ARE MEN CREATED TOTALLY DEPRAVED? - BY STEVE FINNELL

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

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According to Calvinism all men are born guilty of the sin of Adam, and therefore are born totally depraved. (We note here the first assertion: Men are born depraved because of the sin of Adam. However, this assertion is different than his title question. there is a difference between being born and being created.)

Psalms 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. (NASB)

God did not create David totally depraved. God does not create people guilty of sin in the womb of their mother. (So, the first Scripture offered as proof that men are not born totally depraved does not speak of sin, it speaks of the wonder of creation. Interestingly, David himself was able to make that distinction: "Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” - Ps 51:5)

Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NASB)

God's image is not that of a totally depraved person that is guilty of sin. God is still creating men today in His image. (OK, so the second Scripture offered tells us we have been made in the image of God. That is, we have a spiritual nature, created by God, which reflects His nature. But something happened after that, when corruption entered the world after Adam and Eve sinned. 

All of creation fell, not just man himself: "Ge. 3:17b: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life." And Ro. 8:20-22: "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."

Even Paul recognized he was a slave to this fallen nature: 

Ro. 7:18 "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what good, but I cannot carry it out."

It was Christ who redeemed us, not just by taking our sin, but also dealing with the curse of the law: 

Ga. 3:13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'" [Deut. 21:23] 

Jesus' death that reversed the curse, and His resurrection that gives us life in His presence: 

Re. 22:3: "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him."

We see this over and over in Scripture, that death came through Adam, and life through Christ:

Ro. 7:5: "For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,  the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death."

Ro. 8:3: "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man..."

1 Co. 15:21-22: "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a ma n. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." 

Ga. 5:24: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."

Col. 2:13-15: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

We therefore are commanded to take off the sinful nature and live in the new life we've been given:

Col. 3:9-10: "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

Ro. 8:13-14 "For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

Ecclesiastes 7:29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices. (NASB)

God created men upright. Men sin as a matter of personal choice. (Notice that the passage refers to "man," generic, and how God's original creative act was man in an initial state of perfection.)

Genesis 6:8-9 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.(NASB) (Does the author believe it is possible to live a life of sinlessness, thereby avoiding the need to be saved?)

If God created Noah totally depraved and guilty of Adam's sin, then how could Noah find favor in God's eyes? God hates sin. God did not nor does He create sin. (Does the author believe that an initial state of sinlessness is required for Noah, or any of the men cited later? On what basis?)

2 Samuel 22:22-24 "For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not acted wickedly against my God.......24 "I was also blameless toward Him, And kept myself from iniquity.(NASB)

How is it possible David could make these claims if he was born totally depraved from his mothers womb? Did God make David a king because he was totally depraved and guilty of Adam's sin?

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. (NASB)

Job was not born guilty of Adam's sin nor was he born totally depraved.

Psalms 14:3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt....(ASB)

Men become corrupt, they are not born corrupt.

58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth. (NASB)

The wicked go astray. The wicked are not born astray. (Oops. "From the womb." Born wicked. Hmmm.)

Romans 1:19-21 because that which is know about God is evident within them; for God made evident to them.......21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God....but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (NASB)

Their foolish heart was darkened because they became futile in their speculations. Their hearts were not darkened because they were totally depraved in the womb. Men have free-will.

There is no Scripture that states men inherit sin. There is no Bible verse that says men are guilty of the sin of Adam. There is not one verse of Scripture that proclaims all men are born totally depraved. The doctrine of total depravity and original sin is a fabrication of men.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,(NASB)

All men have sinned, however, no man was born a sinner. No man is guilty of Adam's sin but Adam himself.

GOD DID NOT CREATE MEN TOTALLY DEPRAVED. GOD DOES NOT CREATE SIN.

(Well, yes. God's original intent was exactly that. Man was not created that way, but sin entered the world through Adam, and every person now suffers under that curse. 

Ro. 5:11-21: "Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned — for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 

"Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 

"Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 

"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."