What part does conscience play in the totally depraved? I have always been taught that conscience is a faculty of the spirit; a spirit which is nevertheless dead to God and unable to commune with Him.

It seems to me that God was doing a lot of preparatory work in me a long time before I heard the gospel and responded. I had a lot of difficulty with my conscience!! Whether the conscience work was done by God I do not know. I started asking God to make me a better person when I was only 9 or 10 without understanding the way of salvation. I do remember when I first heard the gospel, the fact I had to receive Christ as Lord was a real stumbling block. The Holy Spirit had to work in me to enable me to believe and receive His offer.

Once I became a Christian, I found that the Holy Spirit, over time, has shown me how totally worthless I am in my natural self. He is my only hope. Without him I have absolutely nothing. This is one of the reasons the reformed doctrine makes sense to me.

I know other Christians (unfamiliar with reformed doctrine), to whom the Holy Spirit has revealed the total depravity of their flesh but I know many others, particularly the younger ones, who have not experienced His work in this way.

Amongst my Christian friends, the biggest issue would be predestination - not only in terms of who will be saved but that God has pre-ordained all things - times and places etc.
To me, I get great comfort from this. But others I know, find this most disturbing.