I have also taken great pains to show my position biblically....I have quoted many verses to reveal what basis I believe from.
Romans 8 is a great chapter that talks about how Christians are adopted into the family of God and have been made right before God because the spirit of Christ lives within them.
I asked the question about “losing” one’s redemption because I’m honestly trying to understand the concept of one not feeling secure in their salvation. I’m truly perplexed by your statement...if you don’t think that a believer needs to confess their sins on an ongoing basis or do good deeds to ensure their salvation then it seems you are supporting a similar position as mine.
Perhaps, the difference is you think that a true believer can fall away to the point where they no longer believe in Jesus and have abandoned the faith completely. If that is our only difference of opinion then I think we really are not that far apart. If a person were to ever get that far away in their faith, then I would leave it up to God to truly judge their heart.
Yes, I believe in unforgivable sin. Jesus, noted that if one blasphemes the Holy Spirit that is unforgivable. Again, I would argue that anyone who is capable of blaspheming the Holy Spirit does not have the Holy Spirit within them so they were lost and have now come to a point where they can’t be forgiven.
I agree, it's beautiful. However, it isn't a cookbook for HOW one becomes a member of God's Family. Don't forget that all of the Apostles were baptized. Christ commissioned them to baptize. The first thing that happened to St Paul after his conversion is his baptism. It is not some idle thing that we do.
I asked the question about “losing” one’s redemption because I’m honestly trying to understand the concept of one not feeling secure in their salvation. I’m truly perplexed by your statement...if you don’t think that a believer needs to confess their sins on an ongoing basis or do good deeds to ensure their salvation then it seems you are supporting a similar position as mine.
I would ask you to consider the Lord's Prayer. We pray that God will not lead us into temptation. What does that mean? God is not the author of temptation but rather our means of escape. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death" (James 1:13-15).
We do not say that telling a lie will condemn you to Hell. We also do not say that smoking a single joint makes you a drug dealer. However, they have a commonality in being gateways to more dangerous things. When we pray the Our Father, we are praying that we will not be left to follow our own appetites but to be shielded in temptation. As James says above... sin that festers and grows leads to death.
What kind of death? Remember that the Devil is referred to as a "murderer from the beginning." He didn't physically kill Adam and Eve. In fact, you could almost say that he was correct in telling them they would not die if they ate of the fruit... but it was a half-truth. They killed the Spirit of God within them. That is the Original Sin and that is the death they suffered... to be separated from God... and that is the death to which St James refers. I have often heard Hell described as eternal separation from God.
Therefore, we are to be diligent with our souls and our passions and confess our sins frequently to ensure we don't walk the path to embracing our sinful flesh to the peril of our eternal souls.
Can we reject our salvation? "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:12). Clearly, the opposite is also true for those who do not endure.
God bless you.