[MarkBsnr]

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?

[HarleyD]

How do I know what is to be kept and what is to be discarded?

That is why you have the scripture. Iraeneus said it wasn't hard to understand.

You - :::The Eastern Fathers, absolutely all of them, and Westerners before Augustine, and even after him, saw that there is no reprobation...

You - Umm, the Eastern Fathers did believed in earned reprobation

Perhaps you got lost in the conversation but I didn't make the claim that you are challenging, you did. I'm mystified why you would assert a claim and then post a rebuttal as if I made this statement.

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.

Almighty God has justified all men;:::All men, not just the lottery winners. Calvin would not have written that.

You're correct, Calvin would not have written all men are "lottery winners". Calvin would have written (and probably did somewhere) that God justifies all men. If you divorced yourself from your paradigm for one minute, then you would understand that "God justifies all men" can only mean God justifies those who are saved.

Augustine was in error and he recognized it.

That is why he recalled his books and wrote the Treatise of Predestination

Calvin quotes Augustinian error. He doesn’t quote Augustine overly much when he is in line with Church teachings, does he?

I'm not sure. I never counted. The Church in Augustine's day was far different than in Calvin's day and is still different than is today (although not as much). I doubt if there be much that Calvin would have to say about Augustine's view of the Church's teachings at that time.