I see total depravity as different than you...
[...]
I am totally depraved... because there was nothing good in me, there was no choice I was capable of making. The only thing worthy in me now is Christ... not me.
If you see total depravity differently than I do, then I'm probably in the wrong on what it means. How would you define total depravity? Is the key that, in your words, "there was no choice I was capable of making"?
Also, since you said, "I am totally depraved" (present tense) and not, "I
was totally depraved" (past tense), does total depravity still exist after regeneration?
I once knew an atheist who went to church faithfully every Sunday in order to network for business connections..
He saw a benefit in pretending to be Christian, but only in so much as it benefited him financially.
I have a feeling that these examples will help us better understand each other. As an atheist who clearly was going to church in pretense, having ulterior motives, he seems to be to be a wayside hearer to me. What type of soil would you consider this individual?
Other people see a benefit socially to following God's moral law, and espousing the same without truly believing it themselves.
This example seemed hard for me to categorize at first. These people apparently agree with a lot of teachings found in the Bible but don't understand their true purpose.
Matthew 13:19 says, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom,
and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the
wayside" (NKJV, emphasis mine). Therefore, I'd consider these people to be wayside hearers as well.
Others are raised as Christians and think they are, because they simply don't know the meaning... nothing ever really sank in. They call themselves Christian, but still live like hell, and show up to church on the rare holiday - certain they are saved for that magic sentence they recited decades ago.
They are still totally depraved..
Those who don't know the meaning of Christianity but think they are Christians seem to be the thorny-ground hearers. (Though if "nothing ever really sank in," that may suggest a wayside hearer.) They think they can serve God and mammon (c.f.
Luke 16:13). Eventually, they're "choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (
Luke 8:14). Do you agree, or do you think they better fit a different soil?
In my view, none of these appear to be the stony-ground hearers (
Luke 8:13). They not only "receive the word with joy" but "believe" (Gr.
pisteuo, the verb form of
pistis, "faith"). We're saved by faith (c.f. Eph. 2:8-10), so it appears they were saved. This is what the devil prevented for the wayside hearers, "lest they should
believe and be saved" (v. 12, emphasis mine). The stony-ground hearers' problem doesn't seem to be insincerity but that they "
have no root, who believe
for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (v. 13, emphasis mine).
Doesn't it seem that they did have faith, meaning they became Christians, but didn't have the root to endure it?
And yes, the Potter comment is a reference to both scripture and God..
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the Potter imagery in Scripture is actually that God will prepare you for honor or dishonor based on the decisions you make. Notice
2 Timothy 2:20-21 for a concise example (emphasis mine):
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Does it sound like being an honorable vessel is the
result of leaving sin, rather than being something God prepares unconditionally? Another passage is
Jeremiah 18:1-10; my thoughts on it can be found in the OP.