"Love God and do as you please" -- so says Saint Augustine in Homilies on Saint John's Epistle (A.D. 407). Many Christians would initially take offense to such a statement, but upon further examination, it actually embodies the whole of Christian doctrine.
Loving God is the core to the theology of every main religion. It is no different with Christianity. We are told numerous times in the Bible to love God "with all our heart, mind, and soul." It is not so much the first part of Augustine's statement as the second part that some Christians may take offense to.
Saint Augustine said to live as we please. This can indeed by itself be a huge fallacy in Christian doctrine. Combined with the "love God" half of the sentence, however, it becomes merely an addition to the first part. That secondary half of the phrase does not stand on its own, it depends upon the "love God" prerequisite that precedes it.
When combined, the entire sentence makes very much sense and is indeed a good description of how a Christian should live his or her life. Saint Augustine said to "Love God and do as you please." If you really, truly love God, then you will choose to do what is right in His eyes. If you choose to live a life of sin and choose to not attempt to overcome it, then do you really love God? Is He the most important thing to you, or is your sinful nature the most important thing to you? If you truly love God, then you can do as you please; but how you live is a result of your loving God and depends a great deal upon the amount of importance you place upon God in your life.
~Tribal~
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