O
1 cor 2:14 explains how the natural man, before the transformation, that you mentioned, is, that he cannot discern spiritual things such as a spiritual God or his spiritual laws. The transformation comes as the new birth when God quickens him from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive. This transformation is explained in Eph 2. The natural man, being spiritually dead will cannot believe and accept Jesus until he has been born again and God has put the Holy Spirit within him, so he is already saved eternally before he believes or accepts Jesus as his savior.
I disagree!!
Once again, billions of people do not believe in God and NEVER WILL. According to you, these people are already saved and promised Eternal Life and that is absolutely incorrect!! And these people cannot be saved until they first believe there is actually a God that not just exists, but a God in which they personally need.
I go back to the WORDS from YESHUA (God) to John about not knowing people and then casting them into the Lake of Fire. This scenario is all about the natural man. But in this setting NOT a single one goes to Eternal Salvation, but to Eternal Damnation.
I am fortunate, I come from a long line of ministers, evangelists, and Bible teachers in major Biblical based universities. So ,I always had an idea about this God. It was never a stretch for me to accept the idea of someone invisible, that I would never see on this side of Heaven, as being the God of my Fathers and eventually the God of myself. But to someone who comes from a long line of atheists, in reality, believing in something you cannot see, you cannot interact with in a face to face setting, or no real evidence of this God anywhere in the confides that reveals all that exists, SCIENCE would always make better common sense. But the majority of these will spend their Eternity in Damnation.
So what you are stating, with your scripture reference, makes no sense to this category of people at all. The ONLY WAY they would ever accept God is by proof, not by FAITH.
And still referring to your scripture reference, those natural men who blindly accept Yeshua before they believe He is real. Are showing an act of Faith, which is required, to not just accept that God is real, but that God has actually saved you. So, it is their FAITH that is actually saving them BEFORE the Promise of God comes into effect.
What you are then specifically claiming here with your scripture reference, is known as, predestination. Meaning, that before the Earth was spoken into existence, God knew how many people would ever exist. And from that point, He knew which would be with Him in Paradise and which would be in the Lake of Fire. Yes, God did already know this. And in that light, you are correct about being saved before knowing and accepting God being real. All that was left from there, was for a believer to become a believer.
But predestiny is a thing that paths like Wicca, paganism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and others all thrive upon. It's why I am careful when discussing it, because technically, you are then equaling our path in Yahweh to similar terms with witchcraft!!