Our free will was given to us for us, not so that God would accomplish His plan.
I would suggest reading the article in post #1150. This is an anthropocentric belief verse a theocentric belief.
If Augustine did not teach what I'm saying there are a great deal of people who are mistaken including Luther, Calvin, the Council of Orange, etc. Quite frankly I'm the least of your worries.
Your darn right Luther and Calvin misread and mispresented Augustine. And most intelligent scholars, including the Evangelical Protestant Alister McGrath, author of Iustitia Dei, agree that they misread and misrepresented him.
Regarding the Synod of Orange, it supports the claim that Augustine taught free will and it condemns your claim that he did not. Orange II said that anyone who interprets Augustine as denying free will is wrong. That includes you. You can't even read accurately the Synod of Orange if you cite it in defense of your position.
Over against these two, Luther and Calvin, who read Augustine as having denied free will, every single theologian after Orange II and until Thomas Bradwardine in the 1300s, read Augustine as having affirmed free will. Before Orange II, there were two rival schools of Augustinian interpreters, one denying, one affirming that he taught free will to the end of his life. The controversy began already while Augustine was alive and Augustine himself told one side they were wrong--your side. Orange II then further clarified that Augustine was to be understood as defending free will. Therefore all medieval theologians, including Aquinas, interpreted Augustine's plain and explicit words defending free will as meaning exactly what they said.
Along comes Bradwardine and after him Luther and Calvin and then Jansenius and others. They were repeatedly told that they were misrepresenting Augustine. If you are going to place your trust in their interpretation of Augustine you've bet on the wrong horse because they are the decided minority view and against their interpretation stand the explicit words of Augustine.
And you've had this pointed out to you in detail again and again and again and again. You are tedious, Harley.
The very knowledge that a loving God exists is hope, indeed an eternal Hope. That will not change. How we get to God is an infinite number of possibilities. And where we end up in the end is not pre-determined for otherwise His redemption would be meaningless.
If God is Hope than He is hope offered to ALL. That only some will end up there is not because God didn't offer His love to all.
Kosta: Our free will was given to us for us, not so that God would accomplish His plan
HD: This is an anthropocentric belief verse a theocentric belief.
Huh? Please don't trip on those big words! Belief that God gave us free will, because He chose to, is an anrhtopocentric belief???
Yet, in your school of logic, God not giving us free will is somehow a theocentric belief? So anything God denies us, or takes away from us is theocdentric, and anything that God may give us out of His kindness and love for humanity is anthropocentric? Masochism comes to mind. Hmmmm....I better stop.
And I believe you wanted to say versus rather than "verse."
Harley, the Council of Orange II did NOT say that man had no free will. Can you be more specific and point out something from Orange II that backs your claim up?
Regards