How Total is Total Depravity?

The first tenet of Calvinism is that of Total Depravity. It originates with Augustine's view of Original Sin, which asserts that human beings are corrupted from birth and incapable on their own to love God. Even Arminians and Wesleyans subscribe to the general concept.

I think that very few would say that Total Depravity means that each person is so completely evil that they are incapable of good acts. It's just that even good works are still tainted with personal satisfaction.

The important point of Total Depravity is that no amount of good works can save a person. We have all sinned and only the saving work of Jesus Christ can save. On that, all Christians can agree.

The problem I have with Total Depravity is that it is sometimes taken too far. Consider the opening lines from the poem "As the Ruin Falls" by C.S. Lewis:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

This fits the extreme version of Total Depravity. "I never had a selfless thought." Never? Not once did you do something for another person simply because it would benefit them? Did you never pray for someone's well being when it would not benefit you at all?

Perhaps Lewis is engaging in a bit of hyperbole. Many Bible verses along the same line are probably using hyperbole as well to make the overall point: We are sinful in our nature and not good enough to be saved.

Do we really need to go this far with it? Is it not enough to acknowledge that we will never be good enough to be saved? Why must we tear ourselves down further and further?

I will have more to say in the next post, but I am curious about your thoughts.