"No man is "forced" to do anything he does not desire to do. Man ALWAYS chooses that which is most important to him at any given moment."

But every man is forced to choose according to his greatest desire, right?

Pure nonsense. I have a better idea of man: he's a rational being, capable of weighing options and making decisions. Is he prejudiced? You bet. If unsaved is he leaning away from God? Uh, yeah. That's pretty obvious to anyone who reads the Bible, or the daily paper.

The question is this: Is man totally unable to respond to the gospel when it is preached to him?

Now, you can text-trade all you like - there aren't any verses that answer this question in the affirmative.

In fact, you have to assume man can respond for any of the NT to make any sense whatsoever!

I've posted it elsewhere, but I'm not sure it's been addressed yet, but there is a *difference* between being able to do something and choosing to do it.

That distinction sweeps away most if not all of these verses you've cut and paste from blueletterbible.com.

Mike