[stripes1776]

Dionysius fails to recognized that man corrupted himself and is now considered, by God, to be evil.

You make Dionysius' point for him. If man corrupts himself, that corruption does not come from God. So you are confirming what Dionysius says: evil does not come from God. What we disagree about is Total Depravity. Christianity has never subscribed to this doctrine--it is an invention of Calvin.

Dionysius asserts that nothing in creation is evil by nature because all is created by God who is goodness and has no evil in him. When talking about the evil of daimones he says

Their evil, then, is a turning aside and a departure from and privation of their true estate, a weakness, failure and falling away from that power which would preserve them in their perfection...Hence the race of daimones is not evil in sofar as it is according to nature, but in so far as it is not. And the whole good given to them has not been changed, but they themselves have fallen away from the wholeness of good...But they are called evil through a declination and deprivation and lapse from that good which is proper to them, and they are evil in seeking that which is not.

So evil seeks that which is not--in other words, the state of non-being which is death.

and [man] is now considered, by God, to be evil.

Well, this is what we disagree about. God doesn't consider man to be evil, but under the influence of evil. That is a big difference.

[HarleyD]

You make Dionysius' point for him. If man corrupts himself, that corruption does not come from God.

No. Dionysius point is that even the demons cannot truly be evil because they come from God. There must still be some good in them. That is not correct. There nature like our nature is corrupted. You can't be 99.995 pure before God's eyes.

If you think I'm subscribing to man's "free will" their fall, I wouldn't be so rash. The only way any of this could have happened is if God ordained it to happen. Man corrupts himself but this is all part of God's plan. The problem I find with a lot of non-Calvinist folks is they don't understand that Calvinism does not make God the "author of evil". It simply states that God ordained Adam step, Adam fell and the rest is history.

What we disagree about is Total Depravity. Christianity has never subscribed to this doctrine--it is an invention of Calvin.

What we disagree about is original sin. This wasn't an invention of Calvin but is documented through Augustine writings. Dionysius felt man was only "sick" because he came from the Good. Just like he felt the demons might be sicker but still they are basically good. Augustine said we were dead to knowing anything about God. He based this on the plethera of scriptures that plainly tells us we are dead in our sins and we must be born again. No where in scripture does it state that man is "sick".

God doesn't consider man to be evil, but under the influence of evil.

I gave you about five verses that states otherwise. When I ran a query 98 verses popped up in the New Testament alone (albeit not all dealt specifically with this issue). Incredibly you ignore all these verses and make the statement that God doesn't consider man to be evil??? Here just one from the Old Testament:

Gen 38:7 But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life.

He considered at least one to be evil.

[kosta50]

You make Dionysius' point for him. If man corrupts himself, that corruption does not come from God. So you are confirming what Dionysius says: evil does not come from God. What we disagree about is Total Depravity. Christianity has never subscribed to this doctrine--it is an invention of Calvin

Precisely. As for +Augustine, even he repented on some of his writings. He never went as far as Calvin did.