We need to change our minds away from dead works towards Christ for salvation once.
Now if you want to change your mind about other things that is fine, I am only speaking about the point of salvation, when we are born from above.
As Paul states ..
After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
Repentance for salvation is once.
Because I believe that salvation can be lost by me, I can not believe in one repentance for a lifetime of sin with a guarantee of eternal life 1. because it makes me feel like I am telling God, I have accepted, now I am saved, you will take me, you have no more choice, I can do anything in the flesh I want 2. I feel the holy Spirit working strong in my life, but my flesh is an awesome opponent. I can not let my flesh think that it has any sort of free ride not even for a second. It takes me a while to rejoice in the "evils" that befall me and to find the "gift" I was actually given. My flesh would love it, My Spirit, won't allow it. 3. I am not even an inch closer than I was a week or two ago. There has been nothing put forth that has even given me pause. As a matter of fact, I am even more solid than I was before these conversations all started. I am fairly certain I have heard and read every verse that both sides has to offer and have been used in defense (many of them many times).
This has made me search out the reason for this divide and so far these are the reasons I have started examining.
1. As a many membered body, all coming from different beginnings, with different backgrounds, different influences, different gifts from God, different levels of capture, I believe that God knows and does things I can not comprehend and that every person is on a "God willed" journey of their own, and if God didn't want so many possible conclusions, He would have given us better brains or written in a more basic language for one sure interpretation.
2. As more and more "educated" people get involved and technology makes every detail available to everyone and even with that the same issues as 2000 yrs ago haven't changed. If it was indeed written for the foolish and we are dissecting it, we are back to the garden and just like Satan did, finding the letter of it, not keeping the Spirit of it. From the garden to the birth of our Lord, the Spirit of the Law was completely removed and it was back to "the letter of the law again".
Jesus absolutely said "IT ISN'T THE LETTER OF THE LAW, you stupids, it is the SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT THE SPIRIT"
I AM going to make a huge gesture and get rid of the "stone writings that man insists on using against each other and I am going to write it inside, on the mind so you will know it and have the confidence to know when standing upon this solid foundation and on the heart so HOPEFULLY some of you will understand it is ALL ABOUT " to FEEL it and to FEEL THE LOVE OF IT and to FEEL the place of LOVE that it came from and the life of LOVE it is leading to".
I am responsible for BECOMING a better, more like Christ person. I must put this flesh in obedience with the help of the Spirit and if I can do that, God will know HE can count on me when I am in my celestial body to reign with Christ for the Lords Day.
Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that He feared;
Hebrews 5:8 Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which he suffered;
Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Hebrews 5:10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
If God, the Son, while in the flesh learned obedience, and became the author unto them that obey, I thank God daily for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit that I depend on to keep me on that path, who without, I would not stand a chance. For me the Holy Spirit is "this little souls, this little creations of God, with free will person to make choices along the way's Guide, but the work is all mine as I progress toward perfection hopefully, mostly on my own, knowing full good and well that even doing my absolute best, compared to the righteousness I will be meeting, it is all just filthy rags. But you know what? I am going to have a lot of filthy rags. As many as I can. Worst thing gonna happen is they all get tossed in the trash as I walk on past. But what if, and I can hope, those filthy rags get washed? What if???
He wills me as He wills. I don't feel the "will God has for you" I only feel the "will He has for me". I have learned a lot, a lot, a lot these past couple weeks. Nothing anyone was trying to teach me though. But none the less, I rejoice and Praise the Lord.
or and most likely, the most simple answer,
3. Satan. The spiritual war is a lot more intense than I ever gave it credit for, but not anymore.