The Bible Teaches Total Depravity

I too enjoy debating theology, and will enjoy this debate. First off, I don't deny what the verses that you quoted out of Genesis teach, and I believe that God created man perfect. I believe that what God created in the garden was in fact perfect in every way, and a perfect likness of God. I also believe that man fell into sin, but I understand this differently then my opponent does. My opponent believes that sin only left its mark on us, and that we have power to overcome our fallen nature if we want God. This, however, is not what I believe the bible teaches. I believe the Bible taches that man, when he was in the garden, was perfect. When he fell, He became completely and utterly seperated from God. My opponent asks the question "how could God accept us into heaven if we are completely lost in sin? " The answer to this is simple: God is a God of mercy. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though, and lets see what the Bible has to say on the matter. My opponent quotes Romans, saying that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross cleansed us from sin. I believe this to be completely true, because I know His sacrifice did cover sins, but the Bible says more then that. Yes, His sacrifice was a sacrifice of atonement, but we cannot in and of ourselves accept this atonement. Why not? The Bible says we are justified freely, doesn't it? Yes it does, but we are not ABLE to accept it freely. Gen 6:5--- "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. " Jer. 14:10--- "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil. " One might argue that this was the state of man before the flood, but it would be completely wrong to say that we today are better than them. It says here that man is ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY. This is harsh language, but true. Man, when completely seperated from God (which has been our state since the fall), can do NO GOOD WORK without selfish motivation. The Bible even says: Matt. 7:16-20--- "By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and A BAD TREE CANNOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. " How could we, in our fallen state, claim to be somewhat good? You say that man is not rotten to the core, but look what Jeremiah and the Psalmist have to say about the sate of man. Jer. 17:9--- "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? " Psalms 51:5--- "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. " If we were shapen in iniquity, and have been desperately wicked from conception, how can you claim that we, in our fallen state, are not rotten to the core? One might argue that these verses are all all taken from the Old Testament, and do not bear as much weight since the death and resurection of Christ. To stop this argument in its tracks, lets look at some verses in the New Testament. Rom. 3:10-12--- "There is none righteous, not even one; 11There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God; 12All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. " There is NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD. Nope, not even one. Man is DEAD in transgressions and sin. Eph. 2:1--- "And he has mad you alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. " Note that it says "He has MADE you alive". Jesus' death did not make salvation a do-it-yourself sort of thing. It couldn't be, becuase man, in his fallen state is DEAD in transgressions. Lets think for a second on what exactly "dead" means. When someone is dead, can they do anything for themselves? Can they ask for anything from these living? Can they even communicate with the living? The answer to all of the questions is a resounding NO. God compares man in his fallen to dead people, because they cannot do anything for themselves. Man is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY depraved. Even Paul admits it in Romans: Rom. 7:18--- "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. " Only through the power and goodness of God can we as fallen men do any good work. We, in our fallen state, cannot even turn to God for help (but this is an entirly different debate). Once regenerated, God begins the work of justification in our lives. It is this justification that makes us fit for heaven. You say that God could not accept us in our fallen state, and your right. Eph. 2:8-10--- "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. " It is by grace we have been saved. Nothing that we have done saves us, because we CAN DO NOTHING THAT WOULD SAVE US. We cannot even do anything good! There is no way we can come to God becasue we are totally depraved. John 6:44--- "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. " The Father has to draw us, because we have become blind and deaf to God in our sins. Matt. 13:13-14--- "This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: 'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. " "If man were rotten to the core, what is left over to bring redeemed to heaven after the "washing away"? Nothing. " EXACTLY! !! What an amaznig God! He sees man, totally depraved and in constant rebelion, and yet He finds in Himself the mercy and grace to love us SIMPLY BECAUSE HE CREATED US! What an amazing God! We will hav nothing to present to God when we get to heaven but ourselves, yet God will accept us as we are, because He loves us! Rom. 6:23--- "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. " But we are made in God's image, aren't we? Yes, we are, but that does not make us good. We were created in God's image, and we fell, causing us to be completely seperate from God. The fall did not take the image away, but we are still completely depraved. Remember, just because we were made in the image of Gos does not make us like him in goodness and purity. Thank you, and I await your reply! Renzzy