Yet all of this human drama is the unfolding of an eternal, immutable decree. Consider the book of Job. At a certain level, everything that happens can be explained by natural phenomena: there were robbers, lightning, mercenaries and a windstorm in chapter one; in chapter two, there was this terrible disease. However, at another level of explanation, everything that happens is the result of the cosmic war between God and Satan, the insight of which is found only in the prologue and epilogue of the book. Yet, at another level of explanation, ultimately, all is simply the unfolding of the divine plan: "They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring." (Job 42:11)

How is the human will not free? All Christians accept some version of the doctrine of original sin. We all believe that Adam's act of disobedience affected more than simply himself.

I believe that the Bible teaches that humankind was radically affected by the fall and that every facet of human nature has been impacted by sin. I affirm total depravity. By that I do not mean that I believe that a person is as bad as he can be, simply that no aspect of human existence is unaffected by the fall. All of us are contaminated by sin, not only morally, but volitionally, emotionally and intellectually as well. That is that to which the word "total" refers in "total depravity."

In the fall, humankind did not simply lose a gift of original righteousness or super-added grace (donum superadditum), rather the image of God (imago Dei) was radically marred. Christian and non-Christian alike are created in the image of God, but, like a mirror that has been broken, we distort that image as a result of the fall.

The fall has affected all of our drives: "This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes." (Ecclesiastes 7:29)

Consider the pattern of work and rest that was part of the original order at creation. Those good drives have become twisted into either sloth or sinful obsession with work. God created us with a desire and need for food, but we distort that into gluttony or anorexia. Or, take human sexuality as another example: God created the male different than the female, but we have distorted that difference into everything from adultery to homosexual acts. The original pattern of a male being perceptive to female openness, has been gnarled into the male's "having eyes full of adultery" and being polygamous.

As an interesting aside, having counseled many homosexuals, I would submit that rather than their being a blend of the two genders, they are at the extreme ends. Homosexuals are notoriously promiscuous; this is the fallen, male sexual drive in its most masculine form. Whereas, every lesbian to whom I have ever ministered was pathologically connected to her partner by a "you and me against the world" attitude; that is a neurotic exaggeration of the female approach to sex which is not genitally centered, but relationship centered.

Intellectually, our species is not neutral and objective, we "suppress the truth by" our "wickedness." (Romans 1:18) That is why we cannot "prove" the existence of God; people already have all the proof they need and repress the data.

Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (17:9)

The Apostle Paul's words in the last part of Romans five are most instructive: "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 (5:12) . . . the many died by the trespass of the one man, (5:15) . . . The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, (5:16) . . . by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, (5:17) . . . the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, (5:18) . . . through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners," (5:19)

This means that even my good deeds are colored by the presence of sin that is in me. Isaiah put it this way, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (64:6) The word translated in the NIV as "filthy rags" refers to cloth that has been contaminated by organic, human waste, something odious and repulsive, something that under the ceremonial code of the Old Testament was defiling. That does not mean that people cannot do morally correct deeds; it means that we never act without the contaminating influence of sin affecting what we do. The implications of Isaiah's words are obvious: not only my sins, but my "righteous acts" as well have no saving merit before God. I need the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, not only for my sins, but so that my good deeds might truly be good in the sight of God. So an aspect of total depravity is the concept of total inability, meaning that we are unable to please God by our unaided human efforts and that we are unable to come to God apart from his grace drawing us.

When it comes to our response to the gospel invitation, all Christians affirm that grace must precede our response. That is the Roman Catholic position, as well as that of the Orthodox, Lutherans, Arminians and Calvinists.

Saint Paul said, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Our Lord said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44)