***It seems odd that such a decision could be made without any desire at all to draw near to God. ***
You are ABSOLUTELY right in this. Unregenerated man CANNOT draw near to God. He has no DESIRE to draw near to God. He is DEAD in his sins, a slave to sin, and has no ability to draw near to God. God puts the desire, the faith, in man to draw him to God. It is all the works of God, so that no man can boast. It is the FREE gift of grace, not a grace that man can earn.
As I have said before, this is how “free will” works:
Unregenerated man has the “free will” to choose to sin or not sin at any given time.
Regenerated man has the “free will” to sin, not sin, or please God.
We all make choices every day. However, the unregenerated man will NEVER choose to please God, because he can’t.
Agreed it can't be earned. But it seems to me it can be either accepted or rejected.
Unregenerated man has the “free will” to choose to sin or not sin at any given time.
OK, well that's is hardly what I would call "totally depraved".
Regenerated man has the “free will” to sin, not sin, or please God. We all make choices every day. However, the unregenerated man will NEVER choose to please God, because he can’t.
It seems to me the "unregenerated" man can start pleasing God by accepting the free gift of grace. As I understand it all of heaven rejoices on such occasions.