By Cinthia Mascarell

 

The Pelagian controversy, which took place between 300-500 AD, caused the church to formulate the doctrine of free will and sexuality.

Rome had become the scene of controversy among defenders of different interpretations of dogma, including an eloquent preacher named Pelagius, from the British Islands. He must have been born around the year 350, and arrived in Rome around 380. In his preaching he condemns the dissolute customs of the wealthy Romans and asks them to work for their salvation, to obey the Christian precepts, to renounce the pleasures of the flesh and to distribute their wealth to the poor. Their destiny is in their hands and they are responsible for all their weaknesses. The teachings of Pelagius impress wealthy young people, who form around him a circle of disciples. They repent of their past life full of sins and they are attracted by holiness.

In the year 409 he embarks to Carthage, Roman province of the north of Africa, and from there he moves to the city of Hippo, where he asks to meet the Christian bishop Augustine.

Pelagius has heard about Augustine in Rome and he does not agree with Augustine’s ideas. It is outraged to know that the bishop does not trust his own strength and prefers to abandon himself to the will of God. Augustine knows nothing of Pelagius’ reticence, although perhaps something has reached to him from Pelagius’ doctrines that Augustine does not like either, so he kindly rejects the proposal to meet him. Both of them will never meet.

To Pelagius, the human being cannot be all bad. He greatly emphasized the role of free will and the efforts that human beings have to make to achieve perfection. Since perfection is in the power of the human person, according to him, it turns out to be obligatory. In the eyes of Pelagius, the trust in the redemption of Christ must be accompanied by individual responsibility and efforts to be benevolent.[1] Having humans, the responsibility for their actions, means that the Creator gave them freedom.

From here, the idea of original sin falters. If all humans are sinners whatever they do, just because they are descendants of Adam, their will is limited and indirectly that of God. Pelagius’ reasoning is this: if the action asked to us does not depend on our abilities, it cannot be said that not carrying it out is a sin. We cannot reproach someone for not running at a hundred kilometers per hour, because it is above human capabilities. To qualify an act as sin, we must have been able to act differently and therefore depend on our will. If we sin, it is not because we have inherited the sin of Adam, but because we imitate our ancestor. Sin is not innate but acquired.

Pelagius’ most vehement opposition came from Augustine. Salvation, as Augustine saw it, is completely in the hands of God; there is nothing an individual can do. God has chosen a few people to whom He will give joy and salvation. It is for these few that Christ came into the world. All the others are cursed for all eternity. In the eyes of Augustine, it is only the grace of God and not any action or will on the part of the individual that leads to salvation.

Augustine believed that our freedom to choose good over evil was lost with the sin of Adam. The sin of Adam, which, in Augustine’s words, is in the “nature of the semen from which we were propagated,” brought suffering and death to the world, took away our free will and left us with an inherently evil nature.[2] Sinning now is inevitable. If we occasionally do good deeds, it is only by an irresistible grace. “When, therefore, man lives according to man, not according to God, he is like the devil,” Augustine wrote. An individual, according to Augustine, has little power to influence his predetermined destiny and is totally dependent on God for salvation.

Sexuality

Human sexuality, for Augustine, clearly shows the human inability to choose good over evil. Augustine based this belief on his own experience. After having a promiscuous life in his youth during which he fathered and then abandoned an illegitimate child, he thought that sex was intrinsically bad. He complained about sexual desire:

Who can control this when its appetite is aroused? No one! In the very movement of this appetite, then, it has no ‘mode’ that responds to the decisions of the will… Yet what he wishes he cannot accomplish… In the very movement of the appetite, it has no mode corresponding to the decision of the will.^[3]

“This diabolical excitement of the genitals”, as Augustine referred to sex, is evidence of Adam’s original sin, which is now transmitted “from the womb of the mother” contaminating all human beings with sin and leaving them unable to choose good over evil or determine your own destiny.[4]

Almost all Christians thought that sex should be avoided except for the purpose of procreation. Saint Jerome warns: “Regard everything as a poison that carries within itself the seed of sensual pleasure“. In her book Adam, Eve and the Serpent, Elaine Pagels writes:

Clement (of Alexandria) excludes oral and anal intercourse, and intercourse with a menstruating, pregnant, barren, or menopausal wife and for that matter, with one’s wife ‘in the morning’, ‘in the daytime’, or ‘after dinner’. Clement warns, indeed, that ‘not even at night, although in darkness, is it fitting to carry on immodestly or indecently, but with modesty, so that whatever happens, happens in the light of reason…’ for even that union ‘which is legitimate is still dangerous, except in so far as it is engaged in procreation of children[5].

Denying human free will and condemning sexual pleasure made it easier to control and contain people. Augustine wrote:

…man has been naturally so created that it is advantageous for him to be submissive, but disastrous for him to follow his own will, and not the will of his creator… [6]

He believed that “Adam’s sin was a despising of God’s authority … it was just that condemnation followed …“[7]

In the public debates of the time, the argumentation of Augustine overcomes that of Pelagius, whose ideas are declared heretical in the year 418, and his disciples excommunicated and expelled. Even the trace of Pelagius is lost since then, which surely died shortly after.

From then, the Catholic Church has officially adopted the doctrine of the hereditary transmission of original sin.[8]

The Church adopted Augustine’s idea that people are intrinsically evil, incapable of choice and, therefore, need strong authority. Human sexuality is seen as a proof of a sinful nature. Then the Church linked sexuality to a state of impurity and low spirituality. The foundations formulated in response to the first heretics gave the church control over the individual and society.

Free Will in Islam

Regarding this subject, Islam differs a lot with Christianity. We all know that in this life there are aspects over which we have control and there are those aspects over which we have no control (for example, you did not choose who your parents are, you did not choose where to be born, you did not choose the hair color you have, etc.).

“Verily, We have created all things with Qadar (Divine Preordainments of all things before their creation)” (Noble Qur’an 54: 49)

It is clear that there are things decreed by God from the beginning about which we have no choice. We will talk here about those things about which the human has a choice.

In Islam, human beings are free to obey or disobey God. Human beings are not evil by nature, we are all born in a state of purity, and then with the pass of time, taking bad decisions is that one changes.

God has given us freedom to choose and for that reason we are responsible and capable. He could have created us in such a way that we always want to do good, always willing to obey Him. But that would be to force us and there is no merit in it.

The evil that exists in the world exists precisely because of this capacity for disobedience that God has given to humans. In His Plan and Law, freedom with suffering is more honorable for man than freedom with happiness.

It is very common the philosophical question, “If God is perfect, if He is so loving and merciful, why did He create evil? Why does He allows great evils such as war or slavery to occur?” God only commands what is good and just. Why, then, does He allow the unjust, the murderer and the thief to perpetuate their acts? The answer is that He wanted us to be free; freedom needs error; it would not make sense if He did not allow us the right to try, make mistakes, judge correctly and choose without restriction between obedience and disobedience.

In addition, we can discern a benevolent aspect in almost everything. The disease inherits immunity; suffering breeds resistance, strength and endurance; earthquakes relieve the pent-up pressures inside the earth preventing its crust from blowing-up and restoring mountains to their places as ‘belts’ and ‘weights’ that stabilize the crust; volcanoes spew up minerals and other hidden resources thus covering the land with rich soil.

The greatest inventions were made during the wars; penicillin, atomic energy, rockets, jet planes and many others came out of the crucible of war. Evil in the universe is like the shaded spaces in a painting; If you get too close to the painting, you will see these parts as flaws and faults in it; but if you draw back to a distance and take a general view of the painting as a whole, you will notice that the shadows are necessary and indispensable to fulfill an aesthetic function within the structure of that artwork.

Could we know about health if the disease did not occur? Health shines like a crown on our heads, which is only recognized when we are sick. Similarly, it is impossible to know beauty without ugliness or know what is normal without becoming familiar with the abnormal.

Many blame God for the evils that occur in the world, however, who is responsible for the evil that occurs are humans and their decisions.

Also, it is worth adding that God has perfect knowledge of what will be the destiny of each one of us after this life (whether we deserve salvation or not). This does not mean that we are puppets of the Divine Decree, but God, as creator and designer of our souls, knows us deeply and knows from the very beginning our choices, our victories and failures.

“And say: ‘The truth is from your Lord.’ Then whosoever wills, let him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve” (Noble Qur’an 18: 29)

Salvation is obtained by the combination of good deeds and Divine Grace. Man cannot earn salvation only with his good deeds, the Grace of God saves him too. The good deeds that we can do in this life are not enough to pay all the blessings that God gives us, neither are equal to the reward we would receive after this life. God offers a lot more than what He asks. This does not mean that what you do does not matter. It matters! Because the most important factor to be saved is faith. And faith consists of internal conviction, which is the belief in the oneness of God and also consists of good deeds. Good deeds are a reflection of the inner conviction, faith. Therefore faith and good deeds go together always.

So far I have said that (1) the human being is not evil by nature, (2) he is free to choose to act correctly or not, which makes him responsible and capable before God, this brings as a consequence that (3) his salvation depends of his good deeds and Divine Grace, it is obvious then that, in Islam, the concept of original sin has no place. It is worth mentioning that in the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, both were taken equally as responsible for their disobedience. Adam did not blame Eve, she was not cursed and no guilt was descended through them to humanity, since no one bears the sins of others. They later repented and were forgiven.

“And Adam and his wife ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred. Then his Lord chose him and turned to him in forgiveness and guided [him]. (Holy Qur’an 20: 121-122)

On the other hand, sexuality in Islam is not related to the evil, it is simply something natural and, obviously, without it we would not be able to reproduce. Sexual relations are not something detestable, dirty, or condemnable, as long as they take place with the right person, at the right place and at the right time. Intimacy must always take place within the framework of marriage. And because having intimacy is a need, consequently, marriage is highly recommended, in fact, marriage is one of the central parts of Islam. Intimacy between spouses is the maximum expression of love, therefore satisfies an emotional and physical need; It is not only used as a means of reproduction.

The human being has physical, emotional and spiritual needs, and in Islam, satisfying them is seen as something good. Islam does not repress the basic needs of people, it recognizes them and establishes the best way of how and when to satisfy them. Repressing the needs of the body is not synonymous of being spiritual or having more spirituality. On the contrary, repressing is seen as something highly negative. The human being consists of soul and body, and both must be taken care of. And a person whose needs are properly satisfied is a healthy and happy person.

In conclusion, to predicate that the human being is evil and sinful by nature and that his salvation depends not on his good deeds but on the Divine Grace only believing in Jesus, leads to think that whatever you do is useless to save you. Then you abandon yourself to the will of God, Who, the Church affirms, had to resort to a blood sacrifice because, apparently, the human being commits so many sins at the extent that He cannot simply forgive them. No matter how many times Christians repeat that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be sacrificed, boasting of God’s mercy in Christianity, it is rather scaring. They do not seem to realize that real mercy and love is God simply forgiving the son of Adam every time he repents, even if he brings a mountain of sins. God does not need someone to be tortured and crucified to forgive us. God is not pleased torturing someone to death to forgive the guilt of others.

On the other hand, making sexuality, or physical needs as to be opposed to spirituality, has brought many bad consequences to the Church. Sexuality became the maximum expression of double morals because, being sexual relations a natural necessity of the human being, to satisfy it requires to have a double life, double discourse and double social appearance. Cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by the priests are also famous.

It is not surprising that the Church has been and continues to be questioned and had to resort, in its History, to force and terror to make its followers obey, since its principles are difficult, if not impossible, to follow.

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References

[1] Walter Nigg, The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages (New York: Dorset Press, 1962), 138

[2] Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1988), 107

[3] Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, 141

[4] Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, 131-134.

[5] Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, 28

[6] Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, 107

[7] Augustine, The City of God, Book XIV, Ch. 15, 462

[8] Pagels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent, 129-130, 134