Augustine's thought was shaped by his long, painful spiritual journey. It also was influenced by four major controversies The first of these was with the Manichees He fought them over the authority of the Scriptures, the concept
of free will, and the origin of evil. The Manichees taught that humans had no free will and everything was predetermined Augustine held that people had a free will Decisions were not made by something outside of people They came about by the exercise of free will though they may be influenced by outside forces. Evil was the result of the exercise of the will The good God of the Christians did not create evil He created the will The origin of evil is the bad decisions made by both humans and angels as they used their will.