It isn't as you think it from the passages. It is QUITE CLEAR to be as written and easily understood as written.
If we can do that then we aren't reprobates, are we? That is the whole of the understanding of Roman 1:28 KJV. "They didn't want to", therefore God "turned them over". Right??
It seems to me that if it were "quite clear" then we wouldn't disagree about the reading. If one tries to force one version of a reading and call it proof of doctrine, then that becomes an example of eisigesis. Meaning should flow naturally from the text, rather than being forced upon it.
You are asking me about my whole understanding of Romans 1:28. Seems to me that it is saying that when people are evil and do not care, God just gives them up to themselves.
Romans 1:28 KJV
(28) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
That does not mean that an individual (or individuals) from that group of reprobate mind might not come face to face with themselves and seek God while he can still be found. At that point they would not longer be in that group called "reprobate."
It wasn't a question of whether they "could" retain God in their knowledge, it was a question of whether they "liked" to retain God in their knowledge. Read the passage again.
Romans 1:28 KJV
(28)
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Whose mind did he give them over to? Their own mind. They still have their own mind, and God gives them over to themselves.
Why did he give them over? Because they "did not like" to retain God in their knowledge. Not because they couldn't, but because they chose not to.
That's actually what it says if one looks closely enough.