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Here's an analogy. When you get mad at your wife (assuming your married) or you do something that dissappoints your wife, does that mean you don't love her???

Married with one little girl (haven't you seen the pictures of my little Hannah posted a few times on these threads? I could post more! ;o) and another due in February.

Good analogy. But (that word again ... sheesh) disappointing God is a lot different than turning our backs on God. A sin is a willful disobedience to God, is it not? Likewise, if a spouse is showing willful disobedience (such as an affair or something), is a denial of love.

We may disappoint God by (for example) not praying much, not going out of our way for the needy, etc., but we downright deny Him by committing sin against Him. We then run the risk of being told "I do not know you" when our judgment day comes.

Ok, al. Here goes. If you say I can lose my salvation through my actions, than that implies that I can gain it back by getting back in grace with God, which leads to works. Now if I can get back into grace with God, then that means Christ's death on the Cross was not sufficient enough to save me, since through my actions i can nullify His work, and I can "achieve" His work on the Cross by regaining grace with God. The passage in Hebrews is perfect because it says, that if I fall away (which is impossible), then I could never be saved again, because it would be impossible for Christ to die again on the Cross for my sins. So by saying you lose your salvation by falling out of grace and then regaining grace through your actions, you are in essence saying Christ's work was insufficient to save you in the first place, so why have Him die again, if that is going to be insufficient as well.

So, when we sin, we are losing communion with God. There is a relationship issue. We cannot come before God, because we have unconfessed sin in our lives. So we need to seek forgiveness to restore that relationship with God. Does that make sense?

JM

We then run the risk of being told "I do not know you" when our judgment day comes.

The verse you are referenceing here is being taken out of context. Jesus was not speaking about people who sin, but to people who are trying to work their way to heaven with good works, by being good people Matt. 7:21-23: This is a clear teaching that just being a good person, and doing good works will not get you to heaven. And if you are trying to work your way to heaven with good works instead of trusting that the work of Jesus is what gets us to heaven, you are working iniquities, and Jesus will say "I do not know you"

John 6;28-29 Then said they unto him what must we do to work the work of God, Jesus answered and said This is the work of God that ye believe on him who he has sent.

Becky