Evildoing is caused by inordinate desire. Things such as adultery, murder, and sacrilege, are considered forms of evildoing. If one desires to commit any of these evildoings then he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act. In St. Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will, he introduces a free will theodicy, which is one of the most influential theodicies and serves as a prominent foundation for Christianity today. He explains his theodicy as the following: free will, not evil, cause sin to happen. St. Augustine, an influential church father believed man caused most of evil. Relative to St. Augustine’s belief, in the dynamic poem Paradise Lost, free will is a consistent lingering theme throughout the poem. Milton acknowledges that God gave man free will alongside reason, by which he describes “reason also is choice”(III.108). Milton explains that it is our own choice whether we obey or disobey God because when he gave us reason, he gave us free will. In this paper, I will explore the joint between free will, love, and reason in relation to our obedience and/ or disobedience to God. More so, in this paper I will use the works of John Milton and St. Augustine to comprehend the notion that the presence of evil is a result of human’s free will, not Satan or a predestined fate.
In Paradise Lost, Milton uses the creation story as a strategy to explain man’s free will. Through this story, Milton recognizes that in the same instance free will and reason facilitates us to obey God, it is also a challenge to control against our selfish desires. Free will promotes one’s innate selfish desire causing them to disobey God. Most Christian denominations understand free will from the fall of man. The fall of man illustrates the original ...
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...e such a thing would be too weak.”(17)
In this explanation, Augustine synopsizes the idea that the mind is not subject to the inordinate desire if it has virtue and is in control. However, if a mind does not have control, then free will becomes attracted to our selfish desires. Reason enables man with the ability to decipher between what is wrong and right. Being that God created man as rational, autonomous beings, they are able to have control over worldly desires. However, God knew that by providing us with free will, we might not always find God’s law appealing and obey him. At times, man will reason to obey God willingly. At other times, man will lose control over their mind and their free will becomes subject to the appeal of one’s selfish nature. Given these two situations, in neither case is Satan or God the cause of our immorality, but our own free will.
St. Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, and Anselm all address the concept of free will and God’s foreknowledge in their works “The City of God”, “The Consolation of Philosophy”, and “De Concordia”. While each work was written during a different time period, each of their approaches consists of a solution comprised of both unifying and unique points and arguments. While there is no clear contesting between one work and another, it is clear that free will is a complex and critical idea in Christian theology that has long since been debated. '
The second circle of hell, a realm for those who fell victim of their carnal desires, is another level at which to place Augustine’s soul for he was consumed by lust in his pre-conversion days. He was encouraged by his family to learn the art of persuasion and making of fine speech when he was only sixteen. He used these skills, which he developed very well, along with his good looks to seduce as many women as possible. It was “in that sixteenth year of my life in this world, when the madness of lust. . . took complete control of me, and I surrendered to it” (Confessions, 987). He was in love with being in love. Yet, he was unable to discern between love and lust.
Angie Bachmann choose to gamble not only once but twice until it became an addiction of hers. She was aware of the choices she made and should have took responsibility of her gambling addiction. She could have taken some steps to prevent her outcome but decided not to. The Neurology Of Free Will explains “Angie Bachmann gambled not by choice, but out of habit”(254). which clarify everybody had choices in life and had the freewill to decide what they want to do because they are conscious and know what's going on around them once you become addicted it is truly your fault for not making other choices and seeking help which became a habit to Angie to keep on doing it when it was clearly her responsibility for making good decisions and not letting an addiction get the best of her.
A foundational belief in Christianity is the idea that God is perfectly good. God is unable to do anything evil and all his actions are motives are completely pure. This principle, however, leads to many questions concerning the apparent suffering and wrong-doing that is prevalent in the world that this perfect being created. Where did evil come from? Also, how can evil exist when the only eternal entity is the perfect, sinless, ultimately good God? This question with the principle of God's sovereignty leads to even more difficult problems, including human responsibility and free will. These problems are not limited to our setting, as church fathers and Christian philosophers are the ones who proposed some of the solutions people believe today. As Christianity begins to spread and establish itself across Europe in the centuries after Jesus' resurrection, Augustine and Boethius provide answers, although wordy and complex, to this problem of evil and exactly how humans are responsible in the midst of God's sovereignty and Providence.
It has been sincerely obvious that our own experience of some source that we do leads in result of our own free choices. For example, we probably believe that we freely chose to do the tasks and thoughts that come to us making us doing the task. However, we may start to wonder if our choices that we chose are actually free. As we read further into the Fifty Readings in Philosophy by Donald C. Abel, all the readers would argue about the thought of free will. The first reading “The System of Human Freedom” by Baron D’Holbach, Holbach argues that “human being are wholly physical entities and therefore wholly subject to the law of nature. We have a will, but our will is not free because it necessarily seeks our well-being and self-preservation.” For example, if was extremely thirsty and came upon a fountain of water but you knew that the water was poisonous. If I refrain from drinking the water, that is because of the strength of my desire to avoid drinking the poisonous water. If I was too drink the water, it was because I presented my desire of the water by having the water overpowering me for overseeing the poison within the water. Whether I drink or refrain from the water, my action are the reason of the out coming and effect of the motion I take next. Holbach concludes that every human action that is take like everything occurring in nature, “is necessary consequences of cause, visible or concealed, that are forced to act according to their proper nature.” (pg. 269)
The seat of faith resides in the will of the individual and not in the leaning to our own reasoning, for reasoning is the freedom of choosing what one accepts as one’s will. In considering the will was created and one cannot accuse the potter or the clay, Milton writes to this reasoning, as “thir own revolt,” whereas the clay of humankind is sufficient and justly pliable for use as a vessel of obedience or disobedience (3.117). The difficulty of this acceptance of obedience or disobedience is inherent in the natural unwillingness in acknowledging that we are at the disposal of another being, even God. One theme of Paradise Lost is humankind’s disobedience to a Creator, a Creator that claims control over its creation. When a single living thing which God has made escapes beyond the Creator’s control this is in essence an eradicating of the Creator God. A Creator who would create a creature who the Creator would or could not control its creation is not a sovereign God. For who would not hold someone responsible for manufacturing something that could not be controlled and consider it immoral to do so? To think that God created a universe that he has somehow abdicated to its own devices is to accredit immorality to the Creator. Since the nucleus of Milton’s epic poem is to “justifie the wayes of God” to his creation, these ‘arguments’ are set in theological Miltonesque terms in his words (1. 26). Milton’s terms and words in Paradise Lost relate the view of God to man and Milton’s view to the reader. Views viewed in theological terms that have blazed many wandering paths through the centuries to knot up imperfect men to explain perfect God.
...lighted” Augustine’s body (Confessions VIII. 5, p. 148). In this example, regardless of Augustine’s want to will succumbing to God, he found that his habits had rendered him unable to. His will in favor of the lower things held Augustine tighter than his will for God, which caused Augustine to choose the lesser good, which left him “in the midst of that great tumult I had stirred up against my own soul in the chamber of my heart” (Confessions VIII. 7, p.152). His two wills tore at him until he fully abandoned his earthly lust for the spiritual Godly desires; supporting his conclusion that free will in favor of the lesser goods causes evil. Therefore, free will is the ultimate source of evil.
Paradise Lost is an epic poem portraying John Milton’s theological standpoints. The theme is knowledge and the fall of man. Milton uses his poem to state some of his theological beliefs and his personal reflections. Milton wrote Paradise Lost in the 17th century but uses influence from classic poets. Milton’s epic is an extremely important piece of literature. The excerpt used in this commentary takes on the subjects of sin and the punishment with regards to the atonement from God’s point of view. Milton’s states many of his own theological opinions but wants the reader to know that God is justified in everything that he does, and also wants them to know that man has free will.
The problem of free will and determinism is a mystery about what human beings are able to do. The best way to describe it is to think of the alternatives taken into consideration when someone is deciding what to do, as being parts of various “alternative features” (Van-Inwagen). Robert Kane argues for a new version of libertarianism with an indeterminist element. He believes that deeper freedom is not an illusion. Derk Pereboom takes an agnostic approach about causal determinism and sees himself as a hard incompatibilist. I will argue against Kane and for Pereboom, because I believe that Kane struggles to present an argument that is compatible with the latest scientific views of the world.
When a person hears Satan, a streak of fear, and the thought of evil arises. People fear Satan, and think of him as evil, but in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he displays a thought of the Father being the evil being, and Satan a tragic hero. In Paradise Lost, Book 1 and 2, the minor areas where God is shown, He is displayed as hypocritical. He contradicts himself by creating the humans to be of free will, but when Satan displays free will, he is shunned. Satan could be described in many terms, and by many people, but all can be disputed. According to my sources, Satan is displayed as the hero, while God is the evil deity, and Milton was wrong for writing Him as so. In this essay, I will show my thoughts on the subject of Satan as an evil deity, and other’s opinions on the matter.
Without the freedom of choice, a person's actions are not sincere or meaningful. As a part of God's ultimate plan, he gives the angels in Heaven and Adam and Eve free will in their actions. By doing so, God heightens his own power because his following is strong and faithful. Satan's character, on the other hand, gains followers out of fear. As a result, he does not attain the same power that God does, which helps to support the thesis that true power can only be gained with free will. Milton also adds depth to this concept by connecting the power of knowledge to free will.
The attention Milton gives to each character, and their specific personality, allows us to interpret their actions as consciously chosen deeds within the larger framework of the poem. Great detail is given to the idea of "creation". Beyond that of the creation of the world in Book I, there are many instances where the act of creation itself becomes an act of endowing power on some object or person. The most obvious example would be the creation of Adam and Eve by God. By creating the pair, God, desires them to glorify His ways through their praises and deeds. He gives them enough power over their destiny to choose to worship Him as the Almighty. The fact that they have free will is important to God because they choose to give Him praise despite any outside temptation. There is one obvious drawback to this kind of power. They chose to follow Satan’s beguiling words. The fact that they had the free will to follow Satan’s words meant that their decision was cosmically more important because it was arrived at through conscious thought. We can see this idea of power demonstrated throughout Paradise Lost. The dual relationship between the beneficial act of bestowing power at the time of creation and the negative side of the free will to use that power freely, shows up within every character. Instances of creation appear in every book, and can be associated with every character. Some of the first appearances of the word "author" are connected with the idea of creation. In Book III, the throngs of assembled angels say,"Eternal King, the Author of all being/Fountain of light, thyself invisible/..." (III, 376-7) Here God is portrayed as the great originator of everything in all of creation. To be the "author" of something is to be the creator, much the same way as Milton himself is creating the world of the poem. In virtually every instance the act of "authoring", is associated with images of primacy and legitimacy. The ultimate act of creation, that of shaping the physical world itself, brings about another reference to this idea.
He describes how attracting this spirit was and how it felt good to be evil. “The evil in me was foul, but I loved it”( p 103). He saw the will to sin as a characteristic of human being. I loved that he thought this. I agree with him on nobody being perfect. I feel like when we do something “evil” then realize, we have a new found feeling of good. I feel in a way, evil is a wakeup call to keep us on the “right” track. He also formulated the theory of predestination. I don't know how I feel about this. My brother and I have always had this discussion on why bad things, happen to good people. If someone is so religious and devoted to god, but can have such a difficult time. For example, my mom’s aunt. Her life story is so impactful and hard, yet she is a full devotee and won’t give up on her faith. Is this where the whole “things happen for a reason” or “it’s all in God’s plan” comes from? I am really interested in learning more about Augustine, as I feel like his teaching are some what relatable in todays
Most people will support their choice of company with some substantial claim, such as a memory. Psychoanalysis has demonstrated time and time again though, that the reason as to why people make decisions is often not recognized by them. For example, when analyzing subjects during experiments and economic games, psychologists have found that they can convince people to like or dislike each other without making it known to the subject. The subjects often have substantial reasons as to why they perhaps like someone, like the memory claim; but, they never accurately choose the variables that made them do certain things. In this case, having someone give a subject a hot beverage over a cold beverage statistically increases the likelihood that they will like that person; but, subjects rarely, if ever say that.
The theme of free will is highlighted at various points throughout Paradise Lost through different characters. Through each characters actions and the element of choice displayed, Milton conveys his view point that while God is omniscient and there is an eternal providence, free will his not hindered. Milton also conveys through Eve that she choose to disobey God, she does so knowing there will consequences, signifying that she does not have the full capacity to reason clearly. Despite his being aware of the paradox that free will and eternal providence present the reader, Milton did not believe that this constrained one’s understanding of Paradise Lost.