Total Depravity - 5 Short Questions

Five Short Questions For Micah and Mark

1. What was there in Adam before the fall that made it possible for him to sin?

2. Satan used only the power of his word to penetrate the heart of totally righteous Adam, leading him to sin. But according to your doctrine God’s word alone is not powerful enough to penetrate the heart of the sinner leading him to righteousness. Thus, Satan’s word is more powerful than the word of God. If not, why not?

3. If man is totally depraved by God’s decree, how can righteous judgment hold him accountable for sin?

4. Please explain Ezekiel chapter 18 with special attention given verse 20.

5. Since Jesus was born of woman, making Him a son of Adam (Luke 3:38 ) and since he was “made like His brethren in all things” (Hebrews 2:17) how did He escape total hereditary depravity (THD)?


Five Short Questions For Kieran and Steve

1) On what Scriptural basis do you limit the effects of the Fall to the physical realm, when Romans 5:12-21 clearly states that Adam's fall brought "condemnation for all men", and that "many were made sinners", and that Jesus as the second Adam brings "justification of life" and the gift of "righteousness", both spiritual?

2) One of the main points of our first post was the inability of man to obey God apart from the indwelling Spirit, based on Romans 8:7-8's clear declaration of that fact. Given Romans 8:9 explanation that the difference between 'natural man' and 'spiritual man' is the indwelling Spirit of God, how is it that you believe unbelievers are able to do the opposite?

3) Romans 8:9 also states that those who do not have the Spirit dwelling in them "do not belong to Christ". Yet you claim in your rebuttal that "people effected by the "natural man" syndrome" include people from the "immature Christian to the Atheist". How is this possible given the verses declaration to the fact that all who belong to Christ have the Spirit indwelling and those who do not have the Spirit indwelling do not belong to Christ?

4) If you are not guilty for Adam's sin, why do you "suffer the consequence of his sin"? Since Scripture state that "the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation"? Who is the one who judges and the one who condemns?

5) Can you give one lexical source that gives the definition of "justification of life" in Romans, as the "ability to be the raised from the dead" (i.e." righteous to the degree that the curse of death has been removed from them"...and "This "justification of life" counteracts Adam's sin; so all men can be raised from the dead")?