The City of God vs. the City of Man In response to a fallen nation who blamed the destruction of the Roman Empire on those who had turned away from the gods to worship Christ, Saint Augustine introduced the world to two cities: The City of God and the city of man. Although both cities thrived from the very beginning of man, they continued, in there growth and conflict with each other, to go unnoticed amongst men. Both very real and still growing almost two thousand years after St.
Augustine wrote his books, collectively called The City of God, the City of God and the city of man continue to go unnoticed by the vast majority of the world. Only those with a true acquaintance with the City of God are able to notice the profound differences between the two cities and the danger that lurks in the city of man. Although these differences are innumerable, they can be summed up in the differences found in freedom, the differences found in love, and the difference found in the prospect of eternal life.
Although the City of God and the city of man both have a following of men here on earth, the City of God is not of this world. The City of God knows immeasurable freedom and cannot be confined to a fallen, enslaved world; however, as it is governed by an infinitely merciful God, the freedom known only to those who are citizens of the City of God is extended to those enslaved on earth. As St. Augustine states in Book XIV of The City of God, “[The will’s] choice is only free when it is not a slave to sin and vice.
The Essay on Personal Philosophy of Man , God and the World
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I am grateful to the Almighty God for establishing me to complete this project. I wish to express my sincere thanks to SOTERO H. LAUREL Librarians, for providing me with all the necessary facilities and books that I need to be able to carefully analyze all the topics that have been discuss in philosophy of human existence. I also thank Professor Josefina C. Perez, one ...
God created man with such a free will, but, once that kind of freedom was lost by man’s fall from freedom, it could be given back only by Him who had the power to give it” (291).
Thus, those who continue to serve only the city of man will continue on as slaves to sin and wickedness embedded in their nature. Only those who dwell the city of man but ultimately belong to the City of God will know freedom. Just as the city of man knows only slavery, it knows a form of love that can only lead to self-destruction and misery.
Those who belong to the city of man know a love that is rooted in the self, even to the contempt of the Lord. On the contrary, those who dwell in the city of man but belong to the City of God know a love that is ultimately rooted in God, often to the contempt of the self. As surmised by St. Augustine in Book XIV, the “latter relies on the Lord, whereas the other boasts that it can get along by itself. The city of man seeks the praise of man, whereas the height of glory for the other is to ear God in witness of the conscience” (307).
The selfish love can only lead to the misery and destruction so common in our world just as the pure love found in God can only lead to the true happiness and peace promised in worlds to come. As St. Augustine continually points out throughout The City of God, the two cities represented here on earth must continue on together, baring the same hardships and temporal goods, despite the fact that they are hardly comparable in their respective understandings of faith, hope, love and freedom.
However, in the day of the Last Judgment, the City of God and the city of man will be permanently separated, never to share in anything for the rest of eternity. While on earth, citizens of the City of God and the city of man alike strive for the temporal peace that humanity depends upon to feed the corruptible body. However, those belonging to the City of God do not restrict their appetites for peace to the worldly peace known to man. They seek the peace that the angels know in heaven, the happiness rooted in God, and the riches that are to await them after their time on earth has passed.
The Essay on Mythical Gods God Zeus Love
Mythical Gods Zeus - God of the sky, the clouds, and the rain. Normally seen holding a thunderbolt. Represented by an Eagle. Married Hera and had many children from many affairs. Poseidon - Brother of Zeus, and ruler of the sea. Seen with a trident and connected to horses and bulls. Hera - Sister and wife of Zeus. Protector of marriage and ally of married women. Cow and Peacock were important to ...
This, of course, is the key difference that marks the permanent separation of the city of man and the City of God. Those who were content with the temporal peace and wicked ways of the world will eternally continue on in a hopeless, Godless, abyss. Those who wisely sought out a far more substantial peace and were disgusted with the wicked ways of the world will know infinite goodness and everlasting peace in an eternity spent with the Lord, Himself.
Those who are unaware of the two cities that govern here on earth, the city of man and the City of God, are most likely slaves to the city of man. With so many continuing on in their ignorance of true freedom, pure love and the eternity that awaits them, those who are governed by the City of God have their work cut out for them. As St. Augustine points out, citizens of the City of God are to love their neighbors as they love themselves, and what better way to show love for one’s neighbors than by living a life that points them to the City of eternal love, happiness and freedom?
