David,
I do not believe in Total Depravity or Total Inability! In light of the truth they are nothing but MYTH! The truth is this, Man is as God created him. The part that is missing is the living relationship between the created and the creator. Sin separates them because God is pure holiness, man is tainted by the knowledge of good and evil resulting from the actual partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
-ity,
a suffix used to form abstract nouns expressing state or condition
I do not see in scripture where man is in the state of depraved! The evidence in REAL LIFE says otherwise!
ability, n., pl. -ties.
1. power or capacity to do or act physically, mentally, legally, morally, financially, etc.
2. competence in an activity or occupation because of one's skill, training, or other qualification: the ability to sing well.
3. abilities, talents; special skills or aptitudes: Composing music is beyond his abilities.
The REALITY evidence speaks otherwise! Man retains all that God created in him, and God expects and commands that man use his God given abilities. Scriptures tell us that God says we are to choose (an ability), Scriptures tell us to be kind (an ability) one to another. Scriptures tell us to feed the poor (an ability), care for the homeless, visit those in prisons, give drink to the thirsty, give a cloak to the cloak-less, etc. I could go on with a long list of things that scriptures demand that we do. If we lacked the ability as the doctrine of Total inability says, we could never do what God commands of us and we could not be held accountable for that for which we have no ability. So, David, NO I do not believe in Total depravity or Total Inability.
Scriptures reveal that Original sin is disobedience of God. God's first command to man was to not eat of the trees in the midst of the garden. All of man's sins throughout history have their root in "disobedience of God". I am convinced beyond doubt that original sin, which is in all of us, is "Disobedience". There is no sin without disobedience!
The bounds that I spoke of are environmental. God, who is spirit, created the environment in which he placed hisin created man, Natural. Man has not been successful in exceeding the bounds that God established for man, even space flight and travel to places other than this planet are things man can do. What man cannot do is go to where God resides, man cannot leave the natural realm, enter the spiritual realm and return to the natural realm. God did left the spiritual realm entered the natural realm, then reenter the spirit realm! The natural realm is God's creation.
