[Campion]

A buddy invited me to his home to talk with his Catholic colleague who is struggling with religious guilt, feeling that he is never quite acceptable to the Father. This colleague described his experience in his Catholic parish as “salvation on probation,” a relationship with God that depended upon his ability to observe the precepts of the church (i.e., abstaining from meat on Lenten Fridays, holy days of obligation, auricular confession). Therefore, despite his best efforts, our friend bemoaned the fact that it was only a matter of time before he fell short of the church’s expectations and thus lost his eternal hope.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that this friend (a) never actually goes to "auricular confession"; (b) regularly ignores "Lenten Fridays"; and (c) can't even name the holy days of obligation.

It's funny, though. There are plenty of Protestant churches which impose all sorts of strange rules and regulations to keep from "losing" one's salvation. (Did you know that Jesus never drank alcohol? Even when the Bible says he turned water into wine, it was really grape juice. So I've been told. Dancing is a big no-no, too. Did you know a waltz with your wife could send you to hell? Me neither.)

How many threads have you posted from former members of those churches about the difficulty they had living up to their man-made rules? Any? Ever?

[redleghunter]

“I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that this friend (a) never actually goes to “auricular confession”; (b) regularly ignores “Lenten Fridays”; and (c) can’t even name the holy days of obligation.”

An interesting assertion. Go to the authors blog and ask him. Otherwise, your claim is based on what exactly?