I read your first line and posted all are responsible for their sin. I did not intend to give an out for any one. I was saying that we are bent on sin and have no choice but to sin unless we accept the cross.
How does "accepting the cross" suddenly give you a choice not to sin? That doesn't even make sense.
Do you really believe that by giving mental assent to something it really gives you the ability to choose? Do you really believe that? Come on, please use your mind.
We all have a choice because God has given us all the ability to choose. That is why God holds us accountable for our actions. If there is no choice then there is no accountability is there?
Can a young child with cancer be considered guilty for having cancer? Of course not. They are a victim of a disease.
Sin is not a disease but a MORAL ISSUE. Your doctrine redefines sin into being a disease and thus you perceive yourself as a victim. It is in your own words, you claimed that your sinning was not your choice.
You are actually blaming God for your sin because you are asserting that He made you that way. That is a horrible thing to do. Scroll back through this thread and you can see Elin contending for the fact that babies are born guilty and condemned by God. Do you believe that too? Let's not throw reason out the window and defile our consciences in trying to uphold such a blatantly evil assertion.
The cross is the MEANS we can find reconciliation with God by approaching God via the blood in repentance and faith. It has NOTHING to do with "trusting in it" while you still sin.
Look at this...
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
That right there is something YOU DO. That washing is conditional on this...
1Jn 1:7 But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
There is no cleansing of sin unless one is walking in the light. One cannot be walking in the light unless they FORSAKE THEIR REBELLION first.
That is why Jesus preached REPENTANCE.
Look at this...
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Sins are blotted out when the time of refreshing occurs.
Pro 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but
whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Mercy is granted on the condition one confesses (comes clean) about their sins and forsakes those sins.
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath
he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
God quickens us having forgiven our sins.
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Dying with Christ results in the cessation of sin. The service of sin ceases THEN we are raised up with Him that we walk in newness of life.
How can anyone who is honest and reads the Bible conclude that the sin does not have to stop, that the rebellion does not have to cease once and for all? It is all right there in the Bible.
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Why don't people believe these verses?
Jas 1:21 Wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
The engrafted word is what saves the soul and in order to receive it James compels people to lay apart ALL their wickedness.
Yet if you preach that today people call you "self righteous" and "trying to save yourself" etc. Forsaking evil is not saving yourself because we cannot forgive ourselves. We are only forgiven through the cross which is the MEANS by which we approach God seeking reconciliation.
The cross is not a transaction like many believe. The cross is a MEANS by which we approach God and are enjoined into Covenant via the blood and given a fresh start whereby we go and sin no more. That is why there is a warning in Hebrews that there is no remaining sacrifice for ongoing willful sin after being cleansed, because the cleansing is meant to clean us once and for all, it is not something to be used over and over again like animals blood in the Old Testament.