankind as a whole for centuries. Human beings, who are always concerned about their place as individuals in this world, have attempted to determine the precise nature or state of the physical form. They are concerned for their well-being in this earthly environment, as well as their spiritual well-being; and most have been perturbed by the suggestion that they cannot escape the wrongs they have committed while in their physical bodies.
...e a firm belief in God to apply to everyone, this same argument may be tweaked just a bit to fit an atheists point of view on free will, thus making it more accessible to everyone. Reading through Augustine's argument has only made my own belief's on free will stronger.
Augustine’s appropriation of Plato’s two level analysis of the material world compared to Godly truth has created the idea that God is an immaterial substance that exerts His existence throughout space and time. The appropriation of these ideas in religion consequentially causes St. Augustine to face his trespasses; The Confessions sole purpose is to narrate Augustine’s life in comparison to how the bible believes a person of the faith should live. By breaking down each damnation Augustine not only corrects his way of life but shows how the journey his soul takes to obtain purity as Plato would explain is one in the same in correlation to earning his spot inside of the gates of
..., the closer he was really moving toward God. He began to realize that God is all good, so nothing he creates will be of evil. “God does not create evil but it is of the world” (Augustine 230-31). Once he took responsibility for his personal life and spiritual walk, Augustine began to uncover the truths to his life. He reveals one must take responsibility for their actions and confess to develop a stronger connection with God. He then comprehends; God allows bad things to happen in your life to show you that you need him. Evil is not a lesser good, but it is a reflection of ones moral well-being. In order for one’s well being to be saved one must confess their sins to Christ.
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.
... hand, a love which is holy: agape, unselfish love, and on the other hand a love which is unholy: distorted love of self; selfishness. Augustine clearly acknowledged unselfish love, which is holy love, the love of God. Augustine’s philosophy of love of self is defined as self-seeking and egotistical. The two self-loves are entirely divergent. One is self-giving, selfless, self-sacrificing, and the other is self-centered. One builds up; the other idea of love is self-destructive. One turns to God, and the other turns away from God. In my opinion, I think it is almost impossible in today’s world to live in the way that Augustine accepts. Nevertheless, I can agree somewhat due to the fact that he referring towards an eternal life with God in a Christian sense of thinking. In our secular culture of today's culture, many more people are beginning to turn away from God.