AUGUSTINE - MIND

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>AUGUSTINE</FONT><BR> THE CONVERTED CONVERTER</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Mind over Matter</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>THE PROBLEM OF EVIL</B></FONT><BR> Augustine's emphasis on will was a response to the <A HREF="../t03/g010.html" TARGET="_top">dualism</A> of <A HREF="../t03/g029.html" TARGET="_top">Manicheeism</A> which saw evil as a potent force, equal and opposite to good. According to this, by his very nature, man was predestined to sin. To Augustine, nothing created by God is evil by nature. Only the will, not one's nature, is the source of evil. Sinning was man's choice, an act of will. The source of sin is the result of the soul's weakness and this is due to its being created out of nothing. Even its immortality is not due to its own nature but to the gift and grace of the Creator. Evil is simply misdirected love; evil is just a lack of good. As man becomes insubordinate to God, so the flesh becomes insubordinate to the will.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>ORIGINAL SIN</B></FONT><P> <TABLE ALIGN=Left BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="0907a.jpg" WIDTH="160" HEIGHT="229" ALT="EXPULSION FROM EDEN"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> Augustine always maintained the idea of man's free will. For some, this was inconsistent with God's omnipotence. God must have foreknowledge to be God, so sin must in some way be predetermined. But Augustine believed that God can know things without undermining free will. God's knowledge of a person is not that he will be forced to sin, but that he will sin. Augustine traces the inevitability of man's sinning , not to God, but to Adam. Adam's sin so altered man's nature, transmitted to his posterity, that human will is now incapable of redirecting itself from its centre. Now it is only through God's grace that man can come to eternal goodness, beauty and truth.<BR clear=left> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>