Why can't you just accept what is written in the Scriptures? You say that "God did not like the idea of sinful (read: "disobedient") people having eternal life (Gen 3:22)."
Are you not aware that all those living today who have been given eternal life are sinners and are not always obedient?
You even admit that all those to whom the Lord Jesus gives eternal life will never perish. And John tells Christians that they have already received eternal life. So if you would just use your brain for a change you would realize that Christians enjoy eternal security.
Eh? You quoted me quoting scripture, and then ask why I don't accept what is written there? Do you think christians will all be sinners for all eternity? No wonder you have a problem answering your OP question.
I don't deny that christians ("little christs") enjoy eternal security. I've been using the word "believers", because I think it is less co-opted than "christians". But that's really the point, isn't it. We don't get to label ourselves as "christians" just be cause we want to (thus the controversy with JWs, for example., who like to use the word, but don't believe in Jesus Christ's physical death, burial, and resurrection). You've caveated "believers" as "true believers". You should do the same with "Christians". I don't have any problem with "true Christians" being affirmed in their eternal security. But the definition of "true Christian" depends on how they finish the race--if they still believe that Jesus is their salvation. If they don't, if they reject Christ, then they aren't "true Christians".
We can imagine that God looks at something else to determine "trueness" of belief, but God tells
us what to look for in our own lives.
You keep acting like I'm coming up with something on my own. I'm giving you scripture--one of the best being 1 John, which you've conveniently ignored. John was writing to Christians, and in his warnings, he even used the words "we" and "us" to include himself in the assessment of true faith. And he gave indicators to determine if they (including himself) were really following God/loving God/knowing God. If there is no possibility that a "true" believer can lose his salvation, then a "true" believer is defined not by a single event of walking down the aisle or praying a prayer, but by the fact that he didn't fall away.
So your pleas to see "eternal life" as a thing that can be handed around willy-nilly is untenable in scripture. True eternal life is a promise that relies on the belief in the death and resurrection of the True Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And there's a reason (don't you love that word!!) that He is called "Lord".
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. [1Jo 2:3 KJV]
And this is the promise that he hath promised us, [even] eternal life. [1Jo 2:25 KJV]
