Danielle Benedict: Outside Reading (3)
Augustine-The City of
God (Censures the Pagans)
Augustine describes the lives of Christians as “lives by
faith in this fleeting course of time, and sojourns as a stranger in the midst
of the ungodly.” A conscious choice to follow Christ despite the chaos that
surrounds them. It is a choice to be in the minority and to be potentially
misunderstood by those around you. To sojourn means to reside temporarily. In a Chris Stapleton song, he sings “I’m just
a traveler on this earth.” Christians do not see Earth as the end goal but as a
place to visit until they reach their final destination, Heaven. God is our
helper in this great task of overcoming the “flesh,” or the human body’s
desires. We are not meant to lay deep roots in our mortal lives on this planet.
If one truly believes in a cause, they will be willing to wander for the sake
of the cause.
He wrote that “the good as well as the wicked, though not
equally with them, love this present life.” There is equal temptation for us
all to rely on earthly substance and to focus on the creation instead of the
Creator. The Romans, and many other cultures, put their trust in the gods who
supposedly protected their cities. These
were not intimate, personal relationships but instead a transaction of praying
for guardianship. Augustine criticizes them for worshiping conquered deities,
who had already failed. He is asking: are you praying to or worshiping
something that can love you back or is it just a figurine with no genuine power
or life behind it? Lewis loves nature and living-beings. He esteems things
filled with life over cold creations. One should not focus on just their mortal
life “nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.”
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