That's absurd. Anyone can repent for any reason whatsoever, even an atheist. Repentance merely means change of mind (metanoia in Greek). Anyone can regret something and resolve never to do it again. No faith needed there.
Od focurse, in the case of king david faith was a the factor for his metanoia, but I am willing to bet there are people of faith who don't repent of everything, even though they have faith.
Do you belief that a person changing their mind about sin or repenting, doesn;t imply we are turning our mind back towards God and obedience to His will, or are you asserting we are forgiven simply because we waffle to and fro regarding our particular actions or thoughts?
I suspect that when we turn back to Him, in our thinking, we have implicitly placed Him as the object of our thinking, ie. a nonmeritorious thought of ourselves, then in confession of our sin, stating it with our volition focusing on Him instead of anything else, He then is sure and just to foregive us that sin.
That's absurd. Anyone can repent for any reason whatsoever, even an atheist. Repentance merely means change of mind (metanoia in Greek). Anyone can regret something and resolve never to do it again. No faith needed there.
Given the flow of the conversation, I took it for granted that "repentance" referred to "repentance to God for sins against God". In that sense, it requires faith.
Of course, in the case of king David faith was the factor for his metanoia, but I am willing to bet there are people of faith who don't repent of everything, even though they have faith.
That must be the case the vast majority of the time. I would imagine that if one's last act is NOT one of repentance that there are some skeletons that have not been dealt with, in all Christian faiths. However, I am not familiar with what level of confessional particularity your priests would require to constitute "coverage". :)