The Totality of Depravity

You’ve likely heard someone assert that, in spite of the wickedness we see on display in the world around us, people are basically good.

Politicians, psychologists, and, sadly, religious leaders have reinforced that notion, assuming that because we’re not all as bad as we could be, there must be some built-in element of goodness and self-control in every person. The notion serves as a reassuring blanket of humanism, covering all but the most violent, perverse outliers who don’t conform to accepted behavioral norms. In fact, the assumption of man’s inherent goodness helps distance polite society from those on the lunatic fringe, and makes the rest of us look better by comparison.

However, the truth, as we saw last time, is that we all inherit the same, in-born bent toward sin and corruption. But is there, as some teach, an untainted spark of the divine in each person, balancing out our sin nature and the effects of original sin?

Source: The Totality of Depravity