Augustine's Confessions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Augustine's Confessions - Essay Example statement in the sense of death, the reason why he uses the term, its relationship to his theory of creation and time, and the authentic sense of life for Augustine. For Augustine, the origin of life is the Word of God, and God himself. Augustine refers to his restless everyday life in terms of life and death. He believes that all these will end through death, but God, the giver of life, does not experience the same. He says, â€Å"For You are infinite and in You is no change, nor does today pass away in You† (Augustine and Sheed 8). People with physical bodies have a common fear death, but those with spiritual bodies and a life of faith are not scared of death. They will experience no change, just as God has, if they maintain a spiritual life. They conform to the earthly world, not knowing that is merely a transition to the spiritual world, and hence their life is in death. The sense of death her is that people are alive but do not respect the wishes of God, and hence they are technically dead. Augustine explained that the everlasting fate of the soul is known at death. Only those who die in communion with the church enjoy purification through God. Augustine senses the approaching end of life in his physical body and the beginning of life in his spiritual body. Humans live with uncertainty about the future because they exist physically, and not spiritually. His example of stealing mangoes in Book 2 ridicules how humans seek pleasure in temporary things that can never truly satisfy. Through faith and hope, one can meet their death comfortably. Throughout life, one must rest their hopes in God and not in fellow humans.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"But in this lay my sin: that is sought pleasure, nobility, and truth not in God but in the beings He created, myself and others. Thus I fell into sorrow and confusion and error† (Augustine and Sheed 21). Augustine sees anybody who fails to live in a Godly manner as already dead. The statement about death relates to Augustine’s theory of