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However, if you don't help others you will be punished eternally. This appears to say that failing to perform certain actions will result in loss of salvation or not having it in the first place.

I can't imagine that denying the poor and hungry you pass on the street is going to earn you many blessings. But also keep in mind, Jesus said, "take this and eat, this is my body". So there we are back at faith again. And denying a person's faith is probably egads more detrimental than denying them a sandwich.
That's my difficulty with this parable (also the parable of the 10 talents). Jesus doesn't say you probably won't earn blessings. He says that you will be punished eternally...there is no equivocation there. What is this "eternal punishment" that He promises if we don't help others?

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1. Were violations of the law consider to be sins?
yes

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2. Since the law stands for all time, is violation of the law considered sin now.
yes

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Do we have to ask Christ for forgiveness if we eat unclean animals or collect firewood on the Sabbath?

I do, for certain things I might do on the sabbath. we actually do keep the seventh day sabbath here.. But we don't eat any unclean animals. Basically, they are simply unhealthy to eat.

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I know it seems silly because I never see Christians worry about asking forgiveness when ordering a ham sandwich.

Well, to their detriment considering the nitrates and other reasons a person should not eat pork to begin with. Anyone who likes to eat animals that enjoy rolling around in and even eating their own feces should have their head examined in my opinion.
Don't eat tilapia, the feces of other fish is their food.

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But, eating ham, though it may cause your physical health to suffer, will not cause your salvation to suffer, as far as I know anyway. I guess though that if you eat a lot of ham and get sick and then ask God to heal you you might have a bit of a problem there.
Eating ham looks like a minor problem from our point of view. However, if it is a sin and I continue to do it without asking forgiveness, could that cause me to lose my salvation? I always understood that all sins were equal in God's eyes. So eating a ham sandwich is as bad as stealing or murdering or performing homosexual acts.
If unrepentantly continuing to be murderer or gossip after salvation can cause loss of salvation, shouldn't unrepentant wearing of a flax-and-wool garment also be punished the same?

Maybe I am lumping too many things in one pile.

A faith that connot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets. -- Arthur C. Clarke