Here’s the next part!

You missed two points that I made. First the Bible teaches that when we were saved our salvation and thus our eternal life was a complete and finished work of God. We are saved only by the grace of God and by the faith in Christ given to us by the working of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a free gift of God. We did nothing to be saved and we have nothing to boast about. Does it seem logical that you or I can fall from the hand of our loving Lord? I think not! We are secure in Him! Our eternal home in heaven is a sure as the finish work of Christ at Calvary. You and I need no further forgiveness or cleansing to enter our eternal home in heaven. There is no need for a place called Purgatory. All our sins, past, present and future were forgiven when we were saved. Our soul was washed forever clean in the sight of God by the blood of the Lamb making us fit for heaven.

Second, since you seen to equate daily repentance and forgiveness as a requirement for eternal life you miss the point of the consequences of allowing our life to be led by our fleshly lusts. When we live for self we stumble and fall and in our disobedience we sin. That sin hinders our witness for Christ to the world. It hinders our ability to serve our Lord with good works. It hinders our commutation with our Lord through prayer.

If you would be blessed of the Lord you will surrender self to the leading of the Holy Spirit and thus avoid the sin of disobedience. Remember that God hates sin. Should “you have a pet sin which you really enjoy, and so you resist repenting of it and confessing”, God may chasten you for that deliberate sin. An extreme example in Acts 5 is the death of Ananias and Sapphira who with hearts of greed lied and keep back part of the price of the land they sold. I believe these sinful people were saved and when God struck them dead they did not loose their eternal life. A component of the fear of God drives us to repentance and confession to the Lord of the daily sin we commit as we live in this sinful flesh in this present life.

My response:

Reasonable response. Allow me to clarify. I don’t believe daily repentance and forgiveness are a requirement for eternal life, but I do believe that they are a requirement for our growth, our sanctification – thus I believe our sanctification is a lifelong process completed at the time we are purified in Purgatory.

I believe that your example of Ananias and Sapphira is quite apt because their situation, much like that of King David’s loss of the son resulting from his adultery, fits in perfectly with the principle that it sin that is forgiven can still result in temporal punishment. Doesn’t hinder your salvation, but still results in suffering.

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At this point, I am trying to gracefully end the discussion – we have made our points and we’re going to start going in circles. I keep saying how I am not trying to convince him but to inform him…he’s still trying to change my mind.