La Consolacion University Philippines

(formerly University of Regina Carmeli)

Graduate School Department

Name: LARA, CATHERINE E. July 22, 2021

MAN 204/ Augustinian Spirituality Professor: Prof. Ramonito Perez

Assignment No. 7
The problem of evil, freewill, original sin and predestination.
1. Define the 4 Augustinian concepts according to Dr. Curry.
a. Problem of Evil
Where does evil come from? According to Genesis 1:3 “God created
everything, everything He created is good”. According to Dr. Curry, evil is a form
of a non being or the absence of non being or the corruption of a being. As St.
Augustine said, all things that God created is good. Evil is the concept of lacking
of a being or thing wherein it is out of place.

b. Freewill
The teaching of Augustine is that, while we all have the potential to exercise
our Free Will to select or reject the gift of Grace, some individuals have it more
than others. He appears to argue that certain people are constitutionally able to
use the little will they need to accept the Grace that further enhances this will.
Other people's will be so faint that they cannot go that far. Our free will is where
evil originates because we have the power to choose. Freedom of will is not
freedom from God because God influence our will. It is intrinsically related to God.

c. Original Sin
It is our share in Adam’s Sin, which is the sins each of us does individually. This
original sin is within us. It is the corrupted will. It is that we are guilty of the first sin.

d. Predestination
It is god’s eternal plan to give grace to some people and not to others. It’s
God’s eternal choices that is more than the fore knowledge. It indicated God’s
 active involvement. God chooses who will he save among the sinners, to whom
he will give grace. It is the person to whom God has a deeper connection. Human
salvation is attributed to God's unmerited mercy and hence to predestination,
whereas divine reprobation is attributed to human sin and guilt.

2. Discover the strength and weakness of each concept (problem of evil, original sin,
freewill, predestination).
a. Problem of Evil
o Strength – The idea that evil can arise when people exercise free will
fits in with what we see in the world around us. Seems logical that God
gave us free will and us disobeying it created evil which does not make
us question the nature of God
o Weaknesses- The concept of evil being a privation yet not part of God's
creation seems illogical. People who are suffering may not find the
theodicy convincing. Did the understanding of evil stem from God?
b. Freewill
o Strength – it is influenced by God, it is within us, it is free from external
coercion
o Weaknesses – it is where evil originates, can be affected by outside
forces

c. Original Sin
o Strength - The idea that the world is a good creation. It presents
suffering and adversity as coming from God's curse on Adam and Eve
and part of God's plan to make us into his 'likeness'.
o Weaknesses- Fall the Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Original sin affects
individuals by separating them from God, and bringing dissatisfaction
and guilt into their lives.
 d. Predestination
Strength – God has determined from eternity whom he will save and whom he
will damn, regardless of their faith, love, or merit or lack thereof. salvation is
given to
Weaknesses – It implores bias because God already determined who will be
saved at the very beginning

3. How are the 4 concepts related to each other?

According to St Augustine, original sin imperils our souls' salvation. So how can
the Soul accomplish salvation? Following St. Paul, Augustine thought that only by God's
grace this was possible. Since Man is so wicked, this grace is unmerited to no one.
However, when God sent Jesus to take over the sin of the world, God offered it to all men
and women. It was an offer that they might refuse since men had free will and they lost
the opportunity of salvation if they did so. The Latin term for loss is damn, damnation was
the loss of salvation in the beginning. Even if not accompanied by the everlasting pain of
fire in hell this loss was dreadful enough. Without the grace of God, salvation was
impossible: buried as he was in sin, Man was not able, by his own efforts, to attain it. But
St Augustine went beyond this: certain persons are predestined to exercise the will to
embrace God, and others to reject Him. God, who is all-knowing, anticipates, but cannot
foretell who will, and will not, embrace His grace.
Augustine had to tackle this topic because people were wondering what was
"before time began," when God created the ex nihilo universe. However, it is significant
that he concluded, on the theological and theological grounds: that in 'reality,' time and
space, as we perceive them, cannot exist, contrary that which Kant should achieve
rationally and Einstein on scientific grounds. The people who accept Grace's aid are
assisted in fighting Sin; the ones who refuse to accept it reject it and are enslaved by Sin.
We are all sinners but God predetermined who will be saved according to the will of the
people to asked for Grace and to repent from the sins.