[HarleyD]

So men, or rather at least some of them were created for damnation?

1) God created man;

2) God knew man would fall;

3) God created hell;

You tell me.

HD, does this not then require a belief that God is the author of evil?

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him....But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting {Him} to grief; If He would render Himself {as} a guilt offering, He will see {His} offspring, He will prolong {His} days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. Isa 53:3-10

"For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." Acts 4:27-28

The Lord God the Father decides what will take place. Not you and certainly not me. He decided to smite His only Son for His glory. He used man to do that predestined from the dawn of time. Although it was God's decision and God's plan God did not carry out the deed.

Would you say that God's plan for killing His only Son makes God the author of evil?

[Kolokotronis]

" Would you say that God's plan for killing His only Son makes God the author of evil?"

Christ's death on the Cross lead to the triumph of the Resurrection and the destruction of death. No, despite the way you framed the question, "God's plan for killing His only Son" does not make God evil.

[Cronos]

Would you say that God's plan for killing His only Son makes God the author of evil?

God and His Son are one -- God sacrificed Himself, He chose to do so.

[jo kus]

But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting {Him} to grief;

Are you saying that God allows evil to happen because He is sadistic? That He enjoys seeing people crushed? Isaiah HIMSELF disagrees with that

"And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them." (Is 19:22)

And Ezekiel:

"But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered. In the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. (Ez 18:21-24)

Forget about "once-saved always-saved"...

God is "pleased" to discipline us because He knows a greater good will come from it. God disciplines those whom He loves - which includes all men. Unfortunately, all men do not take well to discipline...It is a monstrous idea you have of God, if I am reading you correctly. God allows evil to occur for a greater good to come from it. God does not desire that a man reject Him.

Regards