St Augustine was a follower to Christianity. He thought that religion should include not just faith but reason. He wrote a lot about religious philosophy about Christianity and used some ideas from Plato. St Augustine used many ideas from Plato about the form of Good, and concluded that there were many similarities between the concept of God and Plato’s form of Good. He saw this because St Augustine’s philosophical ideas were based on two main sources: The bible and Plato.
The first similarity between the form of Good and God is about both being absolute and eternal. Plato’s form of the Good existed in all eternity there was no time when they did not exist and so they were eternal. The Christian God is absolute and eternal because God exists in one form, which is unchanging. Absolute perfections are the very best possible thing, which God and the form of the Good both have in common.
The second similarity is about duty. Plato thought that philisophers had a duty to seek knowledge and hat the absolute knowledge came with the highest form-The form of the good. So for Plato, people needed to learn from the form of the good and act upon it to know whether actions are right or wrong. Christians look to God in a similar way. As chirstians, the bible states that in order to reach the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life then you must follow in the ways of God and thus follow the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments teach Christians about whether an action is right or wrong just like the form of the Good does. The third similarity is that both of the concepts have a quality of being morally absolute and unchanging. The from of the good is always there and morally will always stay the same forever. Plato believed that all knowledge came from the form of the Good and so morally will never change. This is similar to the concept of God, in particular the Old testament, with the 10 commandments.
The forth similarity is about the reflection of the highest entity in regards to everything else and humans in particular. Plato stated that the Form of the Good is absolute and perfect, however even when humans are trying to do good, they are not doing something fully a hundred percent good deed. This happens as humans have no real grasp on what the true goodness means and that they only have a pale reflection of what good truly is. This is highly similar to Christian view as Christians think that humans cannot be perfectly good and only God can, people’s moral behavior is the result of reflection of perfect goodness, which came from Go
The fifth similarity is about the reflection of the highest power. Plato stated that the form of the Good is absolute and perfect, however even when humans are trying to do good, they are not doing something fully 100% good. This happens because humans have no real grasp on what the true goodness means and that they only have a pale reflection of what good truly is. This is highly similar to Christian view as Christians think that humans cannot be perfectly good and only God can, people’s moral behavior is the result of reflection of perfect goodness, which comes from God.
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