J
I always understood total depravity in the sense that man can never please God outside of faith in Jesus Christ.
So we can never do anything to obtain our own salvation, however we can believe (which is a choice) and trust in Jesus for our salvation.
I see it like a drowning man in an ocean. This man can do nothing to save himself. Unless someone helps him, he will die. Suddenly a life preserver is thrown into the water by a ship's captain (Jesus) and when the person sees the life preserver they grab hold of it (this is believing in Christ and placing faith in him). Thus this man is now saved from drowning. He can't boast that he saved himself by grabbing hold of the life preserver, he can only boast in the salvation that the ship captain freely gave him.
the Calvinist doctrine of Total depravity (as it was explained to me) says that man is so depraved that he can't even grab the life preserver (he is so depraved that it is impossible for him to believe unless elected first). This is what I don't exactly agree with, just because we find so many scriptures telling us to believe upon The Lord Jesus Christ or trust, or follow, etc which are all action verbs on our part.
So we can never do anything to obtain our own salvation, however we can believe (which is a choice) and trust in Jesus for our salvation.
I see it like a drowning man in an ocean. This man can do nothing to save himself. Unless someone helps him, he will die. Suddenly a life preserver is thrown into the water by a ship's captain (Jesus) and when the person sees the life preserver they grab hold of it (this is believing in Christ and placing faith in him). Thus this man is now saved from drowning. He can't boast that he saved himself by grabbing hold of the life preserver, he can only boast in the salvation that the ship captain freely gave him.
the Calvinist doctrine of Total depravity (as it was explained to me) says that man is so depraved that he can't even grab the life preserver (he is so depraved that it is impossible for him to believe unless elected first). This is what I don't exactly agree with, just because we find so many scriptures telling us to believe upon The Lord Jesus Christ or trust, or follow, etc which are all action verbs on our part.