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Jason Fisher St. Augustine’s ConfessionsApril 4, 2006The life of St. Augustine was a long search for Truth. The Truth of God made manifest inthe very flesh that plagued and haunted Augustine during his journey towards faith. Looking back he sees that God led many people in and out of his life in order to bring him to faith inChrist. Whether it was his mother, his friends, or Christian teachers they all played an intricaterole in challenging him to conceive of a life lived totally for God. Even non-Christians like thePlatonists, led him in the direction of God but then stopped short of having the complete truth;others showed him how inadequate other religious beliefs were compared to Christianity. No one probably shed more tears, lifted up more prayers, and followed Augustine’s journey closer than his own mother. His mother was so worried for her son that she went to alocal priest, who also had been influenced by the Manicheans when he was younger, and beggedhim for his help. Augustine writes in his
Confessions
about his mother's deep concern for her son, “For in her faith and in the spirit which she had from you she looked on me as dead.” (Book 3.11) His mother pleaded with the priest and he assured her that through Augustine’s ownreadings he would discover the, “mistakes and the depth of his profanity.” (Book 3.12) Her  persistence finally paid off when the priest agreed to help teach Augustine about the faith, andshe took this as a message from heaven.Augustine later met a man well known for his skills as a doctor. They had manyconversations together and it wasn’t long before this doctor found out about Augustine’s interestin astrology. This old doctor, like the priest, had studied astrology and had made a living by itwhen he was younger, but finding that astrology was wrong, and being the honest man that he
 
was, he could not see making a living through deception. Augustine says that God, “did not failto use even that old man to help me,” for it was this old man who, “in a kind and fatherly way,”instructed him to throw away the rubbish of astrology for more important things. (Book 4.3)Augustine believed this message came from God and that, “By means of it you (God) imprintedon my mind doubts which I was to remember later, when I came to argue these maters out tomyself later.” (Book 4.3)The Manichean sect was very Gnostic in its understanding of the created world being eviland placed importance on ones spirit instead. Augustine’s involvement with this group laid thegroundwork for much of his anguish about his own bodily sins and his problem with the idea of aGod who could be in human flesh. Getting a chance to meet Faustus, a key figure in theManichean sect, left much to be desired and Augustine writes to God saying, “in your wonderfulsecret way, my God, you had already taught me that a statement is not necessarily true because itis wrapped in fine language or false because it is awkwardly expressed.” (Book 5.6) Augustine begins to lose confidence in the group and writes that, “Faustus who had been a deadly snare tomany now began to release me from the trap in which I had been caught.” (Book 5.7)After being sent to Milan he meets bishop Ambrose and upon listening to him preach begins to see that the Manichean beliefs are false. While Ambrose was not as elegant a speaker as others whom he had met, it was his kindness that had won over Augustine. While in MilanAugustine decided to remain a catechumen within the Catholic Church knowing this pleased hismother. He continued to question, listen, and learn about Scripture as Ambrose would preach,“the written law inflicts death, whereas the spiritual law brings life.” (Book 6.5) This truthhelped Augustine to see the scriptures not as absurd and always literal but instead figurative and poetic in many places. This new light melted away the need for proof, and he soon beganwrestling with the idea of faith.
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