I guess when catholics "brag" about how hard it is to be catholic this is what they're talking about.
IT would have to be a very frustrating way to live.
The absolute fear of dying without having been to a confession must be terrifying to the catholic.
If I were catholic I'd be camping out at the door of the priest and keeping that dude within about 30 feet of me.
The absolute fear of dying without having been to a confession must be terrifying to the catholic.
Paul understood the battle with the flesh when he wrote in Romans 7:24-25...wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
It always brings to mind this account by Jesus.
Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Philippians 3:2-9 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
All that hard work and Paul counts it as rubbish for the excellency of knowing CHRIST.
Religion is worthless in knowing God. All it does it provide an opportunity for the flesh to brag about itself.
Colossians 2:16-23 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
He then goes on with Romans 8:1 to say that there is therefore NO MORE condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
I know of One sacrifice that saved me.
YMMV