Listen, metmom, I honestly don’t think we’re as far apart on this as it may seem. The truth is that, while I agree with you that we’re saved by Grace, through Faith and not by works, I also know that there are serious issues with the idea that we have no role at all in living a holy life.
Before we’re saved, I’d agree whole-heartedly that you cannot live a holy life no matter how hard we try because of our sin nature, but after we’re saved and indwelt with the Holy Spirit and sin’s hold on us is broken, we’re given the ability to actually live the life we’re supposed to live. I’m not saying that we’re saved by our works, just that our works and our desire to remain sinless and holy before God are going to be natural outgrowths of the Spirit’s work in our life.
It’s part of the fruits of the Spirit that we’re going to want to emulate Christ, but because of that desire, and because of our fallen nature and the sins that come with that, there are going to be sins that must be repented of and until they are, we’re going to suffer the consequences of those sins. How many times is it said that God will not tolerate sin within His sight? If we die with unrepented sins, we cannot enter into God’s presence. It’s just that simple.
Why would you believe that God would ignore sin that hasn’t been repented of, when that very sin was reprehensible enough to Him that He sent Christ to die for us to remove it from His sight in the first place?
Let me put it another way. If God loved us as much as He says He does and hated sin so much that He sent Christ to die to remove that sin from our lives, what do you think is going to happen if we show up in front of His throne, wearing the robes that Christ’s death purchased for us, but those robes are filthy with unrepented sins?
You and I would be livid if someone thought no more of our sacrifice than that, but this is Yahweh we’re talking about here. His Holy nature is so far beyond our nature that He cannot even look at sin, but now we’ve dared to enter His throneroom, wearing the robes that His Son purchased with His own life, and they’re covered in sins. Do you honestly think that we’re going to look at Him and say “But we believed! We thought that, after we believed, you just ignored those new sins.”
We’re given a way to repent for a reason. I cannot accept that those who claim Christ but then continue to sin and die with without repenting of those sins are going to be allowed inside Heaven’s gates, much less into the throneroom itself.
are you saying that we can lose our salvation. What rubbish. One you are saved, you are saved. If you backslide, that means you were never saved in the first place