"The way I understand it is that just as we can sin as a born again believer, we were able to do good deeds as unbelievers. Good deeds, however, do not change our nature or state of holiness." I like this thought. As a child I often found it hard to understand how people who didn't go to church could know how to get married. If they didn't know the love of Jesus, how could they know what love even is? This was a juvenile understanding approach, but it speaks to your point. Even those who do not follow Jesus can participate in good things like trust, love, and commitment. The definitions of those words are often polluted without the pursuit of Biblical truth. An understanding of depravity is the first step to understanding that God is the savior to that depravity. Since God is the author of all good things, when people participate in good things, they reflect is image wether they know it or not. They say, "even a broken clock is right twice a day." Perhaps the pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of good things while understanding that the need of a savior lies at the beginning of them.
