According to strong Calvinism, one cannot receive salvation by his or her own free act of faith, since one is so totally depraved (in an intensive sense), being dead in sins, that he or she does not even have the ability to accept the gift of salvation. God must regenerate sinners by irresistible grace before they can believe. By contrast, the moderate Calvinist, who believes in total depravity in an extensive sense, holds that the image of God is not erased in