I grew up going to church but I’m not religious now and I never really understood this part.
Please, no answers along the lines of “aha, that’s why Christianity is a sham” or “religions aren’t logical”. I don’t want to debate whether it’s right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.
Not an expert on the matter (even when I was raised Catholic), but I don’t think you can give a single view that covers all branches of Christianity on things like guilt, repentance and whether you are defined by who you are or what you do as I think there are relevant differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism on those matters. So maybe worth determining first what branch of Christianity we are talking about :-D