Just How Depraved Are You? (#456)

Just How Depraved Are You? (#456)

From Considering Catholicism by Greg Smith

April 30, 2026 · 34 min · Episode 466

About this episode

Greg Smith reflects on his journey from Calvinism to Catholicism, contrasting their views on human nature and grace.

In this candid monologue, Greg retraces his own path from campus-ministry apologetics at a liberal university into the tight, intellectually satisfying world of Calvinism—training in a Calvinist seminary, embracing TULIP, and finding real comfort in the doctrine of Total Depravity. He walks through what made that system feel so compelling at the time: its logical clarity, its honest reckoning with human sin, and its God-centered awe. But as he circled back to the medieval Catholic thinkers he’d first glimpsed years earlier, and then encountered the big, colorful, sacramental fullness of Catholicism, that earlier framework began to feel incomplete. Greg contrasts the Calvinist view of a totally corrupted human nature with the Catholic teaching—rooted in Scripture and two millennia of tradition—that original sin wounds us profoundly but does not destroy the image of God within us. The result is a far more hopeful vision of grace that heals, elevates, and invites real cooperation in the lifelong work of sanctification. SUPPORT THIS SHOW Considering Catholicism is 100% listener-supported. If this podcast has helped you on your journey, please become a patron today! For as little as…

People in this episode

Host: Greg Smith

Topics covered

  • Calvinism
  • Catholicism
  • Total Depravity
  • original sin
  • grace
  • sanctification

Keywords

  • Calvinism
  • Catholicism
  • Total Depravity
  • original sin
  • grace
  • sanctification
  • human nature

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: TULIP, Total Depravity, Catholicism

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