Brother john, as you said:
everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Nevertheless, I believe, it's our obligation as muslims brothers and sisters to study our religion and discuss it among ourselves and "God willing" all of us will be rewarded for that.
Therefore, i want you to observe with me the meaning of this verse and why God teaches us to pray and ask for his forgivness and mercy.
On no soul doth Allah place a burden greater than it can bear (we are not perfect)
. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (we will be rewarded and we gonna sin as well because of our human nature) (Pray (direct order)
"Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before ,us; (nations and prophets before us)
our Lord! lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; help us against those who stand against Faith." (Quran 2:286)
Do you recall the hadith when prophet Mohammed "peace be upon him" said (in the meaning of the hadith)
that no one will enter to heaven by his deeds. They said, not even you, O Messenger of Allah? He replied, not even me unless Allah save me with his mercy upon me. (this is not the excact hadith but i tried to translate it from arabic because i couldn't find the translated one into english).
The Messenger of Allah ! see how humble he was with God. He didn't gurantee heaven for himself but he is willing to get the mercy of Allah to make him enter to heaven.
So, to the important question ...
Are we better than prophet Mohammed "peace be upon him" whom God forgave his sins in the past and in the future?