CentralFLJames:
You completely ducked the majority of the things I mentioned that prove you wrong. Listen MD, you can run but you can’t hide. There is no such thing as automatic forgivness of sin nor is there any such thing as Once Saved Always Saved. No one is saved until they are judged to be saved - PERIOD.
I don’t think I have to disprove assertions. It’s you who needs to prove what you assert.
By “
no such things as automatic forgiveness,” I assume you mean that God does not
completely and
perfectly forgiven men of ALL sins at the time of belief in Christ. Yet that IS the Apostolic message of the cross of Christ as recorded in Scripture. Please consider Paul’s teaching to the church with this warning:Col. 2:8-14 "
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world,
rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and
in Him you have been made complete (
this would require the forgiveness of ALL sins), and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him,
having forgiven us ALL our transgressions,
having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and
He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross."This wasn’t some sort of misunderstood teaching on his part. He begins his letter with:Col 1:14 "…in whom (Christ) we
have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins."He states that his ministry to the Gentiles, commissioned to him by Christ Himself, was:Acts 26:18 "…to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God (
i.e., through faith in Christ),
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified
by faith in Me.’"If the Law of Moses taught us anything it was that apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins:Heb 9:22 "And according to the Law, {one may} almost {say,} all things are cleansed with blood, and
without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.The Apostolic proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, through faith in Christ, is based on Christ shedding His blood to inaugurate the new covenantMatt 26:28 "…for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many
for forgiveness of sins."Under the Old Covenant priests offered sacrifice year after year. Those sacrifices served only as a reminder of sins, they had no power to take them away (read Hebrews chapter 10). But Christ inaugurated the NEW covenant with the shedding of His blood on the cross. And based on this, once for all, blood sacrifice of the New Covenant, God forgives and remembers no more the sins of all who believe in Christ:Heb 10:9-18 "…then He said, “Behold I have come to do your will.”
He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will
we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all (
time).
Every priest (O.T., there are no priests (Gr.
hiereus) under the N.C.) stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins; but He, having offered
one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. For by
one offering He has
perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them." {He then says,} “
and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now
where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer {any} offering for sin.The Scriptural teaching regarding the believer’s sins is that upon belief in Christ he is completely forgiven and his sins are remembered no more. Something the sacrifices under the O.C. could not do.
You completely and utterly reject the plain simple scriptural truth that we are told explicitly “Confess your sins to each other”.
But you do not address the fact that James states nothing there about confessing (acknowledging) sin for the purpose of Divine absolution.
The Apostle John writes:1 John 2:12 "I am writing to you, little children, because
your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake."They’re forgiven for His sake because of what He endured on the cross that they might be forgiven upon faith in Him.
Priests forgive sin “through Him” and every Catholic believes in Christ and His word when He said “EVERYTHING in heaven has been given to me - those sins YOU forgive are FORGIVEN those sins YOU hold bound ARE held bound.”
Yet that passage states nothing about forgiving sins based on their
confessing sins to them. That notion is read into the passage. Nor is there any historical record of any such activity occurring. Instead they
proclaimed the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ.
That would include you as well; what kept you from confession to those against whom you transgressed at that time?
