Saint Augustine and the Question of Free Will Essay

As Augustine personally encountered the problem of being too imperfect for Christianity and Christian standards, he founded his concept of original sin within Christianity (Catholic Online, 2019). According to Augustine, God gifted Adam and Eve free will to accept his love and live in Paradise or to reject it (Philosophy Vibe, 2018). When Adam and Eve rejected the love of God, he sent them to Earth and forced their descendants to possess God’s rejection due to Original Sin. Applying Augustine’s idea of free will to the concept of an all-knowing God, one could think that after God deprived Adam and Eve of free will, the future choices we make are made by God himself. However, Augustine stated multiple times that God does not give the privilege of wealth and that it is not God’s decision to make someone poor or to make someone fail (The School of Life, 2015). Augustine explains the free will we express now as God’s gift of a second chance. People are free to choose a righteous way to live and go to heaven afterward or use their free will as they want.

In terms of free will be the second chance for people to eventually come back to God, the idea of all-knowing God could be reconciled with human free will. However, it is unknown whether Augustine’s understanding of free will was impacted by his subjective goals, as he lived a ‘sinful life’ himself (Catholic Online, 2019). In my opinion, the overall idea of an all-knowing God implies an absence of free will. I think that God is only there to guide people and not interfere directly with their actions. I believe in the idea of loving God, but the all-knowing aspect contradicts the concept of redemption of original sin, in my opinion. I think that the concept of reincarnation that I believe in fits the idea of the journey of returning to God.

References

Catholic Online. (2019). St. Augustine of Hippo HD. [Video]. YouTube.

Philosophy Vibe. (2018). The Augustinian theodicy (Extract from “The problem of evil”). [Video]. YouTube.

The School of Life. (2015). Philosophy – Augustine. [Video]. YouTube.