Walid Rahman

CC_Prompt_City of God by St. Augustine

10/12/14
Prompt: {According to Augustine, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good
things happen to bad people? (This pertains to Book I).}
The concept of good and bad things happening to both good and bad people is something that
makes people question the reality of God and religion. Oftentimes people assume that good
should be rewarded solely with good and bad should always be rewarded with bad. However, to
St. Augustine, such is not the case. In the City of God, St. Augustine gives an explanation as to
why both good and bad things happens to both good and bad people.
In Book I, St. Augustine refers to The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 5, verse 45, where it
is written that God makes his sun rise on the good and on the bad and sends rain alike on the
righteous and the unrighteous. This means that God, through His mercy, gives good to even the
wicked. St. Augustine rationalizes this by stating that, Some of the wicked are brought to
penitence by considering these facts (Augustine 13). This means that the wicked are given
good so that they may reflect upon the good they are given and amend their ways. This way, they
can attain some justice between their actions and the good they are given. However, it should be
noted that St. Augustine also mentions how some people, despite all the good that happens to
them continue to be wicked and lay up for themselves a store of wrath in the day of Gods anger
and of the revelation of the just judgment of God (Romans 2). The day of Gods anger may
refer to the Day of Judgment, and it is on that day that the wicked, no matter how good they were
given despite their wrongdoings, will be shown justice through punishment. Therefore, it can
also be said that good happens to bad people because of Gods mercy. However, they will be
given justice for their evil doing in the hereafter if they do not understand the mercy and change
themselves into the pious.
Now the other part of the question remains: why do bad things happen to good people? St.
Augustine states many reasons, one being that Gods chastisement trains the good in patient
endurance (Augustine 13). The reason as to why the good must be trained for patient endurance
may have to with their further development in good deeds and righteousness. St. Augustine
refers to Job, a prophet of the Hebrew Bible (as well as of The Quran as we may see later), as an
example of a good man that bad things happened to. Job was tested by God so that the spirit of
man may be tested, that he may learn for himself what is the degree of disinterested devotion that
he offers to God (Augustine 17). A good person is therefore given calamities so that such a
person may better themselves in devotion to God through assessment of how well they overcome
the ordeals placed on them. This in turn may lead to greater benefit in the hereafter since God,
in his providence, decided to prepare future blessings for the righteous (Augustine 16) and
patience in adversity or temptation may allow one to pile up treasure in heaven (Augustine 18).

The other reason as to why the good may suffer from calamity is because they love this
temporal life (Augustine 16). The bad also love the temporal life. Love of the temporal life
may lead to one disobeying God, which in turn can bring forth His punishment. This is
something that both the good and bad may suffer from.
In conclusion, there is no injustice done upon anyone in the case of them suffering good and bad
things. The good will suffer for improvement, which in turn will give them more rewards in the
next eternal life. The bad will suffer well in the hope that they turn towards God in penitence.
However, when calamity strikes both the bad and good, it may be a chastisement or punishment
from God as well. This may also explain the fine balance of Gods mercy and justice found in
the texts of Abrahamic Faiths.