Regarding Total Depravity:
by Henry Velez; Editor

Did the Fall of Adam cause men to spiritually die completely..
or does unregenerate Man still retain some sense of spiritual "ability" to first reach for God?

Reference Chart: Human Nature; The Fourfold States..

The ‘Will’ of Man: The ‘will’ is a man’s freedom to freely choose his own thoughts, words and actions.

The ‘Ability’ of Man: The ‘ability’ is a man’s realm of limitations.

References;

Mat 12:33-37 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit. (34) Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (35) The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. (36) And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Joh 5:37-40 And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. (38) And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not. (39) Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; (40) and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Comments:

In Matt. 12, Jesus makes it very clear that not only do men choose, by their own will, their every word.. but also that each man shall take responsibility and judgment for his words. It is clear that men do have a will and are held accountable for it.

In John 5, Jesus declares that men choose "not to come" even though it would bring them life. Interestingly, Jesus states beforehand that they do not come because they have not heard the Father’s voice. Nor do they see His form nor retain His Word within them. They only possess the written words, which alone do not convince them.

In Matt. 23, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because, though His love has always been great for them.. they choose to remain outside His protection and care.

References:

Joh 3:5-8 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. (8) The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Eph 2:4-5 but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, (5) even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved),

Col 2:13 And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?

Rom 7:18-19 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. (19) For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.

Rom 8:5-9 For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: (7) because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: (8) and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 9:14-16 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. (15) For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. (16) So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy.
Joh 3:19-20 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. (20) For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

Comments:

Because unregenerate Man is spiritually dead (via the fall of Adam, we are born spiritually dead).. though he possesses a free will, he does not possess the ability to do anything beyond his fallen nature. The fallen nature is always inclined towards sin, not towards God. In fact, the fleshly nature prefers to remain at enmity against God and will only mimic a ‘good work’ for it’s own reasons.. not for the glory of God.

Looking again at Matt. 12, it is not from the ‘will’, but rather from the ‘heart’ that a man produces the outward effects of his life. Each image, the abundance of the heart, the treasure.. in each Jesus shows that it is the abundance of the heart that produces a man’s choices. Thus a man is limited in his "free will" by the very nature of the heart he possesses.. either a fallen heart of wickedness or a regenerated heart borne of the Spirit of God. The unregenerate man will always default to his fallen nature in his dealings with God unless God Himself first prepare their heart to hear His voice. "That which is born of flesh is flesh".. it is flesh and nothing more. "That which is born of Spirit is spirit".. only then can the unregenerate Man hear the Master’s voice.

Just as a lion in a cage, when facing both a plate of meat and a plate of hay, will always freely choose to act according to its nature and choose the flesh.. so it is that an unregenerate man prefers to act according to the flesh because it is his nature. No one is acting against the lion’s free-will to choose to eat the hay.. it simply chooses meat over hay to satisfy its nature. Similarly, God does not act against the unregenerate Man’s fallen nature to force it into submission. Rather He gives life to the Man’s dead spirit, by way of His own Spirit, so that then the regenerate Man can have both the free-will desire and ability to abandon its enmity against God. Further, endowed with a living, spiritual heart.. the regenerate Man now has desires that are agreeable to the things of God. The "born again" Man now has a desire to appreciate God in His Majesty and lives to please Him.

Another example; A man can, by his own mental decision, convince himself that if he chooses to throw himself off a cliff that he will have the ability to fly. By his own choice he may freely walk to the cliff and throw himself into the thin air. However his free will does not give him the ability to do what is not in his ability or capacity to do. He will not fly, but will fall. Similarly, the unregenerate man.. though possessing a free will, does not possess the ability to actually be good or live out a life that is either glorifying to or in peace with God. The unregenerate man, apart from a work of God, will always reject the Gospel invitation to deal with his own sin. He does not reject God’s offer of mercy because he does not mentally understand. He rejects God because it is in his nature to "prefer the darkness" over the light.

Finally, to be spiritually dead means exactly that.. dead. If the spirit of Man were, according to the Arminianist belief, to be even 1% spiritually alive.. then it is not actually dead. Much like pregnancy, there is no such thing as being "a little bit or 99% dead". That which is dead has 0% life. Man is born 100% spiritually dead due to the fall of Adam. Thus Man is 100% unable (lacking ability) to respond correctly to God. Even as Lazarus could do nothing to rise from his grave until Jesus spoke out and commanded him to do so.. even so the unregenerate man cannot flinch even the smallest muscle towards his own spiritual resurrection. "I am the Life and the Resurrection", Jesus stated after raising Lazarus. The raising of the spiritually dead man has its entire beginning and origination with the Living God who chooses to have mercy.

Summary:

So then, we have looked at the difference between an unregenerate Man’s free "will" and his lack of spiritual "ability" to want anything other than distance from God due to his sinful nature.

It is easy to see how there would be confusion since it is usually assumed that free will implies the ability to do anything that is willfully decided upon. However many have yet to come to full terms with just how sinful and fallen Man actually is. In sinful Man’s flesh dwells no good thing. Sinful Man’s mind is at enmity, or hatred, against God. Even his heart is deceitfully wicked. When an unregenerate Man refuses the Gospel, he does so of his own will. In other words, his choice to reject God is an outward reflection of the heart within him. His fallen nature and dead heart result in his free-will decision to reject God. A man’s sins qualify him for judgment; there is no injustice with God for judging a sinner to Hell. Nor is there injustice in God choosing to "have mercy upon whom I will have mercy" and bringing to life the otherwise dead spirit within a man.

How then is the unregenerate Man saved? He is saved by God, who initiates spiritual birth. Not after the spiritually dead Man requests it.. no. While we were yet dead in our trespasses He gave us life. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit. Unless God causes a new birth in a Man.. that Man cannot even "see" the kingdom of God.