Quote:
Originally Posted by Arizona
KSA
Do you feel inclined to add more to this in answer to Speaker's question re your thought on original sin, total depravity, etc?
As YPO stated, I felt like we were just getting to the good part !! 
I do not disagree with your statement above but I am not sure it is the whole story. It seems to me that mankind is more than merely "broken", and there remains a source to be identified. That source, to me, must indeed be something foreign to that which was created by God, and is labeled "good".
Thanx
Grace to you.
Arizona |
Original sin and total depravity are very big topics. Is there anything specific you'd like to discuss. In brief, the original sin is the sin that entered the world by Adam. This sin distorted human nature, and now by birth we inherit the inclination to sin. However, sin is not some other nature that was added to human nature. Had it been so, we would have ceased to be human. For example, when you add donkey's nature to a horse, the horse ceases to be a horse and becomes a mule. Augustin defined fall as a perversion of human will. Church fathers denied that sin has its own ontological existence. For instance, darkness is not a substance, it is an absence of light. Likewise, sin is not a substance, it's an absence of good. At the other forum I gave an example with a piano. Sin untuned the piano, but not added any additional substance to it.
As for total depravity, in theology it does not mean that man is not capable of doing good. It means that man cannot save himself. In Calvinism it means that man on his own is not able to will to come to God (no free will here). Only when Holy Spirit regenerates person, he/she can will to come to God. Arminius differed from Calvinism here. He taught that man has a free will, and therefore can choose God. Charles Finney held the same teaching - therefore, he thought that people can be persuaded to receive the Lord. He limited the work of the Holy Spirit to keeping our preaching in person's mind. Wesley believed in Calvinistic total depravity, but taught that each person is given a common grace that makes it possible for a person to make a choice whether to receive the Lord or reject Him.
My position is somewhere in the middle. I believe that a person cannot come to God without the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts him of sin, righteousness and judgment. But it does not nullify free will. It is one of paradoxes of Christian life.
Well, I do not know if I shared what you wanted to hear. But original sin and total depravity do not lead us to believe that sin is a kind of nature that was added to us. In fact, if sin is another nature, you cannot be hold responsible for your sins. Sin is an act of our own nature, therefore we are held accountable.