Original sin has to do with the fallen nature of mankind. The idea is that we are not sinners because we sin, But that we sin because we are sinners, we are by nature sinners. So the doctrine of total depravity describes and defines a particular view of original sin that has its roots in the teaching of Augustin. Utter depravity we often use the term total as a synonym for or for completely and so the notion of total depravity conjures up the idea that every human being is as bad as that person could possibly be. it means that the fall is so serious that it affects the whole person. Our fallenness captures grips our human nature and affects our whole body so this is why mankind gets sick and dies. It affects our minds and thinking, The bible speaks about how the mind became darkened and weakened. The will of man is no longer in its pristine state of moral power that, the will according to the new testament, is now in bondage to man’s human nature, we are totally enslaved to the evil impulses and desires of our hearts and so the mind, the will, the spirit, the whole person has been totally infected by the power of sin. The human nature that we are born with has been so influenced by sin that it touches every part of our nature. The reformed view says that the fall extends, and penetrates to the core. the word that is used for core actually is a translation from the latin word core, which means heart, which is the idea that our sin is something that comes from our heart, and in the biblical term that means from the very core or very center of our existence. “Man by the fall into a state of sin has wholly” “has wholly lost all ability of will to do any spiritual good that will please God or accompanying his or her salvation, so man can not convert or save himself from this state of sin, man can not even prepare himself for salvation so that this doctrine affirms that man’s freedom in a certain area has been wholly or completely lost by the fall; not that man has completely lost his power of free choice or of making decisions, but his moral power to do certain things has been completely lost and that certain thing that is in view here is that man has lost the ability to convert or save himself or to will in his own steam any spiritual good. In the final part which will be part 3 I will get into the weak points of Arminian theology.
