So you do admit to sin not unto death, a point I was trying to make earlier.
Yes, dear. But at my age and practice we can even overcome those. As I said. 1 John 3:4 is the type of sin Jesus takes away from us. 1 John 3:5. As you said, you've never murdered anyone. If you did that would be a sin unto death - lawlessness.
Sins not unto death are trespasses, and the only type of sin found in the Lord's Prayer, and also what Jesus is our Advocate for. Jesus is not our Advocate for murder and adultery. Understand?
Being a Christian is very easy, and only one thing we have to remember - to forgive.
So I don't sin because my conscience is filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit and I obey it - walking in the Spirit. But forgiveness is the Church's downfall. It is so important for Christians to forgive each other and remain reconciled and in unity. Forgiveness of each other is the silent key to 1 John 1:7.
I've also been yelled at, and I don't open my mouth in return. It may take a while, but I will eventually forgive them. But I can still get my feelings hurt, and hate when I am misunderstood. I do try to be clear and teach the meaning of Scripture. But there are so many false teachings out there that people are raised in, they can be hard to overcome and see the opposite of what they've been raised with.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:7-9
Ron, you are still thinking that Jesus leaves us with a carnal nature. No. He kills it, and gives us a new one that doesn't want to sin. Thus THEN if you say you are without sin, you are recognizing that Jesus DID what He claimed to and you are now a child of God. 1 John 3:1-3 But before, none of us are born sinless 1 John 1:10. Remember, this was TO Christians, but ABOUT Gnostics.
Christ's forgiveness covers a lifetime of our sins. It has to, we can't remove them otherwise. Why do you think Catholics go to confession? Because God told us to confess our sins to one another. I confess my sins and thank God for His forgiveness. I didn't just thank Him once.
This sounds like "Jesus forgives our "past, present and future sins." That is not scriptural and a DoD (OP). Only our past sins. A clean slate. 2 Peter 1:9. Then Jesus gives us His Spirit, the seed to rebirth, 1 John 5:18; 1 John 3:9.
These are the steps to perfection - the maturing of all the fruit of the Spirit, the last to mature being love.
2 Peter 1:5-7 (adding to 9 for your benefit)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Also, 1 John 1:9 is a sister verse to Luke's Acts 2:38. It is how to receive the necessary Holy Spirit of Christ - a necessity; otherwise we do not belong to Christ. Romans 8:9
Just remember when asking forgiveness (and I know they are just trespasses), but remember to FORGIVE, otherwise God won't forgive your own and won't answer that prayer if you hold on to unforgiveness. And I'm talking about between brethren. Unity in the Church. But just as 1 John 1:8 is not talking about trespasses, but about lawlessness, 1 John 1:9 is not an excuse to sin, repent, sin, repent, sin, repent. It is to BECOME a Christian. How many times must we BECOME a Christian and receive the Holy Spirit? Forgiveness is the key to the cleansing of trespasses, not 1 John 1:9.
A lie is still a lie. If you steal, covet, commit adultery, murder or worship yourself, your car, your job , that is idolatry. You can relabel sin as a trespass but it is still a sin.
A lie is bearing false witness and is lawlessness - a sin unto death. And so is coveting, committing adultery, murder, stealing, all the sins of Galatians 5:19-21. Those are NOT trespasses. Here is the difference from our schoolmaster, so lets go back to grade-school
Numbers 15:22-29 (trespasses that require our forgiving others, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all of them 1 John 1:7) Catholics venial sins.
Numbers 15:30-36 (sin unto death) major sins, like the Catholic mortal sins. Not being Catholic, I don't know what the penance would be for murder! Do you know? I'm curious now.
If you sin ir trespass once, you are not walking in the Spirit when you did it.
I'm not talking about committing a trespass. Trespasses can even be unknown to us. Scripture is mainly talking about FORGIVENESS, and then if you HAVE committed a trespass, our Advocate cleanses it. We don't have to know a trespass to have it cleansed. All we have to do is keep up with FORGIVENESS of our brethren's trespasses against us, even if they don't ask for it. And that is NOT talking about us having to forgive mortal sins against us. It is limited to venial sins against each other. God doesn't demand we forgive sins that He, Himself, doesn't forgive without repentance. The wages of sin is death.