How do I know what is to be kept and what is to be discarded? I believe in the Church of Jesus Christ. I believe that the Holy Spirit guides it, in spite of the fallible men that make it up. I believe that the Church is the pillar of truth. I have the faith that the Apostles have handed down over the millennia to me.
:::The Eastern Fathers, absolutely all of them, and Westerners before Augustine, and even after him, saw that there is no reprobation, not even negative, except in consideration of demerits.:::
Umm, the Eastern Fathers did believed in earned reprobation, as did most of the Western Fathers, with the exception of Augustine’s brief foray into heresy.
:::Almighty God has justified all men;:::
All men, not just the lottery winners. Calvin would not have written that.
:::If you also desire [to possess] this faith, you likewise shall receive first of all the knowledge of the Father. For God has loved mankind, on whose account He made the world, to whom He rendered subject all the things that are in it,to whom He gave reason and understanding, to whom alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, whom He formed after His own image, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him.:::
For God has loved mankind. Not just the lottery winners. All of it. He has made mankind, all of it, capable of salvation.
Augustine was in error and he recognized it. The reason that we have the Church is that it is far easier for a man alone to err than to have a learned body under the influence of the Holy Spirit err. Calvin quotes Augustinian error. He doesn’t quote Augustine overly much when he is in line with Church teachings, does he?
You - Umm, the Eastern Fathers did believed in earned reprobation
My position is that the Eastern fathers did not believe in election whereas the western fathers were mixed. The predominate view of the early western church was for election and eventually this was erased.