Total Depravity

[TwinMommy]

I have been studying for a few weeks the belief of predestination. I do not go to a church that holds Calvinist views. I started studying it out of nowhere and feel after everything I have read, studied and so on, that denying predestination is not an option. Now I turn to the other points of Calvinism. I think I could be misunderstanding what Total Depravity. Please correct me if I am that it is saying that we are born into sin as sin was brought into the world by Adam. Is it that simple?

 

[twin1954]

I have been studying for a few weeks the belief of predestination. I do not go to a church that holds Calvinist views. I started studying it out of nowhere and feel after everything I have read, studied and so on, that denying predestination is not an option. Now I turn to the other points of Calvinism. I think I could be misunderstanding what Total Depravity. Please correct me if I am that it is saying that we are born into sin as sin was brought into the world by Adam. Is it that simple?

It is that simple but there is more to it. We inherit Adam's nature by natural birth and the Scriptures are clear that we are born sinners. When David says in Psa. 51:5 that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother concieve him he isn't saying that his mother sinned in his conception but that he was concieved a sinner. Psa. 58:3 says that we come forth from the womb speaking lies. What that means is that an infant lies. It cries as though it were dying because it wants attention though there is nothing wrong with it. Another example would be the fact that you have to teach children to do right because they already know by birth how to do wrong. If you put a bunch of toys in a room with children and tell them that they can play all day with those toys but they cannot open the door the first thing they do when you leave them is open the door.

Total depravity means that sin affects every part of us. It doesn't mean that we all act out the evil in us to its extreme but that in us is no good thing. Rom. 7:18. Sin is a matter of the heart and our hearts are evil. Jer. 17:9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and we don't know it. The Lord tells us in Matt. 15:19 that every sin comes from the heart. Sin isn't something we do as much as it is what we are.

Now that being understood we look to the federal headship of Adam and Christ. Adam was the federal head and representative of all who come through him by natural birth. When he sinned we all sinned in him. Paul tells us in Rom. 5:14 that this is the reason that infants die. They are sinners in their father Adam. In the same way that we are all sinners in Adam by natural generation all who believe are saints by spiritual generation in Christ. Christ as the second Adam, that is representing all His seed by spiritual birth, brought in righteousness and we are righteous in Him.

Hope that isn't too confusing. Feel free to ask for more clarification.

 

[crimsonleaf]

I answered this in another thread about the limits of free will:

http://www.christianforums.com/t7712840-21/#post62500256

Hope this helps.

 

[TwinMommy]

Those are both tremendously helpful. Thank you both

 

[twin1954]

Those are both tremendously helpful. Thank you both

Welcome to the forums by the way. Your name signifies that you are the mother of twins. I am a twin and I have a set of twin grandchildren. Are your twins fraternal or identical? I have an identical twin. I tell people that when the Lord made me He thought I was so good looking that he made another just like me.

Of course when I told my father-in-law that he didn't even skip a beat before he said, : Nah! It just took two of you to make a man."

 

[crimsonleaf]

Those are both tremendously helpful. Thank you both

A pleasure - and welcome. I thought you two were related at first...

 

[TwinMommy]

Welcome to the forums by the way. Your name signifies that you are the mother of twins. I am a twin and I have a set of twin grandchildren. Are your twins fraternal or identical? I have an identical twin. I tell people that when the Lord made me He thought I was so good looking that he made another just like me.

Of course when I told my father-in-law that he didn't even skip a beat before he said, : Nah! It just took two of you to make a man."

I have 5 year old identical twin boys That is awesome!! That must be why I have two

Thank you for the welcome. Haven't really had time to explore everything here. Hopefully today I will have some time. So many places to post, hard to figure out where the best places are.

 

[TwinMommy]

A pleasure - and welcome. I thought you two were related at first...

Thank you for the welcome. I am loving all the great information that is shared here.