What I Believe: Total Depravity

So this is the first post in the new series "What I Believe," where we will be going over some of the key doctrines of Calvinism and Creationism.  We're starting off by diving into Calvinism, and today's post is on Total Depravity: the letter "T" in the acronym "TULIP," and the first of the five points of Calvinism.

First of all, I would like to point out that I am not an expert.  I don't claim to have any special theological knowledge, and I certainly don't have any credentials.  I'm just a normal guy who's done some research and read some stuff.  Also, this is not an exhaustive study.  There's a ton more information surrounding the subject than what I give in this post.  All that to say: I can't do justice to the subject.  Look into this yourself, do some of your own research, and be a Berean.  Don't just take my word for it on the subject.

With that said, let's get on with the post.  So here's what we're going to do.  We're going to look into:

1. What Total Depravity means
2. Where the idea of Total Depravity comes from
3. How Total Depravity applies to us.
4. Common arguments against Total Depravity (refuted!)

Let's get started!