What Does Augustine Say About The Nature Of Evil
Forgiven by Praise In Augustine’s eyes, humans exist because we are part of God’s creation. We are here for the sole purpose to watch over the rest of creation and have been here since God created one man and one woman in the birth of humanity, as shown in the book of Genesis. Augustine argues two central aspects, to confess one’s faults to God and to praise God, which come together to form one central theme that helps us better understand ourselves, our religious orientation, and forgiveness, as shown in his writings of The Confessions and The City of God. This theme helps answer key worldview questions such as who we are, why we are here, what the problem in the world is, and what the solution is. On the grounds of Augustine’s implication
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Augustine argues frequently that sin is the main problem. Sin is transferrable to evil, and neither sin nor evil will ever be entirely diminished. Humans are not evil or sinful by nature, and Augustine supports this in his writings, “Since no one is evil by nature, but whoever is evil is evil by vice, he who lives according to God ought to cherish toward evil men a perfect hatred” (City of God, 32). Furthermore, if we are not deemed evil ourselves, we are to frown upon those who have crossed over from faintly sinful to purely evil with a pure and perfect hate. Augustine writes on a debatable topic when he writes, “Pride is the beginning of sin,” (City of God, 38). I would say this is arguable because little bits of pride in one’s life are not bad. If one does not take pride in their work, then they shouldn’t be doing that work at all. On the contrary, if one is overly prideful, then issues start to arise which leads to the beginning a sin and possibly into the nefarious trench. The solution to the problem of sin relatively and historically simple, but yet can be quite complex. The easy, shorthand way of solving the problem of sin is having Jesus forgive us of our sins. Done. Not done. Augustine writes passionately about Jesus being sacrificed for our
Augustine argues frequently that sin is the main problem. Sin is transferrable to evil, and neither sin nor evil will ever be entirely diminished. Humans are not evil or sinful by nature, and Augustine supports this in his writings, “Since no one is evil by nature, but whoever is evil is evil by vice, he who lives according to God ought to cherish toward evil men a perfect hatred” (City of God, 32). Furthermore, if we are not deemed evil ourselves, we are to frown upon those who have crossed over from faintly sinful to purely evil with a pure and perfect hate. Augustine writes on a debatable topic when he writes, “Pride is the beginning of sin,” (City of God, 38). I would say this is arguable because little bits of pride in one’s life are not bad. If one does not take pride in their work, then they shouldn’t be doing that work at all. On the contrary, if one is overly prideful, then issues start to arise which leads to the beginning a sin and possibly into the nefarious trench. The solution to the problem of sin relatively and historically simple, but yet can be quite complex. The easy, shorthand way of solving the problem of sin is having Jesus forgive us of our sins. Done. Not done. Augustine writes passionately about Jesus being sacrificed for our