But we are talking about salvation here. As we know, the original Hebrew nation was not chosen for salvation because of their race. Many were not saved. Those to whom God gave faith did not suffer fatal crashes into telephone poles. It was the same with Peter. He sinned, but it was not fatal. This matches my analogy of letting a baby stick a block in his eye, but not letting him choke on it.
But I gave you just recently verses about perseverance and making the election sure. Hence the eternal life can be lost through our actions.
And I answered that the surety was to the person's knowledge, not to the surety in fact. It is common for a person to have eternal life, but not to know it for sure himself. Works are an evidence of true faith, and can help the believer to be sure himself.
Was the Eucharist meant to be taken once? This is at least a strange hypothesis. Most people eat every day, and Christ said "food indeed".
No, the Eucharist/Lord's Supper is meant to be repeated. That's why the passage has nothing to do with the Eucharist. You see it as a physical metaphor and I see it as a spiritual one. Yet, we know that Christ was only talking about a spiritual matter.
The parallel is with manna from heaven, and that was eaten every day till the journey lasted
Well, did eating the manna have anything to do with their spiritual salvation? No way! :) Neither does the Eucharist.
POTS may say the strangest things, but where does the scripture say it?
Here are some examples:
John 5:24 : "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
2 Tim 4:7-8 : 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Phil 1:6 : ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
John 10:28-29 : 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
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Peter lays out an elaborate programme of growing in virtues just so that you know what you objectively already have?
Yes, salvation is not earned through works.
It is hard to imagine that this admonition is all about subjectively forgetting an objectively assured salvation, especially with the numerous references to perseverance elsewhere.
Well, as I said, there are plenty of perfectly good Christians who know the Bible well and still have no assurance of their own salvations, even though it is objectively there. I could even name names. :)
Hallelujah, I KNOW I'm saved. My spirit and God's Spirit are in tune with that.
It also matches mine, of one getting a car repaired after a crash. It is true that God leads His Elect, but He does not do so against their free will. If they fail on their will, they, -- being elect -- will reconcile with God also on their free will, and through the ministry of His Church:
if we have known Christ according to the flesh; but now we know him so no longer. 17 If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new. 18 But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins; and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation. 20 For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us. For Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God.(2 Cor 5)
the passage has nothing to do with the Eucharist.
Yeah, right. "bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world" cannot possibly be about the Eucharist. What a thought.
did eating the manna have anything to do with their spiritual salvation?
The manna had everything to do with their physical arrival to the Promised Land, it prefugured our arrival to the Kingdom of Heaven, with which the Eucharist has everything to do.
some examples [of perseverance being guaranteed for the elect]
Yes, these verses say exactly that: that the work of Chist in the elect will be carried to completion. This is the Catholic teaching, and it is a trivial by-definition, axiomatic truth: the elect are these who will persevere to the end. God knows them; we don't. This does not negate the work of sanctification, outlined in 2 Peter 1, necessary to "make the election sure", that is to transform the initial call to Christ into eternal election.
salvation is not earned through works
I would agree that salvation is not earned through works outside of grace, but, as Peter writes, the heroic work of growth in virtues is necessary for it, once we know Christ.
have no assurance of their own salvations, even though it is objectively there
A fresh-eye reading of 2 Peter 1:2-11 does not allow for the interpretation that all this work on the virtues is only there to remember something his reader forgot. If that were the meaning, St. Peter would simply say, "don't forget to partake of that divine nature you've received when you got saved; it's in the kitchen cabinet on the right...".