Loving God by Charles Colson

Chapter 4: Take Up and Read

Page 47

Saint Augustine before his acceptance to salvation:

"The philosophers have helped me understand the Bible," Augustine admitted. He explained that until recently he had believed that only what he could see, measure, rationally and systematically prove could be real. The idea of an invisible spiritual God seemed just talk. But studying Plato and his followers had convinced him that the real things were invisible, spiritual.

"This has helped me a great deal." Augustine was candid to fault. Yet he watched Ponticianus carefully, his posture tense. "But there is a major difference. To follow Plato, one merely thinks like Plato. To follow Christ is something much more. You must put your whole life into it and leave behind whatever hinders you from following Him. I don't know what it is exactly that enables a man to give himself to God--to commit himself to a life of sacrifice and faith. That's more than adopting a particular point of view isn't it?"

Ponticianus nodded, as did Alypius. Alypius, younger than Augustine, practically worshiped the scholar.

Wrapped in his own thoughts, Augustine went on speaking, almost as though working out a problem for himself. "Plato takes you up on a high mountain peak where you can see the land of peace. But you do not know how to get there. There must be a highway leading straight to that land, but you can't find it." He shook his head wearily. Augustine had few illusions about himself. He knew how easily his mind fell into habits and was changed by them. His women. His pride. I am utterly depraved, he thought, and the mind alone is no match for the seduction of evil pleasure.