The Autobiographical account of Augustine
Augustine was born into Christianity. His family believed in God and led a Christian life. In his teenhood, he chose to live a different life that he chose. He decided to live a sinful life filled with all forms of pleasures, apart from this he was involved in the reading of philosophical books which impacted greatly in his life. His family could support him in everything that he needed, but he chose to steal pears under his friends’ mere influence. In his autobiography called the Confession, he talks about his life as he grew up and the challenges he faced.
It was hard for him to change his life because Augustine enjoyed life to the fullest. He talks about knowing what he is doing and what he wanted in life. He always got his way with everything he wanted. He even defended his fornication by stating that he was looking for love, and he also wanted to feel loved. He defied his mother’s teachings against premarital sex and its effects.
It is also hard for him to change his life after his friend’s death, who had previously been baptized into the Catholic Church. The incident devastated him as he felt that the church could not give him answers to the life’s questions he had. He thought to himself and sought teachings of philosophers like Astrologist Manicheans. The teachings of Saint Ambrose of Milan and his fluency attracted Augustine and made him understand the bible scriptures. He twisted his actions by characterizing them to Christianity and God-like. His believe was that the urge, curiosity and the desire to acquire knowledge was God given.
In his conversion, he at times was convincing himself that he wasn’t’ able to make change. He had several doubts, and one day he hears a voice talking to him. The sound was telling him to pick it up and read it. He thought a child was calling to him, but it was a voice in his head telling him to read the bible. His first verse was from the book of Romans 13:13-14, which led him to feel the impact of having God in someone’s life and the light He brought into their lives. This verse encourages him to hold unto the Lord and he finally embraced Christianity and was baptized.
Augustine reaches his lowest point in life, and to me, his conversion to Christianity is not satisfying and rather inadequate. Considering all the practices he had engaged in, he felt empty and lost as a person. He wasn’t happy at all. He was trying to fill the emptiness he felt inside by turning to Christianity. I felt that he could have done this at an early time before choosing a sinful life as he was born into a Christian home. Instead, he decided to lead a different contradicting life astray from what he was taught growing up. I personally think that people in their right mind do what they feel is right even though their actions are not accepted by all.