The Total Depravity of Man?

I was listening to a Christian radio show and heard an interesting conversation. With all of the current hype about the second Narnia movie, the host received an email from a listener who had some really serious theological concerns about none other than C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, the author on whose books these movies are based. The host had decided in response to the letter to look into this for himself and read off a list of thoughts and opinions Mr. Lewis had either written down, or quotes from him by others.

The host is a funny guy, but fairly conservative to say the least. While I refer to myself when asked as a Calminian, or a Bapticostal, (laughing here) the host, an evangelical Christian too, is a bit of a Puritan. Nothing wrong with that, but a lot of the time he is rather tightly wound when it comes to others having theological differences with him. He is an amiable guy even so, and I have heard him put the best construction many a disagreement.

Be that as it may, when it came down to C. S. Lewis' opinion on the state of man's depravity, it started me thinking. I don't know where it came from but as to whether or not mankind's state of depravity was total or not, the quote was given: ("I disbelieve that doctrine") because: (1) If we were totally depraved we could not know ourselves to be depraved; (2) Experience shows that there is much goodness in human nature.

I've often wondered about that. I am just a simple guy, but it seems to me that Lewis was on to something there. I think of it this way; we are still walking around, seeing things and breathing. In the Book of Genesis, everyone on the planet (save eight persons) was totally depraved. 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Emphasis mine)

Once mankind had reached a state where even his every thought was nothing but evil, it seems that God wiped him out. I know that can easily be argued, but what I am looking at here, is man's depravity. Only eight people on the planet were found faithful to God. They were allowed to live. They lived because they had faith in God.

The talk show host's reasoning was that Mr. Lewis obviously did not understand how men get saved by God's grace. He said that if men were not totally depraved that Jesus' atoning work on the Cross was not completely necessary. I understand what he is saying, but I disagree. I agree that men are saved through grace alone, through faith alone, but it doesn't matter if a man is sort of depraved, or completely depraved. Either way, a man is still a sinner. His righteousness still looks like filthy rags because it comes from a corrupted source, and even if a man only commits a single sin in his entire lifetime, he still needs Jesus---100%. He still needs to have that sin atoned for by Him. He still needs to have it washed away by Jesus' shed blood. And he still needs to repent of that sin, turn to Jesus and place his trust and faith in Him for his eternity.

Whether a man is partially depraved or completely depraved doesn't seem to matter in the bigger picture. What matters is that without Jesus, one will not worship Him eternally. Some men were certainly "closer" to the kingdom of God than others. Didn't Jesus tell the scribe in Mark 12 who questioned Him, that he was "not far" from the kingdom of God? I realize that as eternity goes, a miss is as good as a gazillion miles, but still, he was close--not far. Wasn't there a difference between that scribe, and the men of whom Paul spoke, saying that God had turned them over to a "depraved mind"? I am not saying that "good people go to heaven". I am saying that all people are worthy of hell because of their sin, but that some persons are very evil-minded, depraved if you will, and some are not.

I really don't think that C. S. Lewis missed the concept of the evil nature of men's hearts. I think he understood it very well. I bet if I could talk to him today, that he would affirm that every person on the planet totally needs Jesus, whether they were "totally" depraved, or not.