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Again I can have some assurance, in that IF I have done what Christ has asked me to do- I have a chance at the clouds – and what God has promised. but we always fall short… how short of the goal can we fall? I dunno – So I cannot have certainty of being in the Clouds – or proclaiming that for myself.

We are going to disagree on what Christ has asked us to do.
Murph listen. There isn’t one thing that you can do that pleases God. NOT ONE THING. I am not saying righteous living is bad. What I am saying is by itself, you might think this will get you to Heaven. It won’t. It will get you a hot place in Hell, so stop trying to merit Heaven. You (and all of us) have already failed to qualify.

I was never a self satisfied Catholic. I was absolutely sure I was going to Hell, as a Catholic, and I hated it. I didn’t know what to do about it, till a number of guys came along, all active duty Air Force. They didn’t talk to me about any particular church. They showed me how to do what Christ asked, how to become a born again believer. I had been so steeped in Catholic doctrine, that it took me about a whole month to realize what OSAS meant.

Since none of my friends ever told me what church to attend, I kept going to mass. I started reading the Bible too, and slowly it dawned on me, that what I was reading, was different from what I was being told. I didn’t start out with the idea of leaving the Catholic Church. I just couldn’t reconcile the scriptures with the church, so I left.
So, stop trying to lead a good life, to merit Heaven. All it will do, is get you a LONG stint in the lake that burns. 🔥 if you would feel more comfortable in the lake that burns, 🔥then by all means, totally ignore me. No one can help you.
You said it yourself, we always fall short. Stop right there bro. Stop right there. Don’t read anything else into it. How short of the goal can we fall you ask? I say the fall is total, complete, irrevocable, and eternal. All it takes, is ONE tiny little sin, only ONCE, and that’s where you and I stand. How many sins did Adam and Eve commit? Only one, and they ended up in the same boat.
I don’t care what church you do or do not attend, if you want to escape the lake that burns 🔥 you will have to do it the same way all the rest of us did. God will make no exception for you. I hope you take the blinders off your eyes and pay attention. If not? Well, then there is a certain looking for judgment. Don’t take part in it bro. Just don’t.

We are going to disagree on what Christ has asked us to do. Murph listen. There isn’t one thing that you can do that pleases God. NOT ONE THING.

If you mean we cannot please God without saving Faith in Christ, then yes I agree. For God's inspired word assures us,
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him. ......

So it follows God must initially pleased with our Faith.... [Having and keeping Faith is something we do]...
and then we must learn what else after Faith, will please God- as Scripture assures us, WITH Faith, it is possible to please God.

I am not saying righteous living is bad. What I am saying is by itself, you might think this will get you to Heaven. It won’t. It will get you a hot place in Hell, so stop trying to merit Heaven. You (and all of us) have already failed to qualify.

If good works merit nothing for our salvation, than bad works cannot merit our damnation.
So that can't be a path to hell, can it?
We believe and accept Christ as our Lord and Savior... in fact Catholics confess that everyday in Mass. How are you different now then?

What MORE must we DO then, to have eternal life?
Remember you say nothing can be added...and works cannot add or subtract from keeping us out of Heaven... So what more must Catholics do then to have eternal life?
We've already accepted Jesus....

I was never a self satisfied Catholic. I was absolutely sure I was going to Hell, as a Catholic, and I hated it.

Can I ask how you knew you were going to hell while in Mass?

I started reading the Bible too, and slowly it dawned on me, that what I was reading, I just couldn’t reconcile the scriptures with the church, so I left.
So, stop trying to lead a good life, to merit Heaven.

Your were not taught properly, as I was not, so you were easily led away.
And the false Pelagian ideals were easily supplanted in you from those who do not know the fullness of Church teaching.
As Church doctrine clearly states we cannot Merit God's Grace-Ever. Look it up. IF a Catholic tells you otherwise- They are wrong-We are saved by Grace- not by Faith, not by works...and NOT by "Faith and works".
That's not really that difficult of a concept to embrace either.
For we have been told That "God does not Love us because we are Good-
rather We are Good because God Loves us.

Now you have set up a preliminary suspicion for "works"... but I say you are missing so much of what we are call to be in perfecting Holiness:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This points to John...

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them.
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

We must imitate Christ. He calls us to.
We must DO what he did. For he promises us:
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

You think the Church is responsible for what you believe as heresy. But what the Church teaches here, is what Christ taught.

You said it yourself, we always fall short. Stop right there bro. Stop right there. Don’t read anything else into it. How short of the goal can we fall you ask?

No we don't ask that question. EVER. We fall.
We ask for forgiveness, we confess, and we repent...over and over.... that is the painful road to Holiness... We never give up.

One of my favorite quotes:

"Why would we want anything less, especially knowing that God wants us. “As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out,” Lewis references, “every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk:
no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said,
‘God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.'”