T is for Total

One thing that all five of us have in common on this blog, besides being brothers in Christ, is that we probably all have an opinion about the TULIP. Some of us accept all five points and others do not. Therefore, I would like to open up conversation about the holy acronym and its impact on the Christian life. We'll start with "T." The following definitions come from the sinless and without fault, Theopedia .com.

"Total depravity (also called total inability or total corruption) is a biblical doctrine closely linked with the doctrine of original sin as formalized by Augustine and advocated in many Protestant confessions of faith and catechisms, especially in Calvinism. The doctrine understands the Bible to teach that, as a consequence of the the Fall of man, every person born into the world is morally corrupt, enslaved to sin and is, apart from the grace of God, utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to turn to Christ in faith for salvation."

The doctrine of total inability teaches that people are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, as he requires, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests and to reject the rule of God. Even religion and philanthropy are destructive to the extent that these originate from a human imagination, passions, and will."

The following are key passages from the ESV:

• Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
• Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV): "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil."
• John 6:44a: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
• Romans 3:10-11: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."
• Romans 8:7-9: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
• Ephesians 2:3b: "[We] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
• 1 Corinthians 2:14: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

At first glance I am not 100% convinced that all of these verses speak directly to the "T."

For instance, Genesis 6:5 is a descriptive passage which tells the reader what mankind was like at that time. Now, one can conclude that maybe this has not changed over time, but this passage seems to speak to a certain time in the history of mankind.

I think Jeremiah 13:23 does a good job of buttressing the argument of human depravity and its bent towards evil.

John 6:44 concludes that salvation comes first from the Lord's initiative.

Romans 3:10-11 seems to state that all are not righteous, but sinners. No one seeks God. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to today's philosophy that people do seek God and that is why many churches have "seeker services." If a church has a seeker service does that mean they reject the doctrine of Total Depravity?

The next passage in Romans seems to further the position stated earlier in the book.

The passage in Ephesians states that we are children who deserve God's wrath, presumably because we are in sin from birth.

The passage in 1 Corinthians seems to state that we cannot understand the things of God unless the Spirit sheds light on them.

It seems clear that the doctrine of Total Depravity is more then just, "we're born sinners." It seems to be made of several aspects of the doctrine of man. That man is:

*born corrupted by sin
*born enslaved by sin
*born unable to choose to follow God
*born to serve self rather then God

The opposite of these premises would state that man is:

*born sinless
*born enslaved by no one or no thing
*born able to choose God
*born able to serve God

Obviously the latter projects a much higher view of the doctrine of man then the former.

The questions I pose to you gentlemen are:

1) How does belief in the "T" effect one's spiritual life?

2) How does belief in the "T" effect a church's preaching and message?

3) How does belief in the opposite effect one's spiritual life?

4) How does belief in the opposite effect a church's preaching and message ?

On Academics & Imperialists

Gentlemen, lately I have been reading George M. Marsden's Fundamentalism and American Culture, which traces the background and events of the Fundamentalist/Modernist Controversy in the 1920's. Here is a quote that I'd like to leave for your perusal by J. Gresham Machen, founder of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the founding president of Westminster Theological Seminary:

What is to-day [sic] matter of academic speculation begins tomorrow to move armies and pull down empires. (Marsden, 137)

Marsden notes that Machen believed that ultimately the key arena for evangelism was not in the pews nor the streets, but in the universities. (137) Is Machen's diagnosis correct? What implications does this have for ministry in the early twenty-first century?

You know, gentlemen, for a reasonably well-educated group, we have not had much intelligent conversation to show for ourselves lately.