Question on Expectation

After reading a question arises for me:

Is the urge/motivation/conviction to head towards the "sin-free" end of the spectrum from God or from man? I know you guys have felt that expectation that you must do what is right and anything less is not acceptable. In thinking about it a little deeper my question becomes three-fold:

1. Is this common? Does everyone feel that?
2. Is this from a warped perception of God's mercy and grace? Maybe he is totally cool with us being, oh, I don't know, human?
3. Is this expectation not from God at all but from the mentality that Dave was talking about that puts leader right up there next to Jesus, the sin-less man?

If the answer is "Yes" then what do we do with that. Do we teach that sin is ok? Probably not. Do we teach that fallen-ness is ok? Possibly.

When I first really met God I was in a really Pentecostal church that has the idea of "backsliding." For those of you unfamiliar with the term I understand it as the idea that the line separating heaven from hell is very narrow. If you sin in thought or in action you are officially "backsliding." You are sliding right back into hell. The crazy part of it is that you can backsliding and not even know it. Or you can backslide at some really inopportune times. You can be driving down the road, completely holy and sanctified, and then all of a sudden, a car comes out of nowhere. You speak some choice words and are now are "backsliding." Then you die and go hell.

And that is unfortunate.

I don't want that mentality at all. I don't think that is from God. But I don't really know where the scriptural alternative lies because of the fog of culture.

Maybe a sinful life ending in purgatory where we are cleansed isn't such a bad concept. But that is a whole different discussion.