What is the destiny of human beings?
In other words, why is it that humans exist? Assuming we were created by a higher being – God – then what were humans created to do? What is our purpose?
Some answer this question by saying: The Divine’s will for human beings is for humans to not sin. Interacting with this hamartiological sect of theology, relating to “sin”, raises questions like: how might humans not-sin, or avoid sinning? What are the motivations for humans to avoid sin?
Human beings avoid sinning through stewardship of intellect, will, and memory; which are embodied forms of logos, ethos, and pathos.
There are many sources to draw from as we seek “answers” to these questions. However, I would encourage us to view this process of wonder as seeking a response rather than an “answer”. When thinking theologically, it is extremely difficult to epistemologically “prove” an argument because there is so much that humans do not and cannot “know”, about the God.
St. Augustine of Hippo offers that humans have within them the elements of intellect, will, and memory. Aristotle describes persuasion as involving logos, ethos, and pathos. I argue that human beings avoid sinning through stewardship of intellect, will, and memory; which are embodied forms of logos, ethos, and pathos. Therefore, the destiny of human beings is to persuade.
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Logos + Intellect
Logical arguments wherein the conclusion follows the premise, or “an offering of ‘good reasons’” (logos) is born from the “something” within humans that can know the truth, and therefore desires to pursue it (intellect)[4].
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Ethos + Will
Humans have a passion or love for that truth (will) which comes from credible sources or reliable authorities or appeals to their trust (ethos)[5].
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Pathos + Memory
Humans have creative powers to formulate images in their mind of things they have not physically seen, by using reserved mental images (memory) which were formulated and reserved because of the appeal to their feelings or emotions (pathos)[6].
Humans Must Persuade God of Their Love for God to Fulfill Their Destiny…
But Why Would God Want or Need to Be Persuaded?
Operating from the theological norm that God, The Divine, is the creator and sustainer of all living things, as well as the ultimate purpose of all living things, we can conclude that humans are persuading God of their love for God.
Human beings’ pursuit of their destinies is an active quest of persuasion. Who, then, are humans persuading through their not-sinning?
Operating from the theological norm that God, The Divine, is the creator and sustainer of all living things, as well as the ultimate purpose of all living things, we can conclude that humans are persuading God of their love for God.
Why might God want to be persuaded?
Because God’s own “method of working with creation is loving persuasion…God’s power is the power to empower”[7]. Therefore, within this framework of God desiring and modeling shared power, equity, and mutuality, we can understand that “we are co-creators, with God and all the rest of creation, of all that is and that will be” which is “both a power and a responsibility”[8].
Persuausion is mutually occurring between humans and God – each possesses a unique element to offer to the interaction; power is shared, and interaction is vital for a holistic engagement.
Why might God need to be persuaded?
Human intellect comprehends and conceptualizes by picking out boundaries, and naming differences between “that thing” and “not that thing” However, God’s essence cannot be summarized or categorized through our experiences or language, the way we do with other things or beings. “God is not some perfect being, complete, removed from creation and untouched by it, but exists within, beside and yet beyond every happening or series of happenings”[9].
God’s essence cannot be summarized or categorized through our experiences or language, the way we do with other things or beings.
Because God exceeds being, or more than exists, God’s capacity to experience our love is limitless and the ways in which God experiences, receives, or acknowledges that love is unknown. This is not to say that the “target” human beings are aiming at in order to demonstrate their love for God is constantly changing, but rather that there are an endlessly unlimited number of “targets” – in exhaustive shapes, sizes, locations, colors, and forms – and “at no point does God prevent or coerce behavior, but draws [humans] to the best and highest option available to creation at the moment”[10].
There are an endlessly unlimited number of “targets” – in exhaustive shapes, sizes, locations, colors, and forms – and at no point does God prevent or coerce behavior, but draws humans to the best and highest option available to creation at the moment
The human pursuit of our destinies is an active quest wherein we are persuading God of our love for Them (God).
Persuausion is mutually occurring between humans and God – each possesses a unique element to offer to the interaction; power is shared, and interaction is vital for a holistic engagement.
Footnotes
[1] Rigby, Holding Faith, 170
[2] Miles, The Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought, 102
[3] Babcock, “Augustine on Sin and Moral Agency”, 29
[4] Baumlin & Meyer, 9
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Casanova, 49
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
Full Reference List
Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Maria Boulding. Vintage Spiritual Classics, 1998.
Babcock, William S. “Augustine on Sin and Moral Agency.” Journal of Religious Ethics 16, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 28.
Baumlin, James S., and Craig A. Meyer. “Positioning Ethos in/for the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction to Histories of Ethos.” Humanities 7, no. 3 (September 2018): 78. https://doi.org/10.3390/h7030078.
Casanova, Judy. “Process Theology–a Nutshell View.” Journal of Religion & Psychical Research 22, no. 1 (January 1999): 49.
Corcoran, John. “Aristotle’s Demonstrative Logic.” History & Philosophy of Logic 30, no. 1 (February 2009): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01445340802228362.
Deme, Daniel. “The ‘Origin’ of Evil According to Anselm of Canterbury.” Heythrop Journal 43, no. 2 (April 2002): 170. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2265.00190.
Manning, Liliann, Daniel Cassel, and Jean-Christophe Cassel. “St. Augustine’s Reflections on Memory and Time and the Current Concept of Subjective Time in Mental Time Travel.” Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X) 3, no. 2 (June 2013): 232–43. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3020232.
Miles, Margaret R. The Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2012.
Rigby, Cynthia L. Holding Faith. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2018.
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