I have been doing a little research on Augustine this week and came across some things I had forgotten about.
As all of you know Augustine embraced Manicheanism for a time: Here, Augustine in his refutation reflected on two major problems: the problem of good and evil and the relationship between faith and reason. Concerning Good and Evil, Manicheanism explained the existence of good and evil as the unavoidable product of a never-ending struggle between
two coequal and co-eternal deities, one good and the other evil. Evil exists because the Good God (Light) is unable to defeat the Evil God (Darkness).
Augustine asserted that there was only one God and He was both GOOD and ALL-Powerful. Augustine, of course, asserted that Good and Evil are not equal forces in the universe. Evil is always subordinate to good. A parasite can never survive unless there is a separate and healthy organism upon which it can prey. Just like gossip (a parasite of truth) cannot exist unless there is truth (healthy organism)....of course there may be gossip about non-truth as well.
The part which I found rather fascinating "in its phraseology" was what he asserted about greater and lesser goods. He asserted that everything that God created was good, but that His
creation contained certain degrees of goodness. By degrees he would say that a rock (lesser good) and a plant (greater good, as it has life as compared to the idle rock) were both good. Comparatively an animal is a greater good then a plant, because it posses powers a plant does not. Then he goes on further to assert that because humans can reason that their kind of existence is a greater good than animals. Obviously, God possesses the GREATEST GOOD of all.
Thus, to explain the existence of the first sin of the evil Lucifer, though created perfect, he choose a lesser good (himself) over the greater good (God). This explained to Augustine how evil could come into existence, into which existence no evil was created. Man likewise choose a lesser good (himself and his ways, thoughts) over the Greater Good (God). Augustine would assert when humans sin they usurp the rightful place of God in their lives. In this way, all sin amounts to sinful pride and subsequent rebellion against God and His will.
Thus, now that I have stated briefly Augustine's thought here, I would like to see how we may possibly biblically interact with a part of it in application. I am choosing something I am sure is common in all our churches and even possibly our lives--that is the sin of Gossip.
Evil is always subordinate to good. A parasite can never survive unless there is a separate and healthy organism upon which it can prey. Just like gossip (a parasite of truth) cannot exist unless there is truth (healthy organism).....of course there may be gossip about non-truth as well.
Doesn't "part" of Augustine's argument here help us see the sinfulness of Gossip? Gossip a parasite of truth! This utterly makes one tremble does it not? That when one gossips he is not speaking truth, but is a parasite, a pest, a tool of the evil one sucking the blood (like a mosquito) out of the truth. Does this not show us even more so our depravity? The sinfulness of sin? If one speaks the truth of God about Christ and another gossips about "him" or "it" he is sucking the "blood" out of the truth of the Gospel, that being the very blood that Christ shed on Calvary! What a terrible sin.
Anyway take it away and discuss it. The question is "Do you choose the lesser communication (speaking is good, but when void of God it is evil) over greater communication (speak the truth be instant in season and out of season, or 9th commandment communication)?"
