Prayer Pt III & Views of Salvation

This last bit on prayer was about to be a comment, but I think it warrants its own post.

I think its sad that the general view on prayer favors the lengthy to the short and concise. That is to say, if someone where to pray something extravagant - like the kind I've talked about below and have had comments on - most people wouldn't think much of it. However, if the blessing given over food were simply something short (and sincere) such as "Thanks, G." it would probably be looked at with disdain and the subject of gossip for a bit.


Now then, on to salvation. This past weekend I had to pull a couple of shifts - a 12 hour and a 6 hour, Saturday and Sunday respectively. On Sunday I was speaking with another chaplain - who hasn't come to the dark side just yet - about the various views of salvation. Among the mainstream variations, there is the view that:

1) God's grace is irresistible - that is, one cannot refuse to be "saved" because God's power cannot be thwarted and thus, can always change a sinner
2) Therefore man has no free will in regards to salvation, because it would be impossible to choose "hell".

A common objection to this - and one of mine as well - is that this must mean that if the classical sense of hell exists, and souls will be lost forever, God does not desire to save everyone contrary to 1 Timothy 2:4 [God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

But lets back up to #2 as well, which is where I'd like to focus. I maintain that it is indeed possible to have free will in regards to salvation and yet still be unable to resist God's work. Take this analogy:

God places you, or orchestrates it so that you walk under, a thousand ton rock. The rock is let go and just before it squashes you, you still have the free will to make any decision you want. However, it's a thousand ton rock, and as such, you won't ever be able to resist it turning you into a pancake.

Not the most earth shattering discussion I know, but it was a small bit that popped into my mind Sunday: Irresistible grace being compatible with free will.