St. Augustine’s View on the Problem of Evil

Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis is one of the most prominent figures in philosophy, whose principles and concepts are extraordinary, influential, and genuine. His works are honorable, his preaching is inspiring, and his personality is decent and modest. He is famous for many things, which deserve in-depth consideration. One of such themes is the Problem of Evil, which is common philosophical notion; and Saint Augustine was among the first theologians and philosophers, who portrayed this concept in the Christian sense.

The philosophical matter of evil is the challenge of conciliating belief in God with evil in the world (Peterson 237). Many scholars believe that God cannot exist along with evil, though the other majority of scientist believe and prove that God is Almighty and Merciful despite cruelty and evil in the world. This concept was analyzed and determined by Saint Augustine, who believed in God’s Power and Mercy no matter what. Saint Augustine dealt with this question in his work called The Confessions, and it was during a time when the Christian faith would have been greatly scrutinized by its enemies (Durfee 1). Augustine argued that everything created by God in one way or another was involved in absolute kindness and God’s all-goodness. After all, the Almighty, while making the creation, imprinted a certain measure, weight, and order in the world; hence, extraterrestrial image and meaning are embedded in them. Admittedly, nature, people, and society consist both of good and bad sides.

Evil is not some kind of force that exists by itself, but a weakened good, a necessary step towards the right path. Apparent imperfection is a part of world harmony and testifies to the principle goodness of all things: “Any nature that can become better is good.” All three great theistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — face the challenge of addressing this issue (Peterson 239). It also happens that the evil, that torments a person, ultimately turns out to be good. For instance, a person is punished for a crime (sin) to bring him something good through redemption and the torments of conscience, which leads to purification. In other words, without evil, people would not know what goodness is.

St. Augustine’s complicated theodicy focuses on the causal genesis of evil in the world to accomplish two objectives: to exonerate God and to maintain the guilt of creatures (Peterson 259). It is understandable why people are so concerned about good and evil. Indeed, people face bad situations more often than good ones, but it does not mean that they should stop believing in the Lord. This is the dilemma because evil does exist though God did not create it (Durfee 4). However, evil makes people ignorant, aggressive, and far away from the right path, which God encourages them to follow. Instead, human beings prefer to follow Devil’s steps, such as murder, alcohol or drug addiction, sexual assaults, abuse, crimes, and so on. All these terrible things are not from God; they are from listening to Devil’s incitements. The Creator promises Paradise while Devil calls for Hell.

St. Augustine concedes that people have two options: to believe in goodness and do good deeds or believe in evil and do wrong actions. For example, two sons of Adam and Eva, Cain and Abel, both were noble creatures, among the first people by the Mercy of God. Both sons had to kill a prey according to God’s order. Abel’s victim was accepted whereas Cain’s – rejected; it did not mean that Cain was worse and the holder of evil and cruelty inside. He was just less faithful and sincere in his worshipping than Abel, who was very religious and decent. Due to envy and Devil’s whisperings, Cain murdered his flesh and bone. It promotes that a man had a choice: to suppress these envious thoughts or to kill own brother. God supports goodness while Devil promotes harm. Cain became the first murderer, and now he gets punished for every single assassination on the earth. Therefore, “evil exists and entered into the world as a result of man’s free will and not by God because He created all things to be good” (Durfee 1).

The most distressing thing is when atheists try their best to portray God as a bad Creator for believers due to their ignorance and the lack of faith and knowledge. To support the opposite statement, it is necessary to bring out that God is entirely aware of all things, thoughts, intentions, actions, and so on. How? Simply: He is God. If God creates people, then God knows the tiniest detail. St. Augustine acknowledges that the Almighty knows what a person will do according to a particular situation, but at the same time, God gives the total freedom to a person to obey or disobey. For example, one can remember the legendary story of the Garden of Eden. This is the place of a perfect environment, which was given Adam and Eva to dwell. God created all things good and perfect for them but forbad only one thing – to eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden. There was nothing wrong with the tree, but God gave this order to see whether they would choose to obey His order or follow Devil’s instigation (which they, unfortunately, did). Thus when a man in his free chooses to eat of the tree that God told him not to, man deliberately displayed disobedience to God and evil entered into the world (Durfee 5). Moreover, according to Saint Augustine’s point of view, such actions are the corruption of good. Thus he presents the evil as degradation of goodness.

There is a statement that people are born pure and good; then they are placed in different societies, conditions, and way of lives. These components significantly influence a person’s personality and behavior; the individuals can darken their hearts by many evil deeds and evil during a lifespan. As a result, a human’s heart becomes weaker, blacker, and vicious regarding their actions and sins. St. Augustine claims that God is good because He creates a human being pure and clean, though later, people choose their path of goodness or evil (Peterson 257). Also, people are created weak, and only true faith can prevent them from going astray. It is also essential to understand that no one is perfect, except for God. Therefore, people seem to prefer committing sins and choosing iniquity than a blessing.

Sin is like a disease, a poison, which destroy human’s organism. A person, him/herself, ruins their genuine connection between them and God by doing wrong actions.  Saint Augustine, however, argues about a cure to prove that God is good. It can be in different forms, but the most effective and best one is repentance. It is believed that God will accept any sincere prayer of asking for forgiveness. Faith purifies a soul, mind, and body. Consequently, man’s free will is responsible for the evil that exists in the world, but it is also man’s free will to restore the goodness that God created in all men from the beginning (Durfee 7).

Saint Augustine and his supporters have contributed a vast amount of proofs, beliefs, and works to depict God as the Lord of goodness, and it is essential to believe in God’s Wisdom and Mercy because no one will protect and forgive people as the Almighty. Consequently, people should focus on building themselves as faithful, decent, and good individuals, who reject evil and promote right deeds until the Day of Judgment.

Works Cited

Durfee, Josiah. “The Problem of Evil: Saint Augustine. Farming Christianity, May 29, 2013, igniting1passion.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-problem-of-evil-saint-augustine-2/

Peterson, Michael L. The Problem of Evil: Selected Readings (Library of Religious Philosophy). Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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