Natural Law and Right Moral Action
A) Outline Augustine’s Theodicy.
Augustine’s theodicy is mostly influenced by the creation stories found in the Genesis. Augustine had a traditional view of God and thought God was omnipotent and good. The genesis mentions that everything God made was good, therefore the universe that God created is good. Augustine believed there were higher and lower goods but everything was good in its own way.
Augustine called evil the privation of good and not a substance. It comes from the sins that Adam and Eve had done in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve were enticed to take the fruit off the tree of knowledge because Satan said so, even though God said not to go anywhere near it, it was up to them to make their free decision. Therefore Augustine believed God saw humanities misuse of free will and therefore planned that the people who abuse the use of free will can go to hell however those who use free will wisely will be saved and go to heaven. However Augustine’s idea of privation does not apply when you lac something you should have. For example if you can’t walk you lack the health you should have. Augustine believed God didn’t create evil but it came about when the angels and humans tuned their back on the higher good and settled for the lower good because of their free choices used with free will. Augustine believed the sin of Adam was passed on though all humans and was called the original sin, moreover Augustine believed God sent Jesus down to die for our sins instead of sending everyone to hell.
Natural evil came from the loss of order in nature, moral evil came from the knowledge of good and evil that humanity had discovered through disobedience because they choose the lesser good. Those who follow God will live an eternal life however those who reject God would suffer eternal torment.
Augustine describes devils as fallen angles who chose to turn away from God. This brought disharmony into the creation and it is the actions of the devils
Augustine’s theodicy is mostly influenced by the creation stories found in the Genesis. Augustine had a traditional view of God and thought God was omnipotent and good. The genesis mentions that everything God made was good, therefore the universe that God created is good. Augustine believed there were higher and lower goods but everything was good in its own way.
Augustine called evil the privation of good and not a substance. It comes from the sins that Adam and Eve had done in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve were enticed to take the fruit off the tree of knowledge because Satan said so, even though God said not to go anywhere near it, it was up to them to make their free decision. Therefore Augustine believed God saw humanities misuse of free will and therefore planned that the people who abuse the use of free will can go to hell however those who use free will wisely will be saved and go to heaven. However Augustine’s idea of privation does not apply when you lac something you should have. For example if you can’t walk you lack the health you should have. Augustine believed God didn’t create evil but it came about when the angels and humans tuned their back on the higher good and settled for the lower good because of their free choices used with free will. Augustine believed the sin of Adam was passed on though all humans and was called the original sin, moreover Augustine believed God sent Jesus down to die for our sins instead of sending everyone to hell.
Natural evil came from the loss of order in nature, moral evil came from the knowledge of good and evil that humanity had discovered through disobedience because they choose the lesser good. Those who follow God will live an eternal life however those who reject God would suffer eternal torment.
Augustine describes devils as fallen angles who chose to turn away from God. This brought disharmony into the creation and it is the actions of the devils