Wallace Borges

Ante Jeroncic & John Markovic

HONS 105 H
November 8, 2012

My Confession of Augustines Confessions

Augustine was an influential person, serving as a significant role model for the Christian

faith during the Middle Ages. He wrote one of his greatest works, The Confessions, during his

later life. Although not his last book, it is considered to be his most influential. He affirms

numerous principles throughout this work that I consider noble and true, nevertheless, he also

brings up some philosophical concepts that I disagree with.

The notion that God is everywhere in the universe at the same exact time is one of the

ideas presented by Augustine (I. 2, 2). I find this idea relatable to my beliefs. It supports the

Christian assertion that God is omnipresent, being everywhere and anywhere all at the same

time, by agreeing with Psalms 139:7-12 when King David writes about Gods spirit finding him

wherever he goes. It flows with the Bible because God is pictured as an almighty God that has

been here since the beginning of time and always will be (John 1:1-3). He has always been here;

likewise, He has always been there. He continues to be both here and there at this moment,

which allows us to conclude that God has been and currently is in many places at the same time.

In order for guiding readers into understanding this concept, Augustine introduces the concept by

preceding it with thought-provoking questions.

Also, Augustine speaks of how everything in the world contains some of God within it

(I. 2, 2). This includes both materials and humans. This makes me a little uncomfortable because

it makes me think of eastern pantheistic monism. In saying that there is a bit of God in each

existing object, the idea of Brahman, a unifying soul of the cosmos, is being publicized (Sire

149). This can also be identified as the divine logos in Stoicism (Markovic 22). I personally do
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not think I can grow using this form of thinking because it does not support my Adventist beliefs.

The idea of God sustaining the universe is more acceptable to me than the idea of God being the

force that unifies everything. God becomes more personal as a sustainer, for example, by

managing the oceans and putting His own effort into making sure that natural laws are kept. If

God was just a mere force that connected everything together, His personification would be lost.

Although God is able to reveal Himself through nature, I believe this is just a revealing of His

signature, not necessarily a revealing of Him being infused within nature. Creationists, like me,

can use this revealing of Gods signature throughout nature to prove His authenticity as the

Creator.

In regards to humans, however, I believe Augustine was correct in saying that God can

enter peoples hearts (I. 2, 2). Likewise, God can be in infinitely many peoples hearts at the

same time. The Bible says God is able to look at our hearts and know them (Psalm 139:23). A

helpful way to look at this is to combine Gods omnipresence with His ability to enter peoples

hearts. I agree with Augustines teachings for the most part until he mentions that if he were to

go to hell, God would go to hell too since God is inside of him (I. 2, 2). The idea of a holy God

going to hell simply because His spirit is inside someones body and that person ends up going to

hell makes no sense to me. This causes me to think of Augustines view of God as a divine spirit

stuck inside a human body, being forced to go wherever that body goes. I believe God only

enters a persons heart; He does not literally go inside the physical structure of a body. Anyways,

Augustine uses Psalm 139:8 to prove that God enters hell with him, but I feel like he is going out

of context of the verse. The biblical text mentioned above, If I go up to heaven, you are there; if

I go down to the grave, you are there, serves as a metaphor, describing how it is impossible to

escape from Gods presence (NLT). However, this does not literally mean that God abides in hell
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or even has a desire to be there. I believe the psalm is talking about how limitless Gods love is

and describing the possibility of still calling out to God even when enveloped by darkness. This

text implies that even when a person has strayed away from God, He is always able to reach

them and rescue them. So I agree with Augustine in the sense that God is omnipresent, but not

with the idea that God must go wherever we go since He is inside of us.

Another idea that is worth mentioning is this: If sensuous beauty delights you, praise

God for the beauty of corporeal thingslest the things that please you lead you to displease

Him (IV. 12, 18). I believe Augustines objective in stating this idea of praising God for all

things is to help people see God for who He really is. As Christians, our viewpoint is analogous

to his in that we believe God is the Creator of all virtuous things and therefore, the Creator of any

object or person that brings us pleasure or enjoyment. Unfortunately, mankind has perverted

these virtuous things as a result of sin and now our vision of Gods creation is impaired.

I believe this is why Augustine stresses the importance of refraining from focusing on

the objects themselves because we will only see them from a sinful, carnal view and will be more

susceptible to being corrupted. When the appetite of the soul which thirsts for carnal pleasures

is not moderated, vices are the result (IV. 25). This is reinstating how essential it is for

humankind to reflect on God whenever taking pleasure in something or someone because it will

help remind us that it was originally envisioned to be something noble which helps give us a

much better chance of seeing it in a more unsoiled light. I fully agree with him on this matter

because humans tend to lose sight of God and even themselves once they become entangled in

the things of this world and forget where exactly those things came from and what they were

originally created for.

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Acquiring special notice is Augustines definition of evil. Evil is nothing but the

diminishment of good to the point where nothing at all is left (III. 7, 12). This is a promise that I

believe has practicality in the Christian church. One important thing to realize is that there is a

link between God and evil. According to Psalm 100:5, God is good. Thus, since God is good,

and evil is the absence of good, evil must then be the absence of God. When this is applied to

ethics and humanity, it is safe to say that a person that does not know God is evil. Same concept

applies to societies: a society without God is an evil one. Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities

that turned evil because of the deprivation of God. This teaches me to not dwell or meditate on

evil thoughts, because that is like Im telling God that I dont want Him in my heart. It makes

sense that when one intentionally produces evil thoughts, elements of Gods character must be

erased and pushed out. In order for evil to mature, there has to be an absence of goodness.

However, pushing out God means that there is now space for the devil to step in. Since this is not

my intention, I will continue to keep God in my heart for the opposite must be true: In order to

rid oneself of evil, God must be received whole-heartedly so that His goodness can eradicate the

evil.

Lastly, there are Augustines views on creation, which I have accepted as a true and

alternative viewpoint which I had never considered before. From my understanding, there is a

sort of two-part creation with time being the dividing factor of the two. The first part precedes

the creation story told in the Bible; the second part is the actual creation story told in the Bible.

Also, I consider the first part of creation having a purpose for God and the second part of

creation being for humans.

In the first part, God creates heaven and earth, but a heaven above our heavens and an

earth invisible and unorganized (XII. 13, 16). This heaven is immutable, never changing, and
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participates in Gods eternity, although not coeternal with God (XII. 9, 9). It is like a house

guest; the guest is able to use the facilities of the house just as the owners of the house do, but he

does not own the house or is able to change the laws governing that house. This is Gods realm

where angels and His heavenly kingdom exist. This heaven that God creates can also be

considered His wisdom which He creates through. Now, the earth that God creates during this

time is formless invisible and unorganized (XII. 13, 16). This view agrees with the Bible in

Genesis 1:2 where it says that the earth was dark and empty, without form and void. Although

the Bible does not explain when heaven of heaven and invisible earth were created, I believe this

is what is meant by Genesis 1:1 when it says In the beginning God created the heavens and the

earth.

These creations of God precede time because they are participating in His eternity, as

mentioned above. The heaven of heaven is immutable, being able to change but doesnt, which

causes it to not experience time; the invisible earth is formless and thus, cannot experience time

(XII. 19, 28). I thought it was incredible when Augustine says that the heaven of heavens

actually existed before time was created (XII. 20). Time is considered a creature of God,

something that He made, yet there is no moment where God decided to start the ticking of time.

Time has always been there, yet God is eternal, so he precedes time. Thus, because the heaven of

heavens is participating in this eternity, it actually exists before time as well. Another way to

view the existence of this heaven of heavens, the Wisdom of God, is by relating it to Gods Will.

Gods will is never changing, so time does not have any effect on it. God may alter His works,

but never His plans (I. 4, 4).

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The second part of creation deals with the physical world we live in and the manipulation

of the original formless matter that God created. The Creation week told in the Bible follows a

time-frame and is not unalterable, so changes and mutations can occur.

In summary, Augustine had a plethora of philosophical ideas. Some have become

obsolete, while others have survived the test of time. Ranging from Gods omnipresence to the

creation of the cosmos, his works have had a great impact on Christianity.