Is total depravity (radical corruption) a biblical teaching?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Is the doctrine of total depravity (radical corruption) biblical?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 68.2%
  • No

    Votes: 7 31.8%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    22

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I had no idea what kind of an arrogant, hateful person Calvin was until I read his very own words in The Institutes for the first time.
Would you like to quote the specific hateful sections, and what they said?

My understanding is that the Institutes reflect a pastoral concern for believers.

Did you really read the Institutes? It's a long book.
 

TooFastTurtle

Active member
Apr 10, 2019
460
247
43
I had no idea what kind of an arrogant, hateful person Calvin was until I read his very own words in The Institutes for the first time.
I have not ever read it. How long would it take for me to get a glimpse into the mind of the man?
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I have not ever read it. How long would it take for me to get a glimpse into the mind of the man?
Go to some website where rabid, anti-Reformed people are willing to feed your mind with cherry picked portions of the book :)
 

TooFastTurtle

Active member
Apr 10, 2019
460
247
43
Go to some website where rabid, anti-Reformed people are willing to feed your mind with cherry picked portions of the book :)
I believe that is an unjust method of figuring out what Calvin thought. Going to the opponents of someone, you can find evil things said of everyone, even of the Lord Jesus Christ, all you have to do is crack open sections of the Talmud and you got it.
 

Whispered

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2019
4,551
2,230
113
www.christiancourier.com
I prefer the word Reformed/Reformed theology over Calvinist/Calvinism.

If you insist on using Calvinist to refer to me, though, I can think of worse terms than free-willer.

Additionally, my claims regarding Wesley are accurate. Check them out. Her name was Sophy Hopkey. He was actually dismissed from his position due to his bad attitude.

The account is fuzzy, as the Methodists will tell you. My position is that he felt jilted and decided to take it out on her by denying her communion.

http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/need-love-advice-dont-ask-john-wesley

Sophy Hopkey
On his missionary journey to Georgia, Wesley met and fell in love with Sophy Hopkey, whom the anonymous Methodist preacher describes as “the attractive niece of the chief magistrate of Savannah.”

According to Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism by Henry D. Rack, “Wesley was in love and would have liked to marry Sophy, but was torn by conflicts between love, duty, notions of the value of celibacy, and more…which led him to blow alternately hot and cold until the bewildered girl married elsewhere.” From there, the story gets a little fuzzy.

In his role as Hopkey’s pastor, it appears Wesley advised her not to marry for the sake of her spiritual growth. When she did, Wesley felt it his duty to rebuke her and refused to serve her communion. Her new husband pressed charges, and Wesley’s reputation was tarnished. Before things escalated too far, Wesley boarded a boat back home to England.

So, there you have it from the mouths of the Methodists. Of course, I can't tell you exactly what was going through John's mind, but I believe it was because he was jilted and wanted to exact revenge.
John Wesley was a high-church Anglican and particularly as pertained to the Sacraments. He also believed in constant communion.
Wesley denied Ms. Sophy Hopkey, who had married someone else by this time, communion. And not because she had jilted him, but because she had not confessed prior to seeking communion.
Something Wesley believed in strongly as necessary before receiving the Sacrament.

Ms. Hopkey left the church in tears. The colonists took out a warrant on Wesley for shaming the woman publicly and denying her communion due to his hard and fast rule about confession. Wesley fled back to England when his trial to answer the warrant was repeatedly postponed, and aboard ship he faces a huge storm that threatens everyone's safety.
It was in the midst of that terror at see that Wesley found his faith reaffirmed, as he wrote in his journal.
‘I went to Georgia to save the Indians, but who is going to save me?’”

During a prayer meeting in England where Wesley had decided,with reservations, to attend Aldersgate Street, where there was a reading of Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Wesley felt moved by the spirit of God and his faith was renewed as he also penned in his journal.
‘I felt my heart strangely warmed and I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation. And assurance was given to me that my sins were forgiven ... even mine."
You can read more here. Journal of John Wesley @ CCEL.Org
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I believe that is an unjust method of figuring out what Calvin thought. Going to the opponents of someone, you can find evil things said of everyone, even of the Lord Jesus Christ, all you have to do is crack open sections of the Talmud and you got it.
Good comparison :)
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
26,074
13,777
113
Go to some website where rabid, anti-Reformed people are willing to feed your mind with cherry picked portions of the book
What's worse -- cherry picking or distorting Gospel truth?

While you have been shown the GROSS FALLACIES of Reformed Theology over and over again, you have refused to give heed to Scriptures given in proper context. So what does that make you?

Instead of making Bible Christianity the truth, you have had Reformed Theology the truth.
 

Ghoti2

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2019
469
283
63
You can find the full translation of all of his works online in several places. The sites are pure Reformed, BTW.
 
Apr 12, 2019
243
105
43
I had no idea what kind of an arrogant, hateful person Calvin was until I read his very own words in The Institutes for the first time.
An interesting comment, i have never READ JOHN CALVIN and i hate the wicked thought that Calvinism flows from "John Calvin", Martin Luther wrote about predestination before John Calvin did, that type of argument is foolish.

The bible tells us this:
Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
 

Ghoti2

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2019
469
283
63
I believe that is an unjust method of figuring out what Calvin thought. Going to the opponents of someone, you can find evil things said of everyone, even of the Lord Jesus Christ, all you have to do is crack open sections of the Talmud and you got it.
As I said, when you read straight from his own books, you are reading no one's words but Calvin's.
 

TooFastTurtle

Active member
Apr 10, 2019
460
247
43
Brethren, I would advice against being so quick to judge a man who we do not personally know. God is the judge, what will you say at the judgment seat of Christ if Calvin was a saved man? What will your explanation to the Lord be, as to why you put His servants' name through the mud and made such comments about him?

This advice goes for everyone, including me
 

Ghoti2

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2019
469
283
63
An interesting comment, i have never READ JOHN CALVIN and i hate the wicked thought that Calvinism flows from "John Calvin", Martin Luther wrote about predestination before John Calvin did, that type of argument is foolish.

The bible tells us this:
Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
I don't think I ever mentioned Predestination, TULIP, or Calvinism at all. I said I read his premier work The Institutes of The Christian Religion..... (at the moment, I am in the midst of rereading it — [this will be four times, total]), and I find him to be much less of a man than I had once thought he was.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
You can find the full translation of all of his works online in several places. The sites are pure Reformed, BTW.
In other words, you didn't can't provide quotes because you are simply repeating what you've heard :)
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I don't think I ever mentioned Predestination, TULIP, or Calvinism at all. I said I read his premier work The Institutes of The Christian Religion..... (at the moment, I am in the midst of rereading it — [this will be four times, total]), and I find him to be much less of a man than I had once thought he was.
Quotes please.
 
Apr 12, 2019
243
105
43
I don't think I ever mentioned Predestination, TULIP, or Calvinism at all. I said I read his premier work The Institutes of The Christian Religion..... (at the moment, I am in the midst of rereading it — [this will be four times, total]), and I find him to be much less of a man than I had once thought he was.
Oh ok, fair enough, i haven't read the man, you seem to be having a bad opinion about him, can i ask why that is? that you believe John Calvin to be a hateful person? an arrogant man? are you sure about that? i mean that's a pretty strong judgment. Since youve read it neally four times, please share why?
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
Oh ok, fair enough, i haven't read the man, you seem to be having a bad opinion about him, can i ask why that is? that you believe John Calvin to be a hateful person? and arrogant man? are you sure about that? i mean that's a pretty strong judgment. Since youve read it neally four times, please share why?
If he's read Institutes four times, that's four times more than me.

Somehow I doubt it though.

:)
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
Oh ok, fair enough, i haven't read the man, you seem to be having a bad opinion about him, can i ask why that is? that you believe John Calvin to be a hateful person? an arrogant man? are you sure about that? i mean that's a pretty strong judgment. Since youve read it neally four times, please share why?
By the way, I will admit that Calvin had the capacity for coming across as arrogant.

I don't think that was prevalent in the Institutes, but in some of his early works, such as a paper he did refuting soul sleep, he called those individuals teaching it "ignorant persons".

However that was tame speech compared to Luther and others at that time.

The free-willers on this forum are a lot more rude than John Calvin. And, if you are passive with certain people, they will simply bulldoze you.

Jesus wasn't passive with Pharisees either.
 

Ghoti2

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2019
469
283
63
Well, it is some 1,600+ pages of VERY difficult reading, so I couldn't just through out a few quotes. But, it is online (FREE) for anyone to download. Get it and read it.
For starters, he referred to the opinions and thoughts of others who disagreed with him as "absurd" 286 times. And that was one of the milder descriptions he used of other men. He even refers to what he calls "the reprobates" as "brutes" created to expressly deny God and to die because of what they were born to be.
 
Apr 12, 2019
243
105
43
By the way, I will admit that Calvin had the capacity for coming across as arrogant.

I don't think that was prevalent in the Institutes, but in some of his early works, such as a paper he did refuting soul sleep, he called those individuals teaching it "ignorant persons".

However that was tame speech compared to Luther and others at that time.

The free-willers on this forum are a lot more rude than John Calvin. And, if you are passive with certain people, they will simply bulldoze you.

Jesus wasn't passive with Pharisees either.
Yeah well, thats how it is brother, Christianity is a truth war, it will never end, strong teaching and preaching is needed at times, some people would think that Paul was an arrogant man like when he called the Galatians foolish and i see that as nothing but Love and Righteousness.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
Well, it is some 1,600+ pages of VERY difficult reading, so I couldn't just through out a few quotes. But, it is online (FREE) for anyone to download. Get it and read it.
For starters, he referred to the opinions and thoughts of others who disagreed with him as "absurd" 286 times. And that was one of the milder descriptions he used of other men. He even refers to what he calls "the reprobates" as "brutes" created to expressly deny God and to die because of what they were born to be.
Why does he refer to them as brutes made for destruction?

Read Romans 9 and Jude and you will see why.

That's what the Bible says.

I like to use the word "absurd", too, in reference to decisional regeneration.

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/vessels-destruction/