Augustine's free will defence

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  • Created by: Juliet06
  • Created on: 16-11-16 20:30
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  • Augustine's free will defence
    • St Augustine (AD 345-430)
      • Based his arguments on the Bible, especially the accounts of Creation and the Fall in Genesis
      • His theodicy rests upon two major assumptions
        • 2)Evil having come elsewhere, God is justified in allowing it to stay
        • 1)Evil did not come from God, since God's creation was faultless and perfect
    • The argument
      • Everyone is guilty because we were all seminally present in Adam, meaning everyone deserves to be punished for this orginial sin
      • Natural evil is a fitting punishment and came about because the human action destroyed the natural order. Therefore God is right not to intervene and put an end to suffering
      • The possibility of evil in a created world is necessary. Only the uncreated God himself can be perfect; created things are susceptible to change
      • That God saves some through Christ shows that He is merciful as well as just
      • God cannot be blamed for creating evil since evil is not a substance but a deprivation, and it makes no sense to say that God created a derpivation
      • Evil comes from angels and human beings who choose deliberately to turn away from God
      • God is perfect. He made a world free from flaws
    • Key points
      • 'All God had made pleased Him' Genesis 1
      • Evils not a substance- rather when something lacks something else
      • Angels and humans choose to do bad things- cause suffering
      • Adam and Eve gave into temptation- caused evil
      • Suffering is a fully deserved consequence of Adam's sin (human sin)
      • Natural evil originated from the loss of order within nature- followed first sin
      • Augustine says "All evil is sin or punishment for sin"
      • Everyone has original sin

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