Why do some people believe and some do not?

Well Cam? I said yes in the short answer, and then I explained why the Bible says yes in the long answer. I did not characterize your beliefs at all, but merely personalized the answer for you--as I insert my own name in my mind in the same places yours was. Sorry if I confused you.

(However, at my stage of memory I welcome updates on what was said day before yesterday :^)

I don't know that she has lied.

Blogs and internet was not in widespread use when I read Augustine, and I read the The City of God and other excerpts of his work when I took philosophy as a first year student.
What "influenced his thinking" it is not just what he quotes that matters.
If you are fan that is your choice but,
You need to grow up, but for now ignore will do.

What "influenced his thinking" it is not just what he quotes that matters.

Lastly, by your definition of evil, wouldn't everyone qualify as evil at some point? As some are certainly redeemed, and I've shown you the process, can't evil be redeemed?

Not much of a debate there man.

it's better to talk to people then to presume you know their entire heart and mind as soon as they quote one scripture.

Rom. 3:10-19 “As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
Rom. 8:7, 8 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
I Cor. 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
II Cor. 4:3, 4 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
Eph. 4:17-19 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Eph. 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
Eph. 2:1-2 "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

Jesus sure thinks so.

But why their hearts become calloused remains a mystery of volition.

Constant rejection. God is constantly and continuously prompting unbelievers and believers to follow His plan.

With constant rejection, God will "leave well enough alone" eventually.

Blackout of the soul....If I remember right Col Theime coined this phrase? If not Pastor Bob did or picked it up from someone else.

Ephesians 4:17-18 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility [vacuum]of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

If he was in fact evil he would not have responded the way he did on the Damascus road nor would have he desired the good when the Law informed him of what constituted goodness.

There's an interesting group of posters here.

The idea here is NOT that they were totally evil. Evidenced by the fact that they were perfectly able and capable of giving good gifts to their children. A good thing by any measure.

thanks for saying this sister. it was the standard for most (all?) reformers. not just calvin. but the man who God used to start it all.
martin luther actually wrote a book called 'bondage of the will' where he argues against erasmus on the subject.

quote from wikipedia:

"
On the Bondage of the Will (Latin: De Servo Arbitrio, literally, "On Un-free Will", or "Concerning Bound Choice", or "The Enslaved Will") by Martin Luther argued that people can achieve salvation or redemption only through God, and could not choose between good and evil through their own willpower. It was published in December 1525. It was his reply to Desiderius Erasmus' De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio or On Free Will, which had appeared in September 1524 as Erasmus' first public attack on some of Luther's ideas.

The debate between Erasmus and Luther is one of the earliest of the Reformation over the issue of free will and predestination, between synergism and monergism, as well as on scriptural authority and human assertion."

for those new to the faith or this subject, synergism means two parties working together while monergism means that regeneration is ONE party working and that is God.

if you actually read st.augustine he goes against a lot of roman catholic doctrines. people may read an old confession of faith and read the word catholic and get spooked by it. but realize catholic means universal and back then 'catholic' was a positive thing. they werent always this bad. thats why the reformation happened, the papists have gone so far in their idolatry that there was no other way but a massive reformation. im not gonna say for sure but i think i remember reading somewhere that luther did not want to leave the catholic church, but he was kind of forced into it, he wanted to reform it from within.

at this point we obviously know, there is no reforming this mess.

that's the way we like it

hmmm why does God call them evil if He didn't mean evil?
maybe His command of language is lacking, ha!

and the second verse i put?
if no one is good but God alone, we are all... what? kinda good?