Augustine on the Problem of Evil

Augustine on the Problem of Evil, in Books 5-9 of the Confessions and in the Enchiridion. ‪@PhiloofAlexandria‬

[@georgepuedel6892]

You are a great teacher, Professor. I hope you know that by these online lectures, you are not speaking into a void, but to real people and students across the world. Your efforts are thus preserved not only in your current students, but are permanent. It is such a pleasure to find instructors whose first priority is the transmission of knowledge, and do so surpassing the requirements of their duty.

[@abhinnshyamtiwari2739]

One of the finest things a person can do is to shed his light of knowledge on the world. Love and respect from India ❤️❤️❤️❤️🇮🇳

[@marillion4th393]

What a mind shaker!!! Thank you professor!! Thank you!

[@questioneverything8876]

In my under graduate days I read Sigmund Freuds, Civilization and its Discontents, I later found the blue print for that in Ecclesiastes and here again in St Augustine philosophy . I can only imagine how depressed atheists must feel when coming to terms with this wisdom. I leave with a greater appreciation of my creator (credit to St Augustine)and have a more sophisticated conceptual understanding of why we have a predisposition to sin, for being imperfect with our own unique faults, generates conflict and struggles and forge a connection to not only our creator and Yeshua and the Holy Spirit but with fellow humanity. Praise God

[@jcarroll651]

Thanks Dr. Bonevac! I love your lectures they're very entertaining!

[@WesleyRosenberg]

Thank you for your wonderful videos!

[@pedrorockstar]

I find this explanation for the problem of evil quite satisfying

[@kieran7727]

I see your Eco’s back there haha, wonderful selections! I can’t express how much I’ve enjoyed the video, will certainly check out more!

[@kishors8880]

Hat's off to you, sir! Such a great video!

[@arciebaric3067]

thank you professor

[@tcl5853]

Great stuff! Thanks!

[@andreaf8404]

love your videos! greetings from a philosophy student :)

[@ridgedk9co179]

Sir, I am grateful for your willingness to provide us with your deep understanding of philosophy. Moreover, because of you fair lecture style, what school of thought do you commonly agree with?

[@PhiloofAlexandria]

I'm not sure my view corresponds to any of the traditional philosophers, though I find myself having the most affinity with Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Locke, Burke, Kant, Mill, Sellars, and Kripke.

[@ridgedk9co179]

@@PhiloofAlexandria Thank you.

[@3rdaxis609]

thnks

[@canadiankewldude]

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. KJV

[@HO-ud4wx]

Evil is a sin, and every sin brings its own punishment.

[@ForwardGroovement]

If God created imperfect people because one cannot have two omnipotent beings as you pointed out, then that means heaven will be populated by imperfect people which means evil will be possible in heaven. But that seems to contradict the scriptures. Please shed some light on this if you can sir

[@PhiloofAlexandria]

Interesting question! I think people are imperfect, but that there won't be any possibility of evil in heaven because everyone there will be so overcome by the glory of God that they will desire nothing else.

[@henrybenjaminstoneking238]

Augustine was a pagan, and not Catholic start with his absurd definition of evil-"the absence of good" this was stolen from the pagan Plato, whom Augustine prefers over GOD HIMSELF This absurd definition takes any notion of malice out of evil and therefore removes sin as well as a concept If there was only an absence of good, then sin is only an absence of good therefore, do not worry about being evil, because it is just the loss of good, and there will be no other consequences to evil action and SIN is certainly not an infinite offense against GOD

[@aion5837]

So, suffering is a necessity? But, isn't suffering also the absence of happiness? How much unhappiness can a person endure? If God is the ultimate good he would know that there are degrees of unhappiness. Why inflict such unbearable unhappiness that makes 'life itself' beyond endurance. C. S. Lewis was a devout Christian, but at a very painful time in his life, he said that 'Humans are just laboratory rats in God's maze'.

[@questioneverything8876]

Ecclesiastes deals with this in the book of Job. The question here is ,is it better to suffer with or without faith? Without faith life is meaningless like Macbeth lament in his soliloquy, Tomorrow and tomorrow. Yours is not to question but to endure stoically the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ( more Shakespeare LOL ) Happiness is a doomed project, but in the Christian faith, no matter the trial or the ordeal the principal goal is to maintain a state of mind that keeps connecting to Love. The two major commandments are to love God and each other. The meaning of life is to learn to love. So no obstacle is extreme so to overcome the latter and former. Hence ,faith and dedication to the Lord is your salvation against calamity,evil ,corruption, decay .

[@fabioparra2711]

And just set aside human suffering for a moment. Look at the animal kingdom. The amount of unnecessary pain is really AMUSEMENT.

[@henrybenjaminstoneking238]

I assume you are using the strange pagan definition of happiness that comes from Augustine and the like, but is really from Plato Suffering is not the absence of happiness, nor is evil the absence of good Evil involves MALICE, and suffering does not imply that we are severed from happiness These definitions from pagan philosophy have no place in the Catholic Faith, and are only there to mislead you Life is up and down, and you need to ride out the down wave, and this will make you more happy in the end The lower you dip down, the higher you will rise when the other wave comes if you stay flat, then you will have no real emotions of any kind modern man wants to stay flat and cozy, and this is not working out for society which is in total disrepair GOD is not the ONE who inflicts this terror in the world, it is our sins that do this The common problem with pagans is that they blame GOD for everything, we have free will, and people tend to use it to promote evil and greed we are surrounded by millions of people who whine about GOD but very few are loyal to GOD Suffering comes with life, and happiness comes with life too But our only real joy comes from being in union with GOD These moments where we are tested in Faith are important, and make us stronger in the end The more you love GOD, the more HE will test you, and this is part of life GOD wants you strong and we want to be weak due to our fallen nature the worldly softies always run to Satan, they think GOD is just too mean and how do they benefit from turning from GOD like this? GOD wants soldiers who will fight for Truth and GODs Church, and love, and there are not many willing to do this today This is because people have been led astray into thinking life should be soft and easy Satan uses these softies to turn to him instead of GOD and they make the world worse for everybody around them Look around you, the softies are all in a state of death and disrepair This is not what life is about sitting and eating is for the stall fed cows "Life is a warfare" Job 7;1