Are People Basically Good?

I've always wondered why people who believe in total depravity say things to their kids like "good job" when they catch a baseball. Shouldn't they say something like you caught the ball, but you still deserve to go to hell?

I've never really trusted people who believed we were totally depraved, for obvious reasons. How can their view of the world be trusted? They are totally depraved, after all.

A pastor friend told me recently, though, that the term total depravity doesn't mean you aren't a...