Quote
The sinner is never forced to sin. But the sinner is not free to do either good or evil, because an evil heart within is ever inclining him toward sin. Let us illustrate what we have in mind. I hold in my hand a book. I release it; what happens! It falls. In which direction? Downwards, always downwards. Why? Because, answering the law of gravity, its own weight sinks it.

God's Sovereignty and the Human Will, A.W. Pink [/quote]

Pink's analogy is great. A book has no power to stop its fall (do good) or to accelerate its fall (do evil). When it encounters the edge of a desk (hears the gospel), it either falls on the desk (believes the gospel) or falls off the edge (rejects the gospel). Why one book stops its fall and another does not is not determined by any property of the books since all books fall at the same rate (original sin).