I’m thinking of putting a short post on my Facebook page on free will and resisting God’s grace. I have a few ‘friends’ on there that are more conservative so I want to run the following by you all for comment before I add this bit as part of it.
Appreciate your time.
Cheers S
Are these “friends” of yours traditional Calvinists or Arminians? Which ever they are, I’m sure you won’t convince them even with the most scriptural, logical argument. They will constantly cite certain passages from Scripture and turn a blind eye to others. It will take intense hermeneutics on your part to be able to form consistent scriptural arguments against them… that is, if they choose to respond. I encourage you to browse the arguments in the Affirmative and Negative discussions on Universalism:
See if you can get some tips from the arguments people have given in the Affirmative, and ideas from the Negative in regards to the affirmative responses.
Hi Sturmy
A deceptively tricky and complex little question, I reckon 
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My first thought was yes, it is illogical - almost by definition God’s will cannot be thwarted. But surely God permits all sorts of things which are ‘against his will’ - the suffering of the innocent being one obvious example? (It is, incidentally, one of the many illogical absurdities of Calvinism that it tries to have its theological cake and eat it on this one, claiming that everything that happens is according to God’s will, his eternal decree, and yet we are still responsible for our own sin. Absolute cobblers, obviously.)
Now one can get into an exegetical dispute over this: does God ‘will’ that all people be saved or merely ‘desire’ that to happen? (Both are valid translations of the relevant proof-texts.) In human terms the two things are not synonymous, because we desire lots of things we can’t make happen. But if, as the Bible tells us, God can achieve anything he desires, then in effect the two terms are indeed synonymous from God’s perspective.
Now of course, some people will take issue with the basis of your initial assertion that “clearly” God desires or wills all people to be saved. These people are, in my considered opinion - and to misappropriate the famous appraisal of Lord Byron - either mad, bad, or dangerous to know. How any honest person can read the Bible and deny the plain, foundational truth of the texts is totally beyond me.
So, all the above notwithstanding, the 64,000 dollar question is, will God get his way in the end?
And for me the answer is a resounding yes. I believe God is omni-benevolent and omnipotent, and he will save all his children in the end, without compromising their freedom to reject him.
How he will achieve this is another story …
All the best
Johnny
Thanks blackiebori I will be taking up your suggestion of searching the forum.
In response to your question:
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…Most of my Christian friends would be Arminian. You’re quite right about convincing arguments, I long ago realised one rarely gets anywhere with these. I tend to, these days, just put out the odd thought, comment or reasoning on one or two points; not in any attempt to ‘win’ arguments, more to get people to think, and follow the logical progression of some of their assumed positions and hopefully see for themselves where they fall short.
i’ve one or two friends too that dwell on the fringes of Christianity because they’ve found it all a bit hard, who still at heart believe, but somehow have found too many imponderables; I’ve found they are more receptive to a more positive gospel than they’ve been used to, and more willing to think outside the square, having already found issue with some of the ‘sacred cows’.
Cheers S
Johnny thanks for your thoughts here. I cross paths with more Arminians than Calvinists so usually looking more at that side of the equation.
You say:
This is the way my thoughts have been running. As you say it’s quite possible for humans to desire something that they may not be able to bring about but it doesn’t stop us wishing. It would seems to me though that God, knowing what can and cannot be achieved, the two terms do indeed become synonymous. If this is the case then it would seem to negate the argument that God wills to save All but can’t because He bows to the individuals free will - unless perhaps some form of Open Theism is introduced.
Cheers S
Apart from logical absurdities, such as “Can an all-powerful God make a rock so large that he can’t lift it?”[1] God cannot will anything that he cannot achieve. Hence if he wants to save everyone he will. Other things which are “Against God’s will” exist, but there are clear signs in scripture that these are allowed but only for a little time.
[1] The resolution of this paradox is left as an exercise for the reader. Hint: Use set theory.