Notes on Confessions Book XIII

Confessions
St. Augustine

Book XIII

Ch. 1

"I call thee into my soul, which thou didst prepare for thy reception by the desire which thou inspirest in it"

Ch. 2

From the fullness of Goodness in God comes creation.

"An unformed spiritual entity is more excellent than a formed corporeal entity; and the corporeal, even when unformed, is more excellent than if it were simply nothing at all"

"The true good of every created thing is always to cleave fast to thee"

Ch. 3

God is the only being that does not have a distinction in his being between living and living in blessedness, "thou art thyself thy own blessedness".

Ch. 4

God created out of his goodness and fullness, not because He lacked anything.

Ch. 5

Augustine argues the language of Genesis affirms the Trinity.

Ch. 6

Augustine wonders why the Spirit was introduced after the waters he was moving over.

Ch. 7

The Holy Spirit lifts us up to the inner heavens where our souls can find rest.

Ch. 8

Augustine confesses that his existence is woe apart from God.

Ch. 9

The Holy Spirit is how we enjoy God.

Ch. 10

"Let him who is able to understand this; and let him who is not ask of thee". Lord, I ask of thee. I don't understand this passage at all.

Ch. 11

What man can fully understand the Trinity? By analogy we can understand how a trinity exists in an unity, but the complete understanding of the Trinity is too much for man.

Ch. 12

When we became displeased with our darkness we turned to thee and there was light.

Ch. 13

We live by faith not by sight because we live by hope in the promise that one day we'll see face-to-face.

Ch. 14

The relapse into the darkness can occur in us but hope and pray and praise God in even the darkness of the night.

Ch. 15

The whole of Scriptures is like the skins God stretched for Adam and Eve after the fall. It is His words stretched over us to protect us and clothe us.

Ch. 16

I cannot satisfy myself; only God can satisfy me.

Everything God is He immutably is.

Ch. 17

When we help our neighbors physically we perform both a physical and spiritual task with both physical and spiritual results.

Ch. 18

By feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the homeless we operate on a low level of fruitful action and can come to the joy of contemplation.

By God's eternal design He spreads the Heavenly blessing on earth in the proper seasons.

Ch. 19

Augustine encourages Christians into missionary work: be the light of the world you are!

Ch. 20

"O God, who dost refresh our easily wearied mortal senses that is our mental cognition a single thing may be figured and signified in many different ways by different bodily motions"

Augustine argues he sees the text of Genesis allegorically because it leads to the higher things of God. He notes that those who can't move past the text in its physical meaning still have a soul that has a higher life that profits from the spiritual text.

Ch. 21

Don't be overcome by pride, lust or morbid curiosity. These things are signs of a dead soul because the soul has sought things away from the wellspring of life.

Only wen man has become renewed in his mind by God can he walk in the image of God he was created in without any human guidance.

Ch. 22

Be not conformed to this world.

Ch. 23

Now as a Spiritual man it does not behoove him to judge the Scriptures, even if there are parts hard to understand. "Instead, we submit our understanding to it and believe with certainty that which is hidden from our sight is still rightly and truly spoken"

"Nor does a man, even though he is spiritual, judge the disordered state of society in this world. For what business of his is it to judge those who are without, since he cannot know which of them may later on come into the sweetness of thy grace, and which of them may continue in the perpetual bitterness of their impiety?" That's an interesting point...

 Ch. 24

Augustine takes, "be fruitful and multiply" on an allegorical level to mean to increase our fruitfulness of mind because even the beasts are fruitful and multiply physically.

Ch. 25

All men are liars. The truth they speak is only through God's truth.

Ch. 26

Paul was fed with joy and that is why he can be content in all situations.

Ch. 27

The uninstructed and the infidel require mysteries of initiation and great works of miracles. The instructed already accept God.

Ch. 28

The whole of creation, an amalgam of things called good by God, is called very good by God. The sum is greater than the parts.

Ch. 29

The things we see through God's spirit he sees the same way. But the temporal things we see in a way different than God because God does not see things in time.

Ch. 30

Augustine argues against the dualistic notion of a benevolent creator of all things spiritual and a malevolent creator of all things physical.

Ch. 31

What we see as good in creation we see as good because God has called it good.

Ch. 32

The imago dei is having the power of reason and understanding.

Ch. 33

Creation was made by God but made of God.

Ch. 34

In order to perfect the faithful God ordained that the faithful, "should themselves bring forth good things" for both this life and the next.

Ch. 35

Augustine prays for peace and rest.

Ch. 37

God exists outside of time but created everything that exists in time.

God takes the Sabbath and rests in us when He completes the work in us. 

Ch. 38

"We can see all those things which thou hast made because they are - but they are because thou seest them."

God has never ceased to do good.

Only by seeking truth in God will we find any truth.

365 Day Bible 3 & 4

Day 3 of the 365 Day Bible (still have some catching up to do).

Genesis 5 - 10

Genesis 5:1-2 reminds us that when God created man He did so in the likeness of God, the Imago Dei. Interestingly here, the NIV says the "likeness of God" and not the "image of God". I wonder what the original text states? I know there are some Christian sects that believe that we were created in the image and likeness of God, but after the Fall we lost the 'likeness' and retained the 'image'.

Adam lived 930 years. Seth lived 912 years. Enosh lived 905 years. Kenan lived 910 years. Mahalalel lived 895 years. Jared lived 962 years.

Enoch lived 365 years and unlike his ancestors, the Bible doesn't say 'and then he died'. It states 5:24 "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away". Is this poetic license? Is it just stating the same thing in a more flowery language? Or is it something else? I don't know.

Methuselah lived 969 years. Lamech lived 777 years. Lamech was the father of Noah.

Noah was the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Genesis 6 has some interesting stuff. First, "the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose" (6:2). "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown" (6:4). What on earth does that mean? Who were the Nephilim?

In spite of the wickedness of man, Noah alone found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was righteous, blameless and walked with God. God decided to wipe out all living things on account of man who had brought violence to the earth. But, God makes a covenant with Noah (this is the first time God makes a covenant in the Old Testament).

Why does God command Noah to take two of every kind of bird in 6:20 and seven of every kind of bird in 7:2?

After the flood the first thing Noah does is to build an altar and sacrifice to God. God then states, "never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood" (8:21). That doesn't exactly paint a very good picture of man - every inclination is evil from childhood. So much for the theory that man is intrinsically good.

God then reminds us of the Imago Dei in a warning not to kill another man - 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man".

God then makes his covenant with Noah never to destroy the earth by a flood and sets the rainbow as a sign to remember that He will remember the everlasting covenant between God and all the living creatures of every kind.

Noah then gets drunk and Ham dishonors him, but Japheth and Shem cover him up. Noah curses Ham (the father of Canaan) to be the slave of his brothers. Noah lived 950 years and died.

What are we to do with the ages in this passage? Are we to take literally that men lived nearly a thousand years? What can be the explanation for such longevity?

Matthew 3-4

John the Baptist bursts onto the scene in Matthew 3, calling for repentance. He prophesies about the coming Messiah who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. He doesn't paint Jesus as a sort of wimpy guy either "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12).

John the Baptist then, after mild protestation, baptizes Jesus. A voice from Heaven declares that Jesus is God's son.

After baptism, Jesus goes into the desert to fast 40 days. After this he is tempted by the devil three times. The thing I have always found the most interesting about this passage is that both use Scripture in their back and forth. Of course one would expect Jesus to quote Scripture, but the devil uses it as well. That's an unsettling thought.

Just like John the Baptist, Jesus begins to preach calling for repentance. Jesus then calls his first four disciples Simon-Peter, Andrew, James and John (the sons of Zebedee). Jesus then begins his ministry by preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing the sick. People flocked to him from all over and brought their sick to be healed.

Psalms 3-4

Psalm 3 is one of those Psalms that has a difficult verse in it. "Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked" (Psalms 3:7). Not exactly one of those verses that makes God seem like the great redeemer He is. It's hard to reconcile the love of God with what David is calling on God to do. But, just as we saw in Matthew 3, Jesus who is healing the sick just one chapter later is being prophesied as standing with the winnowing fork ready to store up his wheat in the barn and burn the chaff forever in an unquenchable fire.

But there are two verses that really stick out to me in Psalm 3. Psalm 3:5 "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me". Even something so simple as waking up is worthy of praising God, because He sustains us. Psalm 3:8 "From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people". David, for all intents and purposes is one of the most renowned warriors in the Bible, but he sees the Lord as his deliverance, not his own strength or might.

Psalm 4 also shows David seeing God as his safety. But, the verse in Psalm 4 that strikes me the most is verse 4. "In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent". Hear my prayer God, help me to search my heart so that I do not sin in anger.

Proverbs 1:10-23

Again we see a warning against sin - 1:10 "My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them". Again we see repentance and what it does for a man. 1:23 "If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you".

365 Day Bible Day 2

Day 2 (still playing catch-up)

Genesis 3-4

The Fall of Man in Genesis 3- Why did God make the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Why did God make the Tree of Life? Genesis 3 offers us the first look of the Problem of Evil in Scriptures. Why was the serpent crafty? Why did he defy God? Why did Eve mis-remember or lie about the tree in the middle of the garden and embellish what God had said? Eve, even in that innocent state at the least erred, if not fibbed. Who is to blame for the fall of man?

Was it God for setting Adam and Eve up to fail? Was it the serpent for seducing Eve? Was it Eve for eating the apple and seducing Adam? Was it Adam to succumbing to Eve and eating the apple? It just occurred to me, though I've probably thought of it before or so I'm not mis-remembering or fibbing, it's probably more accurate to state that it has been pointed out to me before that the problem of free will and the problem of evil are intricately related.

Why did God create the universe in the way He did? We may posit guesses, theories and plausible scenarios, but our answers will only reach probability standards and internally consistency. The fact of the matter is that the world is as it is because God created it as such (allowing a transcendental argument that presupposes that the Christian God did create the world, that I have no personal qualms with accepting on various levels that I'll not go into at the moment). But, as for the creation of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (whether this is a literal or metaphorical creation, a topic for another discussion) demands that God created the world as such to involve Free Will. Thus, sin, though not inevitable, is at least possible in the world that God created. The Problem of Evil comes about because we ask who is the author of evil. In a world that is created by God where evil is at least possible don't we have to accept that God is the ultimate author of evil? I tend to lean towards St. Augustine's way of dealing with the existence of evil as I sort of had a eureka moment when I learned of his theory. Evil is not something that exists independently and is really only the diminishing of the good. Thus, God who cannot be diminished at all can never be evil. Thus, we can rule God out as the author of evil.

But, we needn't get too deep into this as it really doesn't concern Genesis 3 only that it absolves God from any guilt in the scenario. God shows whose to blame as he doles out punishment. The serpent is cursed. The woman has her pain in childbearing greatly increased and Adam and the ground is cursed because of his role in the event.

Even after punishment though God takes care of Adam & Eve making them garments of skin.

Cain and Abel are then born to Adam and Eve in exile from the Garden. Cain offered "some" of his fruits and Abel offered "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock". The Lord looked on Abel with favor for his offering, but not on Cain. Cain became angry. Then God says something interesting, combining a comforting and a warning - "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it".

That verse, 4:7 strikes some fear in me. I can vividly picture sin crouching at my door seeking to have me. Lord, help me master it.

Cain kills Abel and is cursed by God, but once again God even punishment doesn't totally destroy Cain, marking him so that nobody kills him.

This is where I start to get intrigued and thinking about the whole Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel and why is Cain scared stating, "I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me". If Adam & Eve are the first people and Cain and Abel their first children, and now that Abel is dead, who is Cain afraid of coming across when he is wandering? Who is his wife that he lay with in the next verse? Now I guess is as good of a place as any for me to posit my working and probably incredibly inaccurate thoughts on Creation, Adam & Eve and who the heck Cain is scared of.

First, with regard to the Genesis account of Creation and its literal/metaphorical interpretation. Actually, let's back up a second before I go into this. Firstly, anything and everything in Scriptures is relevant to our daily walk with God. But, if it doesn't deny the salvation through Jesus Christ or anything heretical about the nature of God, I think a debate can be had on certain things - one of which is Creation. Secondly, as long as there is no disagreement on how one is redeemed, which is through Jesus Christ and acceptance of Him as one's Lord and Savior, and on the Triune God of Christianity being the sole God, one can be called a Christian. I am sure that when I get to Heaven I will be surprised who I see and who I don't see. God's redemptive powers are greater than my conception of them. Lastly, I do not think it to be edifying the faithful or a good look to the un-believing for Christians to come to blows, literal or metaphorical about things related to faith. Where there is disagreement, let there be discussion unless discussion leads to heresy or disharmony. If there are in those rare spots places where Christians can disagree on points of theology that are not related to Christ, his redeeming ways or on the Trinity then let us simply do good works to show our faith. But when it comes to Creation, I am not a literalist. I don't think we can take the Biblical account of Genesis 1-2 and turn it into a scientific treatise because that is not what it was intended to be.

As for my take on Creation, I see no reason why a Darwinian account of evolution is incompatible with a Scriptural worldview. I see this because I don't think the Bible is a scientific textbook. Now, Darwinian evolution has the power to describe the process of how the earth came into being, but not the why or the intent of creation. I believe that when God set into motion the events of creation that would eventually lead to this point and to the final point in history, He did so in the full knowledge of the fall of man and that his creation act included the two seminal points in redeeming man - the crucifixion/resurrection of Jesus Christ and the second coming. They were woven into the fabric of creation because he had foreknowledge that man would fall and in the ultimate act of love and sacrifice he chose to create and redeem nonetheless. Why did God create in such a way that included Free Will? Again, this is one of those questions we can only posit theories to that approximate internal consistency because we cannot know the full mind of God.

Now, we come to Adam and Eve and some of the differences between Genesis 1 and 2. I think at some point in the distant past, when man was emerging out of East Africa, God chose, much in the way he chose Abraham, a certain man and placed him in the Garden to fulfill the purpose which God had set for man at the onset of creation - "to fill the earth and subdue it, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Genesis 1:28). Through Adam naming the creatures of the garden, God gave him dominion over those in the garden. While I don't take creation as literal, I take the Garden of Eden and Adam as literal, as well as Eve being formed for Adam by God specifically as literal, historical events.

Now comes the question of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life and the serpent. This I vacillate back and forth on. On the one hand, if God set up a guard at the entrance to the Garden so that Adam & Eve couldn't return to the garden it would suggest that both trees are literal. But, on the other hand, the sin/fall of man could very well have been Adam & Eve exercising their free will in a way that resulted in sin and the story could be metaphorical and just Adam & Eve choosing to live their way instead of God's way. I'm not sure - to be honest, I'm not really sure about any of this; it's just my personal thoughts.

Cain & Abel is most definitely now entering a literal phase. I think that once Adam & Eve have been banished from paradise they are aware of other people throughout their little corner of the world. Cain being banished from his home territory would mean coming across other groups of humans who might not be overly receptive to someone wandering into their territory where they hunt and gather. Why do I think that Adam & Eve and their sons knew of other human beings in the vicinity of them? The wife of Cain, without the Biblical mention of Adam & Eve having a daughter makes me think that Cain (and probably Abel) acquired a wife from another band of humans in the general vicinity to where Adam & Eve were living. But, this could all be wrong. Lord, I pray for two things. First, that I don't get to caught up in intellectualizing your Word and thus, not gleaning the eternal truths from it by drowning out your voice. Second, that I don't lead myself or anyone else astray from you in thinking or writing these things.

To finish up today's reading in Genesis I have two things that puzzle me

1) Lamech. What is Lamech saying when he makes his declaration to his two wives?
2) Adam & Eve's third son Seth has a son called Enosh: "At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord". What does that mean? The Lord spoke to Adam & Eve, and to Cain (presumably to Abel). But had the fall caused enough rift that the Lord was pulling back and so the roles reversed to where man was beginning to call on the name of the Lord instead of the other way around?

Matthew 3

John the Baptist was baptizing and preaching in the desert and drawing crowds. He chastised the Pharisees and the Sadducees who seemed to be relying on their heritage as descendants of Abraham for salvation. "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (3:8) he warned them, continuing "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire" (3:10).

Lord, hear my prayer - Help me to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. I repent of my sins and yet I am bearing no fruit. I continue to go to my sins often, even after repenting. I repent again. Help me to bear fruit.

The first words of Jesus in the New Testament come from Matthew 3:15 "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness". While the formation of the Scriptures as it is now may not be chronological in the order that events happened or were even recorded, I find it interesting to English readers of the Scriptures that Jesus' first words are essentially 'let's do it to fulfill all righteousness'. With that John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and God declares from Heaven who Jesus is - "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased". Righteousness pleases God.

Psalm 2

2:11 - "Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling"
2:12b - "Blessed are all who take refuge in him"

Lord, may I serve you and rejoice you and take refuge in you.

Proverbs 1:7-9

1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

Lord, let this be yet another beginning of knowledge. Teach me not to despise your discipline. Hear my prayer Lord.

365 Day Bible Day 1

Day 1 of the 365 day Bible reading (of course it's Day 12 of the year, but I'm a procrastinator).

Genesis 1-2

When God creates the sea creatures and the birds, he blesses them and says "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth". When God creates the land creatures he says its good. When he creates man "in our image" he does so to "let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground". He gave man a duty and a purpose in the act of creation.

1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them". Why does the author repeat God created man three times in a single phrase? What is the significance of the repetition?

After creating man for a purpose, he blesses them and gives them every seed-bearing plant as food.

God rested on the seventh day and made it holy - he set it apart for rest.

The creation of man coincided with him placing man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

God named the "day" and the "night", the "sky", the "land" and the "seas, but Adam named all the animals. Is this significant? I remember vaguely from a college class that naming something in Hebrew culture gave ownership or stewardship, but is that true? I mean, it would make sense as man was created to work and subdue the earth.

Matthew 1-2

Mary was found to be pregnant with Jesus before being married by the Holy Spirit. Is this the first time that the Holy Spirit is mentioned specifically in the Bible?

Joseph became aware of this and was going to break it off with Mary, but an angel came to him and explained the situation. That would be an odd one to experience.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the Magi came to see him. They stopped in Jerusalem to find where the one who was to be the king of the Jews was born. They avoided going back through Jerusalem though because of King Herod.

Joseph is again visited by an angel, telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because King Herod was going to try and kill Jesus. Joseph is once again visited by an angel and told that it was safe to return to Israel now that King Herod was dead.

Psalm 1

1:1-2 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night". This is my prayer Lord, help me to delight in your law and meditate on it day and night.

Proverbs 1:1-6

The purpose of the Proverbs:
-to attain wisdom and discipline
-to understand words of insight
-to acquire a disciplined and prudent life
-to do what is right and just and fair

I need the Proverbs probably more than most things right now. I need to acquire a disciplined and prudent life. Help me Lord to achieve this end.

Brief Notes on I Chronices 1-21

(Originally Written June 5, 2008 in the Journal)

Lord I am so feeble and weak. My soul is in anguish. My temper flares and I hurt from longing. Why has she forsaken me? Why would you cause this to happen? What must I learn from you? Do I not trust you? Do I not bless your name? Where is the easy yoke? Lord may your will be done and may the whole world come to see that you are just and good. Lord I struggle, but I thank you for the struggle. For if I die, I will be with you and if I live I will be even stronger in you for it. May you restore my wife to me or otherwise show me your plan for me. You have my heart, my soul, my mind, my all. 'Tis a small offering I know, but what I have is yours. Comfort me in the readings today. Do not look on me in anger or disgust, but deliver me from my anguish. Thank you Lord for all you have done. May the whole world praise you ceaselessly. May every tongue sound of the Holiness of the one true God. Thank you for your love and care.

Notes on I Chronicles

Chapter 1 - Genealogy from Adam to the Edomites

Chapter 2 - Genealogy of the sons of Israel, that is Jacob

Chapter 3 - The line of David

Chapter 4 -

The sons of Judah

Jabez prayed to the Lord, "oh that you may truly bless me and extend my boundaries! Help me and make me free of misfortune, without pain!" The Lord answered his prayer.

The sons of Simeon

The sons of Reuben

Reuben, though firstborn, lost his birthright to Joseph. The king came from Judah because Judah was powerful.

The sons of Gad.

The sons of East Manasseh.

These men angered God by idolatry and were deported to Assyria.

The sons of Levi

Chapter 6 - The descendants of Aaron

Chapter 7

The sons of Issachar
The sons of Benjamin
The sons of Dan, Naphtali and Manasseh
The sons of Ephraim
The sons of Asher

Chapter 8 - The sons of Benjamin

Chapter 9 -

Judah had been carried away into Babylon as exiles.
Jerusalem still had some Israelites in it from Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh and also some Levites dwelled in Jerusalem.

The Genealogy of Saul

Chapter 10

Saul and his three sons were killed in battle by the Philistines because Saul rebelled against the Lord.

Chapter 11

David was made king of Israel.
David conquered Jerusalem.

Chapter 12 - David gathered many warriors around him

Chapter 13 - David brought the Ark to Jerusalem

Chapter 14 -

David settled in Jerusalem, took wives and had sons.
David conquered the Philistines who attacked him. The Lord made all nations fear David.

Chapter 15 -

David danced in the streets and his wife Michal, daughter of Saul, despised him for it.

Chapter 16

"Glory in his holy name; rejoice, o hearts that seek the Lord" (I Chronicles 16:10, New American Bible).

"Sing to the Lord, all the earth, announce his salvation, day after day" (I Chronicles 16:23, New American Bible).

Chapter 17

Nathan had a vision that David's son would build the temple of the Lord and David rejoiced at this.

Chapter 18

David subdued the Philistines and the Moabites. He defeated the king of Zobah and the Arameans.

Chapter 19

David defeated the Ammonites for shaming ambassadors he sent them. David then crushed the Arameans for aid the Ammonites.

Chapter 20

David went to battle with the Philistines again and the Israelites defeated three giants that were sons of the Rephaim.

Chapter 21

David then sinned and took a census of Israel. David was given three choices of punishment and chose pestilence. 70,000 men died on account of David's sin.

Early thoughts on the Problem of Evil

(Originally written February 27, 2008 in Book 22)

Evil then exists in a vacuum. This vacuum is created by the self-deprivation of God's ultimate goodness. Evil is the cause of sin. Sin therefore exists in a vacuum.

As a result of sin, Adam & Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden (which was Heaven on Earth). Earth is corrupted now along with all of its inhabitants, even the beings and created things without free will. Earth is a vacuum, void of God's goodness. Thus, evil and sin exist in the world. 

God removed his ultimate goodness in the world by removing himself from Earth and breaking a "physical" communion and vindicating ultimate righteousness and ultimate holiness. However, all of creation, that is not a free-will being is still a testament to God's creative power. They work on instinct and still taste in His ultimate goodness, yet they are in this vacuum of the world and are subsequently subject to imperfections seen as mutations or adaptations. In this world, the only free will beings are humans. They still revel in the remnants of God's ultimate goodness because they are made in the image of God. 

Imagine it this way. God is the sun and man is the moon. The sun gives a perfect light to the world. It illuminates the world, heats it, and sustains life. God illuminates the world and sustains all life in it. Hypothetically imagine that, the sun were much closer to the Earth, so close that it lit up the entirety of the world all at once, without burning it up. This is how God was before the Fall. He dwelled on Earth and walked on the Garden. As a result of man's rebellion God removed himself (theoretically the sun returned to its original place). However the sun still illuminates part of the earth part of the time and sustains it continually. So too does God illuminate some creation some of the time, but sustain it all of the time. Since the world is now devoid of God's ultimate goodness it has been corrupted and at times, God's creation, namely man, cannot see his illumination or feel his sustaining power. The sun too is blocked by imperfection in the world (clouds) clouds can partially block or fully block the light of the Sun, but cannot stop it from sustaining the world. So too can the state of fallen creation partially or fully block the illumination of God, but cannot prevent God's ability to sustain life.

Man, being created in the image of God, has some of God's attributes and subsequently some of his abilities, but not all. God is to man as the Sun is to the moon. God is completely perfect whereas man was (prior to the Fall) perfect, yet a fragmented perfection. Man reflects the perfect image of God. God (and the Sun) are unaffected by the imperfections like Evil and sin (for the Sun oncoming asteroids or comets). They cannot hurt him. Sin and Evil have smashed into humanity like the asteroids and comets into the moon causing both man and the moon to be scarred and crater filled. These distortions have caused man's reflection of God (or the moon's reflection of the Sun) to be even less complete than a reflection already.

Notes on Genesis 1-10

(Originally written April 26, 2007 in Book 16)

Back to the Basic, the foundation

The Oxford Annotated Bible (RSV)

Creation, Adam & Eve and the Fall of Man

1:1 Heavens and Earth
1:2 Earth was without form and void.
- What does form mean? Purpose? Shape?
1:3 Light created
1:4 Light called good, light separated from darkness
1:5 Light called day, darkness called night
- Naming implies ownership. God owes night and day. There can be no dualism here where day is good and night is evil because God owns both.
1:6 Day 2: separates the water from the earth and sky
1:7 God makes sky
1:8 Day 2 ends
1:9 God makes dry land
1:10 God names land "Earth" and the waters "seas"
-Ownership of Earth and seas
1:11 God creates vegetation
1:12 God calls the vegetation good
1:13 End of Day 3
1:14 God creates the stars to serve as signs
-Important note: God creates signs
1:15 The stars give light to the earth
1:16 od specifically purposes the Sun and the moon and the stars
1:17 Purpose of the stars to give light upon the earth
1:18 God calls the stars good
1:19 End of day 4
1:20 God creates fish (sea creatures) and birds (air creatures)
1:21 God calls both the sea creatures and air creatures good
1:22 God gives them purpose/meaning: "Be fruitful and multiply"
1:23 End of Day 5
1:24 God creates land creatures
1:25 God calls the land creatures good
1:26 God sets out to create man in His own image. Man's purpose is to have dominion over the creatures of earth
- "Let us make man in our image" implies a multiplicity in God
1:27 God creates man and woman
1:28 God blesses man and gives him purpose: "Fill the earth and subdue it, take dominion over all the creatures"
1:29 God gives all the plants yielding seeds and fruit to man as food
1:30 God gives the plants to all animals to eat
1:31 Everything God created he calls very good. End of Day 6

2:1 Creation of Everything was complete
-Does this rule out evolution, or at least macro evolution?
2:2 God rested on the 7th day
2:3 God blessed the 7th Day
2:4 Recount of creation
2:5 Day 1: Heaven and earth, but no plants, no rain, no man
2:6 There was only a mist from the earth to water the whole ground
2:7 God formed man from the dust of the ground an breathed life in to him
- This definitely rules out man from the evolutionary cycle
2:8 God plants the Garden of Eden and puts man there
2:9 The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil are planted in the garden with all the other trees
2:10 The River that flowed out of Eden watered the garden and divided into four Rivers
2:11 Pishon flows around the whole land of Havilah. Havilah contains gold.
- What does Pishon mean?
- What does Havilah mean?
- What are the implications of gold existing?
2:12 The gold of Havilah is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there
- What is the significance of Gold, Bdellium and onyx?
2:13 The rive Giron flows around the whole land of Cush
2:14 The Tigris flows east of Assyria and the 4th river is the Euphrates.
2:15 God gives man purpose in the Garden of Eden: to till and keep it
-Man's existence in paradise was not void of purpose or duty
2:16 The LORD commanded man to eat freely of every tree in the garden
2:17 The LORD commanded man to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that you eat of it you shall die.
2:18 God decides that it is not good for man to be alone and decides to make a helper fit for him
2:19 God brings all the creatures to Adam to see what he will call them
- Man's naming of the creatures implies ownership
2:20 There was no suitable helper among all the creatures
2:21 God caused man to have a deep sleep and removed a rib from him
2:22 From man's rib God formed woman and brought her to Adam
2:23 Man calls woman, "woman" because she is the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
2:24 Man and woman becomes one flesh
- Institution of marriage by God
- Implicit denial of homosexuality
2:25 Man and Woman are naked, but not ashamed

3:1 The serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature. He asked the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?"
3:2 The woman replied we may eat of any tree
3:3 But, God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die
- The is the first human distortion of God's commands by man. Notice that it is a building on of God's law, not a detraction. This is an interesting point. She tends towards legalism rather than hedonism. What is the significance here?
3:4 The serpent said, "you will not die"
- This is the first refutation or denial of God's claims. It is the first lie.
3:5 The serpent says you won't die, but your eyes will be opened and become like God.
- Now the lie is emboldened by an enticement
- The serpent makes the false claim that downing good and evil is what makes God God
3:6 The woman saw the tree was good for food and was a way to become wise. Thus she ate from it and gave some to her husband who ate.
- There is a conscious decision for the woman to eat and then a conscious decision for the man to eat. Two separate sins.
3:7 They became aware of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together to make clothes
- The innocence is lost
3:8 Man and woman hide from God who is walking in the garden.
3:9 The LORD calls out to the man and woman
3:10 Man said he hid from God because he was afraid and naked
- First sense of fear
3:11 God accuses man of eating from the tree he was not supposed to eat from.
3:12 The man blames the woman (and God for giving him the woman) for giving him the fruit
- First blasphemy of God
3:13 God asks the woman what have you done? The woman blames the serpent
3:14 God curses the serpent worse than any other animal and forces him to slither on his belly
3:15 God instills enmity between women and serpents
3:16 God curses the woman in child brith by greatly multiplying the pain
-This is interesting that He will increase the pain but not create pain in child birth. Thus, not all pain can be called Evil.
God instills a desire in woman for her husband and places him in charge of her
3:17 God curses the ground as a result of man's sin
3:18 God demands that the ground will bring forth thorns and thistles but that man will nonetheless eat the plants of the field.
3:19 God states that man will return from where he came. man is of dust and will return to dust.
3:20 God called the woman Eve because she was the mother of all living
3:21 The LORD made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed him
- First killing
3:22 God declares that man has become like one of us knowing good and evil and must be stopped from eating of the tree of life and living forever.
3:23 Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden
3:24 God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life from man

4:1 Adam and Eve had sex and Cain was born. She proclaimed that she bore a man by the help of the Lord
- Even after sinning and banishment Eve still acknowledges God and His help
4:2 She then bore Abel. Abel became a sheep herder and Cain became a farmer
4:3 Cain brought an offering to the Lord of fruit
4:4 Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and the fat ones as an offering to the Lord. The Lord accepted Abel's offering
4:5 Cain's offering was not accepted. Cain became very angry.
4:6 The Lord asked why Cain was angry
4:7 The Lord says if you do well you will be accepted, but if you do not do well sin will over take you. He tells Cain that sin desires for him, but that he must master sin.
4:8 Cain lures Abel into the field and murders him
- First murder, significantly different then the 1st killing (Gen. 3:21)
4:9 The Lord asks Cain where his brother is and Cain retorts, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
4:10 The Lord replies, "the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground"
4:11 The Lord says now you are cursed from the ground
4:12 Cain is diminished to a fugitive and a wanderer of the the earth
4:13 Cain states that his punishment is more than he can bear
4:14 Cain fears that he will be killed since he wanders and is hidden from God
4:15 The Lord marked Cain so that no man would kill him
4:16 Cain left the Presence of the Lord and dwelt in Nod, east of Eden
- This whole situation is intriguing. Despite the banishment from the garden and a murder God has direct contact with Cain. When did this direct contact stop and why?
4:17 Cain took a wife and had a son, Enoch. Cain built a city called Enoch.
4:18 Enoch begat Irad. Iran begat Me-hulja-el. Me-hulja-el begat Me-thu'sha-el. Me-thu'sha-el begat Lamech.
4:19 Lamech had two wives: Adah and Zilla
-first instance of polygamy
4:20 Adah bore Jabal to Lamech. Jabal is the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
4:21 Adah also bore Jubal who became the father of those who play the lyre and pipe.
4:22 Zillah bore Tubal-Cain who was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron
4:23 Lamech said to his wives: I have slain a man for wounding me. I have killed a young man for striking me.
4:24 He said if Cain is avenged seven-fold, Lamech is avenged seventy-seven fold.
4:25 Adam and Eve had Seth. Eve said Seth is appointed by God because Cain slew Abel.
4:26 Seth had a son, Enosh. At this time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genealogies
5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam"
- Is this separate from the first four chapters? When God created man he made him in the likeness of God
5:2 God blessed and named them
5:3 At 130 years old Adam had Seth. Seth was in the likeness of Adam
- Adam is in the image of God. Seth in the image of Adam. Is Seth then in the image of God equal to being in the image of God or less?
5:4 Adam had other sons and daughters
5:5 Adam lived 930 years and died
5:6 Seth was 105 years old when he had a son, Enosh
5:7 Seth had other sons and daughters
5:8 Seth lived 912 years and died
- Some say that it is ridiculous to assume this is literal. Others say it is unfair that they live that long. Why did God delay death so long back then? Why is the curse so much harsher now? But, God said that man will fear death all of his life. If we live longer then we fear death longer. Maybe our short lifespans are an act of mercy, not an act of curse.
5:9 Enosh was 90 years old when he had a son, Kenan
5:10 Enosh had many other sons and daughters
5:11 Enosh lived 905 years and died
5:12 Kenan was 70 years old when he had a son, Ma-hal'alel
5:13 Kenan had many other sons and daughter
5:14 Kenan lived 910 years and died
5:15 When Ma-hal'alel lived 65 years when he had a son, Jared
5:16 Ma-hal'alel had other sons and daughters
5:17 Ma-hal'alel lived 895 years and died
- Quick recap Adam - Ma-hal'alel 4,092 years
5:18 Jared had a son, Enoch, when he was 162.
5:19 Jared had other sons and daughters
5:20 Jared lived 962 years and died
- Adam to Jared: 4,892 years
5:21 Enoch had a son, Methuselah, when he was 65
5:22 Enoch had other sons and daughters
5:23 Encoh lived 365 years and then walked with God
5:24 God took Enoch, he did not die
- Adam to Enoch 5,192 years
5:25 Methuselah had Lamech when he was 187 years old
5:26 Methuselah had other sons and daughters
5:27 Methuselah lived 969 years
- Adam to Methuselah: 5,974 years
5:28 Lamech was 182 years old when he had Noah
5:29 Noah is named because he is the one who will bring relief from our work
5:30 Lamech had other sons and daughters
5:31 Lamech lived 777 years and died
- Adam to Lamech: 6,569 years
5:32 Noah had Shem, Ham and Japheth at 500 years old
- Adam to Noah 7,069

Noah & The Flood

6:1 Men began to multiply and daughters were born to them
6:2 "The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were fair and they took to wife such of them as they chose"
- This has been used very oddly, like to prove the intercourse between angels and women. I think this is merely God-fearing men taking up non-God fearing wives.
6:3 The Lord said that man's days are numbered 120 years
- Is this no one will live past 120 years or when the flood will occur, or are years not literal here and the end of earth will come about in 120 'years'.
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days
- What are the Nephilim? The children of the sons of God and the daughters of men were the "mighty men that were of old, the men of renown"
- What does this mean?
6:5 The LORD saw the wickedness of men in those days and saw that their imaginations were always an evil.
6:6 The LORD was sorry that He even made man.
6:7 The Lord decided to blot out man
6:8 Noah however, found favor with the Lord
6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
6:10 Noah had 3 sons: Ham, Shem and Japheth
6:11 Earth was corrupt and full of violence
6:12 All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth
6:13 God told Noah he was going to destroy the flesh and the earth
6:14 God commanded Noah to make an ark
6:15 Length of the Ark: 300 cubits, Breadth of the Ark: 50 cubits, Height of the Ark: 30 cubits
6:16 Make the Ark with three decks
6:17 God tells Noah that a flood will kill everything on Earth
6:18 But Noah and his family will be safe by God's covenant with Noah
6:19 Also a male-female of every living thing will be sound on the ark
6:20 Two of every animal will come to Noah and to be kept alive
6:21 God tells Noah to store every sort of food for the flood
6:22 Noah did everything that God commanded

7:1 God commands Noah and his family to enter the Ark
7:2 7 pairs of all clean animals are to be taken into the art and 1 pair of all unclean animals too.
7:3 7 pairs of the birds are also to be taken into the ark
7:4 The flood of rain for 40 days and 40 nights will come in 7 days and blot out all life on earth.
7:5 Noah did all that God commanded of him
7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came
- 7,169 years between Adam and Flood
7:7 Noah and his sons and his sons' wives went into the ark to be saved
7:8 The animals followed Noah into the ark
7:9 Male and female animals followed Noah
7:10 After 7 days, the flood came upon the earth
7:11 The fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heaven were opened
7:12 Rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights
7:13 The flood began the day that Noah and his family entered the ark
7:14 The flood began the day that the animals entered the ark
7:15 Everything that was supposed to enter the ark went in according to its kind
7:16 The LORD shut them all in
7:17 The waters increased for 40 days and nights
7:18 The ark floated on the surface of the water
7:19 Even the mountains were covered by water
7:20 The mountains were covered then by 15 cubits deep
7:21 Everything on the earth died
7:22 Whatever had breath died
7:23 Only Noah and those who were with him survived
7:24 The waters were on the earth for 150 days

8:1 God remembered Noah and everything on the ark. He caused a wind to subside the waters.
8:2 The fountains of the deep were closed; the rain stopped
8:3 After 150 days the water had receded
8:4 The ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
8:5 After ten months the tops of the mountains were visible
8:6 Noah opened the window of the ark
8:7 He sent out a raven
8:8 Then he sent out a dove
8:9 The dove returned because it had nowhere to rest
8:10 After 7 days he sent the dove out again
8:11 It returned with an olive branch
8:12 He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return
8:13 Noah removed the covering of the ark and found that it was dry on the surface
8:14 After another month the ground was fully dry
8:15 God spoke to Noah
8:16 God said to Noah take your family and leave the ark
8:17 God told him to release the animals so they could be fruitful and multiply
8:18 Noah left the ark with his family
8:19 Everything left the ark
8:20 Noah built an altar and made sacrifices to the LORD
8:21 Upon smelling the odor God vowed never to curse the ground again because of man or to destroy every living creature
- God says that the imagination of men's heart is evil from his youth
- God smelled and maybe anthropomorphic isn't as bad as it is expected
8:22 He promised that so long as the earth exists the seasons and day and night will not cease

9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:2 He told them that every living creature will fear man and be delivered unto them
9:3 God gives them everything that exist as food
- The first condoning of meat-eating
9:4 God says not to eat flesh when it is still alive, no eating of blood
9:5 This is a sin that will require a reckoning
9:6 God warns that whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed because man is made in the image of God
9:7 God tells them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:8 God spoke to Noah and his sons
9:9 God establishes a covenant with them
9:10 God establishes a covenant with everything that came out of the ark
9:11 This covenant states that never again will God destroy the earth by flood
9:12 God gives them a sign of the covenant
9:13 The rainbow is the sign
9:14 When the rainbow is seen...
9:15 ... God will remember this covenant
9:16 It is an everlasting covenant between flesh and God
9:17 God tells Noah this is the sign of the covenant between God and all flesh that is on the earth
9:18 Shem, Ham and Japheth were the sons of Noah who got off the Ark. Ham was the father of Canaan.
9:19 From the sons of Noah the whole earth was peopled.
9:20 Noah tilled the soil and planted a vineyard
9:21 He drank wine and became drunk and laid naked in his tent
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers
- This may mean that he raped him. Is this true?
9:23 Shem and Japheth covered Noah without looking at him naked
9:24 Noah awoke and knew what Ham (his youngest) had done to him
9:25 Noah cursed Canaan: "a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers"
9:26 Noah blessed Shem and said let Canaan be his slave
9:27 Noah played that Japheth would prosper and that Canaan would also be his slave.
9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years
9:29 Noah lived 950 years
- Adam to the death of Noah: 7,519 years

10:1 The generations of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth
10:2 Sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Jovan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras
10:3 Sons of Gomer: Ash, Kenaz, Riphath and Togar'mah
10:4 Sons of Javan: Eli'shah, Tarshish, Kittim and Do'danim
10:5 Japheth - They have their own lands, their own language and their own nations
10:6 Sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan
10:7 Sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah and Sab'teca. Sons of Ra'amah: Sheba and Dedan
10:8 Cush became the father of Nimrod, Nimrod was the first mighty man
10:9 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord
10:10 Nimrod's kingdom was Ba'bel, Erech, and Accad, all in the land of Shiner
10:11 From there Nimrod went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Reho'both-Ir and Calah
10:12 Rosen between Nineveh and Calah is a great city
10:13-13 Egypt became the Father of Ludim, An'amim, Leha'bim, Naph-tu'him, Pathru'sim, Caslu'him (where the Philistines force from) and Caph'torim
10:15 Canaan begat: Sidon and Heth
10:16-18 Canaan is the father of: the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hives, the Arkoites, the Simites, the Arlvadites, the Zem'arites, and the Ha'mathites. The families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
10:19 The territory of the Canaanites extends from Sidon to Gaza to Admah to Lasha
10:20 These are the sons of Ham
10:21 Shem is the father of all the children of Eber
10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpach'shad, Lud and Aram
10:23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash
10:24 Arpach'shad begat Shelah. Shellac begat Eber
10:25 Eber's sons: Peleg and Joktan
10:26-29 The sons of Joktan: Almo'dad, Sheleph, Hazarma'reth, Jerah, Hador'am, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abim'a-el, Sheba, Ophir, Hav'ilah and Jobab.
10:30 The sons of Joktan occupy the territory from Mesha to the hill country of the east
10:31 These are the sons of Shem
10:32 These are the descendants of Noah, according to their nations. These spread abroad the whole art after the flood.

Philosophy of Religion - Hick: Ch. 4

(Originally written January 31, 2007 in Book 7)

Philosophy of Religion
John Hick
Ch. 4 - The Problem of Evil

The Problem

The main reason people cannot believe in a loving God is the depth and extent of human suffering and the selfishness and greed of humanity.

Evil - physical pain, mental suffering, and moral wickedness.

Moral wickedness is the cause of physical pain and mental suffering.

The form of the problem of evil is often a dilemma:
1) If God is perfectly loving, God must want to abolish all evil
2) If God is all-powerful, He must be able to abolish all evil
3) Evil exists
4) Theefore, God cannot be both omnipotent and perfectly loving.

One possible solution is to state that evil is an illusion of the human mind. But, this is unacceptable in the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

There are three main Christian responses to the problem of evil:
1) Augustinian - the concept of the Fall
2) Irenaeus - gradual creation of perfected humanity through life in an imperfect world
3) Process theology - God is not all-powerful

All three use the free will defense. Humans are free to act wrongly and rightly. It states that a genuinely free moral agent and the possibility of evil are logically inseparable.

The Augustinian Theodicy

Augustine held that evil has a negative or privative nature. He holds the universe to be a creation by a good God for a good purpose. Everything that has being is good because it has been created. Some things with being are more good and others are less good. Evil is a going wrong of something inherently good. "Evil always consists of the malfunctioning of something that is in itself good" (Hick, 43).

Evil came about when angels turned from the Supreme Good (God) to lesser goods. The same happened with Adam and Eve.

The natural evils are thus punishments and a result of the chaos man has thrown upon his dominion.

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) a German Protestant, was the first to criticize Augustine. He stated how could a perfect God create a perfect universe that somehow went wrong? Basically a flawless creation would never go wrong.

The Irenaean Theodicy

St. Irenaeus (130-202 A.D.) distinguished between two stages of creation of humanity.

Creation - they were created as immature creatures
Maturation process (life) - they matured into the children of God

God's purpose in creation was not to construct a paradise. It was made to create souls who would inherit eternal life through struggle and maturity.

Process Theodicy

Process theology is built upon the metaphysical framework of A. N. Whitehead's philosophy. Process theology holds that God cannot be omnipotent. He interacts with he process of the universe, which he didn't create but is able to influence.

Process theology holds that God is a part of the universe which is an uncreated process.

Evil is the event when the power of God's will is thwarted.

Process theodicy has been severely criticized. One criticism is that it involves a morally and religiously unacceptable elitism. God is somehow satisfied with the mass majority suffering and living unfulfilled lives so that a few can become marvelous human beings.

More book notes on Augustine

(Originally written November 17, 2006 in Book 11)

Augustine's ethics

Augustine's ethics have a negative tone.

Augustine saw the good life being attainable only as a gift from God.

He believed it was much easier to do wrong rather than right.

Augustine's asceticism was moderate compared to his contemporaries, but severe by modern standards.

Augustine agreed with the Platonic notion that the wise man is cultivated in a society.

He had little to say about social ethics other than we ought to help one another as much as we can.

Augustine advocated for a strong law and strong ruler because it is better than the alternative: civil war.

Revolting against a leader is revolting against God.

Slavery was viewed as an evil, but agitating for its abolition was wrong because it was instituted by God as a punishment for sins.

To improve or altar existing social arrangements is to imply we are not content with God's program for us.

The evils we suffer are either goods in disguise or well-deserved punishments.

The delights and pains of the flesh are inconsequential as compared to the delights and pains of the soul.

Ethical value lay in motive rather than accomplishment for Augustine.

Augustine and Aristotle treated incontinence in similar manners, but for different reasons.
1) Where Aristotle disliked incontinence because it demeaned man, Augustine disliked it because it was disobedience to God.
2) Aristotle relieved men of responsibility when temptation became too great to overcome. Augustine held men accountable for their actions regardless of their temptation.
3) Augustine would have regarded many thing Aristotle held to be continent as incontinent

Augustine saw men as being incontinent frequently and paradoxically blamable

Everything except love for God was a snare and a delusion.

Augustine believed that living morally will not significantly help us, but living immorally will damn man.

The good for Augustine was a reunion with God. A separation occurred between man and God as a result of Adam's sin.

The way back to God was through faith in Jesus, "Through religion, that is not through ethics, which is first and foremost concerned with behavior in this world" (Jones, 119).

The Drama of Salvation

Each man is an actor who plays a small role in the big production of God's drama.

Sinful desires are incredibly difficult to eradicate, especially pride. Even when men overcome pride and are humble they take pride in their humility.

No one is certain of salvation. Even those who have been saved by divine intervention came are not freed from the temptations of the flesh.

Relapse for the saved is possible at all times. Therefore, complacency is an acute danger.

Life is desperately hazardous. The past is due to anyone's future.

The Mechanics of Salvation

To whom was Christ praying when he died for man's sins?

If it was God the Father, then God has a divided will, which is absurd. It can't be Satan because God doesn't owe him anything.

Augustine began with traditional Biblical language but began reinterpret it.

The Son became man to prove that flesh is not evil.

The Son died to show that death, though a punishment for sin, is not itself a sin.

Christ's death shows us how we ought to die - in piety, humility and peace.

God sending His Son shows us His great love for us better than anything else could.

The Play within a play

The passion is a play-within-a-play designed to invoke emotions in the other players of the large play. Man's egoism has often prevented Him from seeing just how much love God has shown us.

God cod could have redeemed man via divine fiat (as He created the world) but for mysterious reasons chose this way instead.

Augustine's notion of redemption is much more enlightened than the primitive notion of bloody sacrifice.

Augustine faces problems like if God is all then man is nothing. "No man is rightly saved by the assistance of divine aid" is an inadequate formula.

An arguing against the Manichaeism and Pelagians he used Pelagian arguments to refute Manichaeism. He used the arguments of Manichaeism to refute Plagiarism. The Pelagians were acute enough to point this out.

Linehan: Jones' characterization of Augustine is pretty awful. Even Russell give him more of a fair treatment. Jones is atrociously guilty of the fallacy of equivocation, especially in regards to the Doctrine of redemption.

The world is actually a puppet theater. God writes the parts and pulls the strings. Why would God write and perform a play for himself? Why go to the trouble of the play if God knows who will be saved and who will be damned?

Another problem for Augustine is that God arbitrarily chooses who will be saved.

Augustine's conception of justice was much different than modern men's conception of justice. Modern man sees it as unjust that we should inherit Adam's sin. "It seems unfair that Adam, who might just as well have been created with fewer deficiencies should be blamed for what, given his nature, was bound to happen. It seems unfair... that some few of us should be arbitrarily pulled out of the common cesspool of iniquity" (Jones, 124).

Augustine's doctrine of predestination is immoral and impracticable.

Augustine could not live up to the doctrine of predestination because otherwise he would not have advocated for us to pray, to do good, to fast, to struggle against temptation, or to do anything because whether or not we do anything is irrelevant to whether or not we are to be saved.

Augustine's life leading up to his conversion was irrelevant because his conversion was directly induced by God. At the moment of conversion he stood in an immediate relation to the Deity.

Augustine's interpretation of salvation is unacceptable in ecclesiastical terms because the Church in the exclusive agency through which souls are saved. The Church is the mediator between God and Man.

Augustine had a problem because he saw salvation in both mystical and ecclesiastical terms.

The Donatism Heresy

Augustine faced this problem when he went to Hippo in 391.

Donatism was a vigorous rival to the Church at this time.

Donatism was a peculiar heresy because it did not differ from the Church in doctrine.

Donatists believed that the sacraments were ineffective if performed by unworthy priests.

While this may seem plausible and harmless the Church saw it as a danger to their institution.

The Church had to maintain that the worth of the sacraments came from God and the Church, not from the administering priests.

Augustine first tried to reason with the Donatists. He believed the truth would prevail over heresy. When this failed Augustine elicited help from imperial authorities. This was easy because in addition to being heretics, the Donatists were social radicals.

Through persecution the Donatists lost their grip on N. Africa and Catholic Christianity held it for one more century (only to lose it to Islam).

While this may seem inhumane, Augustine advocated it because it turned many back to the Catholic faith. This ideal paved the way for the Inquisition.

Augustine did not recognize the primacy of the Pope because he held no man to be infallible.

Augustine saw the final authority of Christ as a general council.

Augustine held that we ought to use reason to discover truth as best we can, remembering that God would not have given us reason if we weren't to use it, but to remember that if we believe reason to be the ultimate source of truth we will be damned by our pride.

Augustine held a belief that man, in a general use of the word could slowly but steadily increase his grasp of truth through corrections of councils and doctrine. But no council or doctrine could ever arrive at the ultimate truth.

Augustine's view of the sacraments:

The earthly city had a dual meaning:
1) hell
2) the pilgrimage of this life

The City of God had a duel meaning:
1) Heaven
2) The Church

The visible Church is the embodiment the invisible church.

The Church and its members are the body of Christ. It owes its allegiance and life to Jesus.

The City of God was a very complex structure.

The synthesis of Augustine's two conceptions of man's relationship to God (ecclesiastical through the Church and its rites and the mystical conversion) is difficult and problematic. In the mysticism and predestinarianism synthesis God and man are privately united and the City of God is a mere aggregate of private relations. In the ecclesiastical version the Church and its sacraments were the key to salvation and private salvation was danger to the authority of the Church.

Nature and Natural Science

The physical world was the stage on which the drama of salvation unfold.

Augustine's Disinterest in science

Augustine was basically disinterested in science and the physical world.

He lacked the curiosity of the Greeks and the moderns. Curiosity was replaced by the fear of intellectual pride.

He did not have the incentive of happiness in this world that Greek and the moderns have.

His otherworldliness made him indifferent to ethics, politics and physical interests.

Nature was dominated by a naive teleology in Augustine.

Man, thought nothing in respect to God, was the center of the physical universe. Man is the end or purpose for which the universe was created.

"Augustine's teleology was so naively anthropocentric that it ws impossible for him to reach an unbiased conclusion" (Jones, 130).

Uncritical of the marvelous

Augustine's disposition made him very open to miracles.

Modern man looks at miracles and see them not as miracles, but as challenges.

Other reasons for Augustine's unscientific approach

Augustine's ingenuity achieved an incredibly synthesis between the Scriptures and his personal beliefs. It was a correspondence between two conceptual systems, not a conceptual system and reality.

Augustine held that whatever was to be known about the physical world was easily discovered and what was not easily discovered was purposely hidden by God.

Belief in the regularity of nature

Since everything is caused by God, everything is, in sense, a miracle.

Unusual things only appear more miraculous.

Augustine believed in a uniformity or regularity in nature and that unusual things were only unusual in our minds. This line of thinking paved the way for science to have a good argument for the regularity of nature.

History

The history of humanity was to serve as instruction for future acts of man.

Prior to Jesus' life, God gave signs to man to point them to Him. The history of the Jews was a sign.

Teleological Bias

Augustine's account of history was dominated by a teleology that was anthropocentric.

Augustine and the Greek Historians

Herodotus and Thucydides (the greatest Greek Historians) were far more scientific than Augustine. But, in some respects were much more narrow than Augustine.

The Greeks were dominated by current events. Their historians also attributed a lot to chance and accident. Augustine held that nothing happened by chance. His historical conversion "may be worthless" but his notion of unity and purpose in everything is key to historians today.

Augustine held that Jesus' life was the turning point of history. Everything leading up to it was actually leading up to it and everything after it was designed to supplement it.

While most people do not see divine providence in action, the teleological approach is necessary in historian work today.

Augustine's focus on universal history vs. the provincial focus of the Greek was a vast improvement over the Greeks.

Conclusion

Augustine does not evoke a neutral response.

Most people see Augustine as hopelessly unbalanced - "a neurotic exaggeration of guilt and sin and an unhealthy otherworldliness that results in almost total neglect of the really serious social and political problems that it is the business of the philosopher to discuss" (Jones, 136).

Augustine's mystical experience is viewed as a sign of psychic instability.

Others will see modern times as going too far in the other direction. Even those who do not accept Augustine's Christianity see his picture of human nature as better and more accurate than the 18th and 19th century philosophers.

Linehan - It is a bit sickening to read a trashing misrepresentative account of Augustine. And though Jones pays some respect to him in a few final paragraphs it was atrocious to read.

More notes on Augustine

(Originally written November 14, 2006 in Book 11)

Chapter 4: Augustine: The Created Universe

The Two Cities: Heaven and Hell

Augustine's dualism came out very strong here. The two cities:
1) The City of God: the community of the saints
2) The City of Earth: the community of lost souls

The saints are predestined to reign eternally with God. The lost souls are predestined to suffer eternal punishment with the devil.

The two cities exist as one until the final judgment day. Thus, neither is wholly good nor wholly bad.

Augustine conceived hell as both literal and symbolic. A literal hell raises problems like how is a being in fire and not consumed?

Heaven was also literal and symbolic. It was a place where saints' souls and risen bodies were reconciled and a peace of soul indwelled them all.

Augustine defines virtue as "the order of love". "When we love the right objects in the right way we are virtuous, and since the wholly right object is God, virtue merges with religion" (Jones, 104). Understanding this maxim will bring an understanding of all of Augustine's most important insights.

Heaven is not so much a fire material state, it is a possible, present spiritual state.

Heaven is a communion with God through love. Hell is a disorder love, a separation from God.

Augustine regarded Heaven and Hell as literal places and metaphysical states. His dualism here is certainly evident.

The Earthly pilgrimage

Man is living in the earthly city and those who will eventually dwell in the Heavenly City live here as a pilgrim.

Man

Augustine's view of man and his place was determined by two main considerations:
1) His conception of God
2) Reflection of his own life and experience

Augustine faced problems in his conception of man because it was based on a problematic conception of God.

The Human Predicament

Augustine was pessimistic in his view of humanity. Nothing seemed more obvious to him than the misery of the human situation.

If Augustine is correct than his debasing of man was necessary because if man has any intrinsic value then God's complete preeminence destroyed.

Augustine's life was dominated by a sense of hopelessness. He struggled to find redemption through intellect, but even when he reasoned that he could only be saved by the Christian God, he was helpless to achieve that salvation. God had to give it.

Despite his inability to achieve salvation, Augustine felt responsible for his actions.

According to Augustine God had to create a sinful man because a sinless man would be a perfect being, it would be whole and total in reality.

Linehan - This is a gross misrepresentation of Augustine. Jones has completely missed the ball here, painting Augustine as pure Neoplatonic.

Sin is the kind of evil that results from a deficient will.

Augustine's account of sin

Evil did not enter the world, it has always been a part of the created universe.

The entrance of sin into the world, which is evil connected to the will, has something to do with the roles that God assigned Adam, Eve and Satan in the cosmic drama.

There is no efficient cause for an evil will. A will becomes evil when it turns from putting God first to putting something lower first. The lower thing is not evil or bad; it is just the turning that is evil.

The cause of an evil will is a defect.

To seek the deficient cause of a will becoming evil is like looking for darkness.

All evil is a privation. Man's sin was not caused by Satan. Both Satan and Man had a privation in their will and thus, turned from good to evil.

Pride is the root of an evil will. Pride is leaving the true end (God) and making one's self an end.

Augustine's distinction between efficient and deficient causes is critical to his theory. But, it does not stand up to scrutiny.

Another problem with Augustine's account is that even if the evil will is caused by a defect, then how is man responsible for a defect God created?

The worst punishment God has given sinful man is a divided will.

Man's will is not wholly bad since it is corrupted. It still yearns for the good, but it is incapable of achieving it.

The flesh is not evil per se. It is only made evil by a corrupt soul.

Augustine was not an extreme ascetic. The bodily needs were to be taken care of, but not to be lusted after.

The Mysticism of Paul

(Originally written November 12, 2006 in Book 11)

Chapter 2: Christianity: The Formative Years: The Mysticism of Paul

Paul was a Jew of the Diaspora. He was Hellenized, of a well-to-do family, educated and a Roman citizen.

Paul was extremely proud of his Jewish heritage.

He aimed himself to destroy the heretical Christian movement.

Paul's vision

Paul switched from persecuting Christians to spreading Christianity after a vision.

Christians explain this vision as a direct intervention of God, Freudians explain it as a psychotic man suffering from sexual repression and a father fixation. Epilepsy, fatigue and other mental problems have been labeled as the cause of Paul's transformation.

Paul's transformation, whatever the cause, had a monumental effect on the history o the Western world.

Paul interpreted Jesus' teachings in light of familiarity with Eastern mysticism.

Paul interpreted all of Early Christian teaching in a way that the Roman world could accept. His reinterpretation of it led to a cult to become a world religion.

The Letter to the Romans

Paul made the historical Jesus into a savior god and "built up a mythical setting for this god out of the Jewish legends and stories" (Jones, 41).

All men have inherited sin from the sin of Adam. Because of sin man's doomed, but Jesus was a savior for all.

Paul was ascetic, holding that the functions of the body were low.

Sin in Paul became associated with flesh and much wider than mere incontinence.

Paul adopted a dualism battle between flesh and spirit for his metaphysical base.

He held that the will was divided unless God intervenes to make it a unity.

This dualism was markedly different from Jesus' teachings.

Paul's asceticism was also much more severe than Jesus' mind-set.

Jesus took for granted that man was capable of working at his own problems, whereas Paul held man to be incompetently helpless.

Jesus held salvation to be obtainable by taking care of one's inner life. Paul believed man needed transcendental help.

Paul's dualism was two-fold:
1) Man was body and spirit
2) Jesus was God and Man

Each dualism had a battle between higher and lower principles, the only difference is that Jesus' higher principles was out unaided by God.

Paul placed emphasis on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus more than any other part of Jesus' life.

Jesus' suffering for us became Paul's chance to give all men hope to achieve the higher principle of life.

Like the Mystery cults, Paul emphasized the union of God and men. According to Paul, this happened through the salvation of man through Christ.

The Mystical Union with Christ

Paul's focus on the mystical union with Christ was a radical departure from the old worship of YHWH.

Man becomes identical with Christ according to Paul.

Paul regarded the Law as the way for man to live prior to the coming of Christ.

Paul attacked the Judaizing of Christianity. He focused on the ritual of circumcision.

Despite using Jesus as  a freeing from the Law, Paul still maintained religious rules so people did not live life as there were no consequences.

Some followers of Paul abused the freedom from the Law, but Paul corrected them, especially in Galatians.

Paul maintained that those who truly live in spirit will no longer want to do evil deeds.

Paul held love as the ultimate virtue; knowledge, beauty, strength and wisdom are nothing without love.

Love was the source of all other virtues. Paul also added to love the virtues of faith and hope as important virtues.

Paul's mysticism

Paul was eloquent and a phenomenal missionary.

Paul was brought before the Roman leadership in Jerusalem by the Jews. He was then imprisoned in Caesarea, transferred to Rome, had a long imprisonment and was executed in 62 AD.

Pauline Christianity

Paul was a mystic, not a philosopher. Paul's views have however persisted to be a part of philosophy since the Middle Ages.

Paul's unique cultural background is what enabled him to turn Christianity into a world religion.

The synthesis of Paul's views into a systematic view was a difficult task for Paul's followers.

Paul's view of salvation freed contradicting theses in his own works:
1) Salvation is magical (through ritual acts)
2) Salvation is spiritual (through mystic inner changes)

Paul was contradictory in faith and works to salvation.

Paul's doctrine of original sin was almost problematic. How did men inherit the sin of Adam? If man inherited sin how is he responsible for it? Why did God allow Adam to sin? These questions plague theologies still today.

Another major problem for Paul is Jesus is son of God, but monotheism has to be maintained by now.

Class Notes on Augustine

(Originally written November 9, 2006 in Book 11)

Augustine - Ethics

Ordo Amoris - "order of loves"

Life as a drama

Original Sin
-Formalized by Augustine
-Involves both guilt and corruption

Adam's sin had no efficient cause - it was a privation

Other Doctrines in City of God

1. Creation "ex nihilo"
2. Hierarchy of Being
God
Angels
Man
Primates
etc.
3. God has no opposite
4. All beings have some good
5. Divine sovereignty and foreknowledge are consistent with human freedom.

Political Philosophy

1. City of God v. City of Man
2. Just War theory

Problem of Evil

2 Types

1) God created all things
Evil is a thing
Therefore, God created evil.

Augustine's response: Evil is not a thing, it is a privation of good.

2) An all powerful, all knowing, all good God will not allow evil.
Evil exists.
Therefore, God is not all powerful, all good, and all knowing.

Augustine's response was to deny that an all powerful, all knowing, all good God would not allow evil.

Theodicies
1) Aesthetic Totality Theory
2) Evil for Greater Good

St. Augustine's Philosophy and Theology

(Originally written July 22, 2006 in Book 5)

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell

Chapter IV - St. Augustine's Philosophy and Theology

To escape the madness of metaphysics and thoroughly infuriate myself by reading an attack on one of the greatest men in human history. Russell will only focus on what he considers important in Augustine:
1. Augustine's pure philosophy, especially his theory of time
2. Augustine's philosophy of history (developed in City of God)
3. Augustine's theory of salvation, against Pelagius

Pure Philosophy

Augustine is not preoccupied with pure philosophy, mostly he concerns himself with theology. But he shows immense talent in philosophy when he does.

Augustine was the first philosopher (of many) to speculate with a necessity of matching speculation and Scriptures.

Origen (an earlier Christian philosopher) differed from Augustine in that Origen kept Christianity and Platonism separate while Augustine grated Platonism into Christianity.

The most purely philosophical book is the 11th book of Confessions. Most contemporary Confessions end at Book 10 because that is where the biographical part ends.

Augustine remarks that the Genesis of account of creation (ex nihilo, out of nothing) was completely foreign to Greek thought. Greeks believed God formed preexisting matter. Christianity and Judaism holds God created matter, then simultaneously formed it. The Greek view of creation has reappeared since the dawn of Christianity and has led to pantheism.

Augustine asks if God created the world ex nihilo then why didn't he do it sooner? Augustine states that there was no sooner before creation because time was created at the same point as all creation.

God is eternal; He is timeless. In God there is no past or future, only eternal present.

"God's eternity is exempt from the relation of time; all time is present to Him at once" (Russell, 353).

When Augustine refers to time he has an intriguing relativistic theory. Time can only be measured as it is passing. The past and future is not really 'is', only the present really is. But there really is a past and future.

Augustine says that the past or future is considered at the present through memory or expectation.

He states that there are three times:
1. A present of things past (memory)
2. A present of things present (sight)
3. A present of things future (expectation)

He confesses to God that he is perplexed by time and asks for enlightenment. Without fully understanding time, see does believe that is subjective.

Time is in the human mind and time exists only because created beings exist.

Augustine's theory of time seems to anticipate at least three things;
1) Kant's theory of subjective time
2) Descartes' cogito
3) Descartes' reply to Gassendi's ambulo ergo sum.

"As a philosopher, therefore, Augustine deserves a high place" (Russell, 355).

The City of God

When Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410 the Roman pagans attributed the defeat to the abandonment of the ancient religions. The City of God was an answer to this accusation.

"Like some other very great books, it composes itself in the memory of those who have read it, into something better than at first appears in rereading" (Russell, 355).

Russell holds that the book contains "a great deal that hardly anyone at present day can accept" (Russell, 355).

Russell does hold that it remains inspirational today and can be restated in non-theological terms.
Linehan - Thus destroying the meaning and value of the book.

In the book Augustine states that worse things then the sacking of Rome occurred prior to the Christian age. He also said that Christianity kept the sacking from being as brutal as it could have been (the Goths were Christians).

He says that not all sins are punished on earth, thus the Last Judgment.

All that Christians endured virtuously would lead to their edification eventually.

Temporal losses for Christians does not cause loss of anything of value for them.

Nothing can interfere with the resurrection of the body.

Virginity lost through rape doesn't diminish chastity. Chastity is a virtue of the mind. Virginity and chastity can be lost even without the physical act. It can be lost in the mind.

Suicide is condemned by Augustine. Even if one commits suicide to avoid the loss of virginity it is still a sin. Apparently Lucretia (a woman in Rome) committed suicide for this reason.

He says that rape, if enjoyed, becomes sinful for the woman.

He condemns the pagan gods. He claims that it would be better to worship a virtuous man than a heathen god.

Christians have a constant sanctuary in the pilgrim City of God.

In this world, the city of earth and the city of heaven are intermingled.

Augustine holds Greek philosophers as partially right.

He holds that the philosophers could not overthrow the pagan gods because their moral instructions were weak due to the wickedness of their gods.

Augustine believed the heathen gods existed, but were devils.

He held astrology as to be both wicked and false. He proves this through the fortunes of twins who have the identical zodiac sign.

God has foreknowledge of man's sins, but God's foreknowledge does not cause man's sins.

Virtuosity does not bring unhappiness; even if Christians are unfortunate, they still can be happy.

Augustine holds Plato in higher regards than any other philosopher. Augustine credits Plato with a number of things:
1) Plato's belief that God was Spirit, not material.
2) Plato's belief that perception is not the source of truth.
3) Platonic logic and ethics are closest to Christianity

Augustine aslo credits Plotinus as being the best comprehender of Plato. Plotinus lived slightly before Augustine.

Augustine considered Aristotle lower than Plato, but better than all the others.

He condemned both Plato and Aristotle for believing that all the gods were good. He condemned the Stoics for condemning all passions because Christian passions can lead to virtue.

He held that Plutonists were right about God, wrong about gods and wrong in denying the Incarnation.

Augustine holds the Platonic view that the sensible world is inferior to the super-sensible world.

He believed that Knowledge of God comes only through Christ. Certain things can be learned through reason, but religious knowledge must come through Scriptures.

Time and space prior to creation should not be considered because it is pointless.

Everything blessed is eternal, but everything eternal is not blessed (hell and satan).

He denounces Origen's view of souls being put into bodies as punishment.

He believed the world was created in 6 days because 6 is a perfect number (i.e. equal to the sum of its factors).

He believed that there are good and bad angels, but bad angels do not have an essence contrary to God.

"God's enemies are not so by nature, but by will. The vicious will has no efficient cause, but only a deficient one; it is not an effect, but a defect" (Russell, 359).

He held the the world was less than 6,000 years old and history is not cyclical.

Sin caused death. If there were no sin there would be no death. Sin caused both physical and eternal death. Eternal death is damnation.

Bodies in heaven will be spiritual, but not spirits. They will be weightless. Men will have male bodies; women will have female ones. People who die in infancy will have adult bodies.

Adam's sin brought eternal death to all mankind; God's grace freed them from it.

Augustine contributes sin to the mind, contrary to flesh as Platonism and Manichaeism holds.

Sex in marriage is not sinful, provided procreation is the reason for it. Married men are virtuous if they love without lust. Sex, even in marriage is associated with shame because of Adam's sin. Lust is shameful because it is independent from the will. Sexual intercourse can occur without lust. "The need of lust in sexual intercourse is a punishment for Adam's sin, but for which sex might have been divorced from pleasure" (Russell, 360).

Asceticism dislikes sex because of its independence of the will. Virtue demands a complete control of the will over the body. This control does not suffice to make sex possible.

He denounced skepticism.

He held that virtue is inextricably connected with Christianity. Pagan virtue is too marred by the heathen gods to be true virtue.

He believes in predestination. All men deserve damnation, so any receiving salvation is merciful. The rest perish justly.

The influential part of the book is that the State can only be part of the City of God if it submits to the Church in all religious matters. The theocratic implications of Augustine's theory lasted until the Reformation.

Russell states that Marx used Augustine in socialism:
YHWH = Dialectical Materialism
The Messiah = Marx
The Elect = The Proletariat
The Church = The Communist Party
The Second Coming = The Revolution
Hell = Punishment of the Capitalists
The Millennium = The Communist Commonwealth

The Pelagian Controversy

Pelagius was a Welshman and less fanatical than most of his contemporaries. He believed in free-will and questioned the doctrine of Original Sin. He believed that virtue occurs through man's own moral effort.

Augustine convinced Catholic Christianity to hold Pelagius as a heretic.

Augustine argued men were incapable of free-will after the Fall and that virtue was only acquired through God's grace. Augustine held that damnation proved God's justice and salvation proved His mercy. Both proved God's goodness.

Augustine's views were adopted by Calvin and had their root in Paul (especially in Romans).

"A great deal of what is most ferocious in the medieval Church is traceable to his sense of universal guilt" (Russell, 365).

Beginning to grapple with Original Sin & the Problem of Evil

This little outline/essay hits on the vast majority of the things that interested me most ten years ago (and still do). We hit the Problem of Evil, some epistemology, some theology that reconciles the problem of Evil in a Christian context, what it means to be a philosopher and how one should use their philosophical 'powers', the dichotomy (which I believe to be false) between faith and knowledge and the intersection of all of these topics, my own little theory of everything. While some of the word choices are that of a young, but enthusiastic kid aren't perfect I still think I agree with much of it. Although, upon reading it a little closer I feel I might have strayed a bit into a dualism that I didn't mean to. But, I think that is more of the clunky usage of Evil/evil and Good/good. (2/10/16)

(Originally written July 20, 2006 in Book 3)

This is an outline for what I believe about man.

I. The Beginnings of Man

A. God is completely perfect
B. God creates man perfect, but not completely perfect
-mirror analogy
C. God and man exist in a perfect harmony. Man is dependent on God for existence and God explicitly provides it.

II. The Fall of Man

A. Man perceives his perfection as completely perfect. Thus, having no need of God.
B. Man wittingly rebels against God, breaking God's commandment.
C. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil provides man with truth he is incapable of understanding.

Knowledge is the comprehension of truth.

Sin occurs as the breaking of the commandments of God. In the beginning there is only one explicit commandment - do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil.

Once man had eaten of Tree two things happened:
1) Man sinned against God
2) Man was endowed with more truth of good and evil than he was capable of understanding.

As man was now overwhelmed with more knowledge of Good and Evil than he was capable of processing sin was inevitable.

Sin is the Original Sin, the direct breaking of God's commandment to Adam. Now, sin is the inevitable consequence of men with all the knowledge of the truth of good and evil and none of the faculty to process it all into knowledge.

The Original Sin caused man to demand autonomy, an existence not dependent on God. Man demanded to be God. Rather than exacting vengeance, God in his mercy, acquiesced. But, man did not (nor could he have) understood the ramifications of his demand.

Man deprived himself of God, thus depriving himself of Good. The deprivation of Good is Evil.

A good is derivative of the Good. An evil is a derivative of the Evil. Thus in reality: an evil is an action done in the deprivation oft he Good.

God is Good. Only God is Good. Man, pre-Fall, was good and was in the presence of the Good. Thus, there was no deprivation and therefore no Evil or any possibility for evil.

When man committed the Original Sin, he deprived himself (and the physical world) of the Good. The deprivation caused a void which was filled by Evil.

But God created man in His own image. Man was created good. Even after man was deprived of the Good and subjected to Evil, he was still good.

The Good sustained the good of man. But without the Good of God, man's good was insufficient to stop the corruptive power of the Evil.

Since Evil is merely the deprivation of Good, ti cannot have any power over the Good. It can only exist where the Good has abdicated the throne?

Why then would God (the Good) abdicate the throne of earth?

God, justly could have retained the earth, but would have to purge it of anything impure. Man's Original Sin made him impure. Justice demanded man be purged from earth (as Satan was purged from Heaven). God instead chose mercy and removed Himself from the earth. Thus, Evil filled the void left on earth by the deprivation of the Good.

Man did not become Evil, because just as the Good can only exist as a single entity, Evil can only exist as a single entity. If man were ever Good, he would be God. If man were to become Evil, then he would become anti-God, equal in power, but with malicious intent and essence. For something to be equal in power with God is logically absurd.

What then is Evil?

Evil is the deprivation of Good. It is not embodied in any individual being. Evil is a formless vacuum.

So then, who is Evil?

Nothing is Evil. No one is Evil.

What of Satan?

Satan is evil.

What of man?

Man, in the presence of God (the Good) is good. Man in the presence of Evil (not in the presence of the Good) is evil.

So if man is evil and the devil is evil, what is the difference between the two?

Satan and all fallen angels are evil, with no hope of redemption. They have no chance for becoming good again. Man, all fallen men are evil with the hope for redemption. Through Christ, the human embodiment of the Good, man can once again become good, but only through the Good.

Good cannot become good because more cannot be less. A good cannot become Good because less cannot become more.

Good cannot become Evil, because God (the only Good) cannot be Evil. Likewise Good cannot become evil because no trace of Evil or evil is in God.

But, good becoming evil in the presence of Evil and evil becomes good in the presence of Good.

The scope of philosophy is to attempt to comprehend as much of Good and Evil as is possible without forgetting that total knowledge is impossible. The process of evil becoming good is not in the realm of philosophy, only God can accomplish this. Therefore both faith (the bridge between the end of knowledge and the beginning of God) and knowledge are needed in salvation.

Faith is all that man truly needs in redemption. But the corruption of Evil has made man so evil that knowledge usually precedes faith.

Unfortunately, knowledge sometimes undercuts a possibility for faith to exist. It is the responsibility of every philosopher to use knowledge (the comprehension of truth) to lead to faith. Thus, precaution is needed in the acquisition of knowledge. Any philosopher who is using knowledge to undermine faith does himself and the world a disservice. Whoa to the fate of those false prophets.

Since knowledge is not truth, it can never be complete in incomplete beings. Truth is complete and complete comprehension of it would be complete knowledge.

An incomplete being can never acquire anything complete. Complete knowledge is reserved for God.

One must never forget this or the purpose for which knowledge serves. Knowledge is to precede faith, never to substitute for it. This has been the error in many philosophers and philosophies. It's substitution has been the root of many consequences. This error has been much of the pains in sin.