Saint Augustine: Christianity, Free Will, and Happiness

Saint Augustine argues that Christianity and being Christian makes us better people because we have God and everything that is attached to the good. Therefore, good and evil are two very important concepts according to St. Augustine, as was the commentary on evil and free will. All humans are born with the need to choose freely, but Saint Augustine knows that to be happy, one must choose Christianity, namely, choose events close to God. Those who are far from Christianity and God are near evil. To explain evil and free will, an example can be exposed through the book The City of God. In St. Augustine's book, there is a problem between Christians and pagans. He explains good and evil using a simile: the good (Jerusalem) and evil (Babylon). In this book, he sees it necessary to defend Christianity against the charges that were made with the fall of the Roman Empire. Saint Augustine argues that those who live in Jerusalem (good) will be well judged when the day of reckoning comes, and those who live in Babylon (bad) will be on trial.

The Central Issue: Happiness Through Christianity

The central issue, as stated in the text of St. Augustine, is happiness, which goes with being a Christian. Hopefully, we can believe and understand God, namely, that a Christian will understand what is happiness. Believing is fundamental for Saint Augustine. The most important reason is God, but God helps human beings to achieve faith, by which we come to Christianity because there's nothing better than being Christian. Faith illuminates reason, and God helps us gain knowledge that will open the way to true happiness. During the development of Christianity, St. Augustine needed to use some of the ideas of Plato, since he had a struggle or ideological conflict among the pagans of the time, who were those influenced by Greek philosophy, on the one hand, and the Christians on the other. In this conflict, the Christians would win as a consequence of the historical era of the Middle Ages. St. Augustine states that Christianity and being Christian makes us better people because we have God and everything that is attached to the good. Therefore, good and evil are two very important concepts according to St. Augustine, as was the commentary about evil and free will. All humans are born with the need to choose freely, but Saint Augustine knows that to be happy, one must choose Christianity, namely, choose events close to God. Those who are far from Christianity and God are close to evil.