"I AINT CONFESSING TO NO MAN!"
A. It supposes that the recipient is truly repentant of his sins
B. It reconciles the sinner with God and restores His grace.
It involves the admission of one's sins before a duly approved Priest, in order to obtain absolution and reconciliation with God. Most all non-Catholics, and many Catholics, too, think of Confession as a punitive thing, only about revealing the "bad things" they have done. But, while we are expected to confess the wrong, we must also address the good that we fail to do. This indicates there is a larger scope to this confession business, something more than the cut-and-dried notions most people have.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, 'We have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1-10
But the question concerns the way in which God has chosen to administer that forgiveness.
But for now, do you presume to deny God that power and choice?
PS Most try to get as literal as possible when arguing their points from Scripture. So, you'll note that it doesn't actually say, "DIRECT to God," or even hint at that. It just says to acknowledge, aka, confess sins. That is how it was used in the Apostolic church, having learned it from Jesus, and they were quite firm about the confession of sin. In short, hiding out in your bedroom and meekly saying you're sorry is not what it means at all. There's more to it, as we shall see.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”
So, you are correct that no man is endowed, on his own, with the right to set himself above others in this matter. If Christ had not endowed His Priests with power to forgive sin, they would not have it.
But He DID endow them with this power, and they forgive sin, not in their own name, but in the name of Christ.
Let us read these remarkable words,...
V. "'[Jesus] said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” - Jn. 20:21-23
Is that clear enough?
Now, enter Christ. He died to pay the price of our sins, and He surely has the right to say how forgiveness shall be applied, don't you agree?
Therefore, we cannot deny the right of Christ to administer forgiveness through agents of His own choosing, nor can we insist that He must forgive us on our conditions whilst we ignore His conditions.
Christ's mission was to destroy sin, and He gave that same mission to His Apostles. Knowing that their merely human power as men was quite insufficient, He breathed into them a special communication of the Holy Spirit for this special work. To say that Christ did not confer a true power to forgive sin is to rob that whole ceremony and the words of Christ, Himself, of any real meaning.
Thus, any essential powers given to the Apostles, and required to facilitate that commission, must, of necessity, remain active and in place that long - and so be handed on to their successors.
That is to say, If those subject to the Apostles power obtained forgiveness of sin due to that power, there is no reason of logic to suppose that we should be excluded. We share the same privileges as the early Christians, and we have the same obligations.
Surely you don't think that because you are a member of some group that broke away from the original Church founded by Christ, that you are now more privileged than others in the eyes of Christ?
Do you?
Read that again...did you catch what Ambrose said, there?
He means that, today, you will happily see people dunked in a tub to forgive their sins, by "just a man," one you call, "preacher"... but you spit on the idea that a duly appointed, and consecrated man in Christ's direct line of succession has no authority to forgive sins after baptism?
Only Protestants, 1500 or more years later, decided they could circumvent what God wanted and trash the practice. Why? Because it was inconvenient, uncomfortable, and mortifying. There's no point mincing words on this.
So today you ask us to accept that whatever protestant sect one can name (or belongs to) has the privilege to abolish one of Christs most crucial dictates, intended to last until the end of the world?
I doubt there are many errors of faith more smug and self-righteous than that one. In that case, you may as well abolish every bothersome commandment of God.
Is it possible to secure forgiveness without confessing to a Priest?
Actually, yes...but it is conditional.
Catholics who are unable to find a Priest are forgiven if they make an act of perfect contrition, or total sorrow.
But such an act is temporary, and does not release one from the obligation of going to confession as soon as is possible.
Likewise, you can't play the, "perfect contrition game" and think you are off the hook for your sin because you decide that a few words are enough.
And THAT is the root problem with this, and with all, "self-confession" tactics.
"Perfect sorrow," suggests the desire to do God's will...but it cannot guarantee it.
Protestants and other non-Catholics can secure forgiveness by perfect sorrow, IF they are not responsible for their ignorance of the requirement of Christ as regards forgiveness of sin.
But once they know of this expectation, they cannot shirk the duty of doing as Christ intended and commissioned - by fulfilling it in confession. Because once they DO know of it, but willingly dodge around Christ's gift of reconciliation, aka, play the "perfect contrition game," the burden of THAT sin is on them.
And now you have been informed, so...
But the question still arises: "Who can know that anyone has such perfect contrition?"
This kind of perfect contrition demands a hatred of the sin to be forgiven, not from any worldly or personal motive, but because it has offended God. It also exhibits...
- Intense sorrow for having committed the sin
- The will to make full reparation of the harms done
- The firm purpose to avoid the cause of the sin
- The resolve to not commit the sin again.
What certainty is there that the bedroom self-confessor possesses such dispositions?
Is his sorrow really supernatural?
Is his conviction of forgiveness merely self-persuasion; a case of the wish leading to the want?
Lastly, he has no definite, tactile, and personal revelation that he IS forgiven. This part is huge, in fact.
Catholics who receive sacramental absolution are at least not left with such doubts and anxieties. They have a very real and tactile touch with their absolution, in the absolving words and actions of the priest.
And even if sorrow be not as perfect as it could be, well... the act of fulfilling the Sacrament by getting on ones knees and confessing ALOUD our offenses against God will overcome minor defects in scruple.
The Priest, however, does not redeem us; he is but an accredited agent of the one Mediator. Confession is but one way of applying the mediation of Christ to men, just as Baptism is another.
Baptism is a Sacrament for the destruction of sin which we ourselves did not commit, but which we inherit from Adam.
In like manner, another Sacrament is most fitting for the destruction of sins which we do personally commit after our Baptism.
Christ certainly thought so, and so He instituted BOTH Sacraments - Baptism and Confession.
If you believe in one Mediator, so do we; but we listen to that one Mediator and don't pick and choose which of His commands we adhere to.
5. Okay, I hear you; maybe I DO need confession. But I'm ashamed of my sins. I don't want anyone else to know about them. Please, can't I just confess directly to God in prayer?
God bless you for admitting weakness where most will not. There is nothing wrong with going to God in prayer - ever.
But this is probably the biggest sticking point with confession among non-Catholics, and it is, essentially, a selfish one.
Remember, sin is not merely us being "naughty" and doing things we want to hide from others.
It is literally our offense against Gods own commands and desires for our grace-filled life....made through our own choice. That is important to recognize.
Therefore, since it is God who has been offended by your choice to sin, God has the ultimate right to lay down the conditions of forgiveness.
You cannot insist that God must forgive you on your own conditions. And Christ certainly did not give His Priests power to forgive sin, thinking that people would self-medicate their offenses, and never seek forgiveness from His Priests at all.
"The shame of having to tell their sins will keep Catholics away from their Church and from Christ."
How do you know? Have you been in a Catholic church? Because the ones I attend are rammed with people, and the confession lines are long.
Now, there will be a few who stay away because of their sins, yes. But even fallen away Catholics know that God commanded Confession as a means of recovering His friendship and the price is negligible, although their pride and worldly influence might keep them from paying it.
But the faithful Catholic takes responsibility for his actions, knowing that shame did not keep him from committing the sin, and he doesn't allow false shame to keep him from confessing it.
He also knows that in offending his Lord, Our God, he deserves the humiliation involved.
But he also knows it is better to confess it to one man who is strictly obliged to forgive it and forget it, than to have it displayed on the Last Day, when every man's unforgiven offenses against God will be made manifest to the bitter humiliation of those who died with grave, un-repented sins.
And of he feels too ashamed to tell it, he only needs to ask the Priest to help him, and he will, in such a way that he can acknowledge what is required without embarrassment.
His sin(s) has offended God, not the Priest, and no Priest feels hurt personally or angry.
Also, far from despising a penitent, a Priest admires the humility and sincerity of those who confess their sins with deep sorrow.
For the most part, any difficulties of Confession are imagined by those who have stayed away from it, or who have never been to Confession.
"Do Priests themselves go to Confession? Does the Pope? Or are they exempt?"
They are not exempt. The obligation falls upon them as upon the laity. Nor can a Priest give himself absolution. Like any other person, he must kneel at the feet of another Priest in order to secure forgiveness. If it pleases you, that is another way that he is like other men.
As for the Pope, who does he confess to? To any Priest he chooses.
"When will Catholics realize that Priests are sinful beings like themselves, and see the pointlessness of confessing to such men?"
Seriously? All Catholics know that Priests are human beings who need Baptism and redemption by Christ, just as everyone else.
But they also know that they are not acting in their ordinary capacity as human beings, and that the value of absolution does not depend upon the personal worthiness of the Priest. Meantime God alone knows whether men, including Priests, are actually and personally in a state of sin. Catholics will see the folly of confessing to their priests only when they forget, or ignore, their Christian faith..., for Christ Himself appointed this means of forgiveness.
"I tell you what...we Protestants think Confession is an intolerable burden."
Here's what I tell you: Don't.
Why should you be burdened about a thing which does not affect you? That's a choice you seem eager to make...so don't blame Catholics if Confession bothers you.
Rather, let Catholics who go to Confession do any worrying about it. They prefer it, they do not wish to see it done away with, and they find it full of compensating consolations.
Your only regard should be in how you casually disregard and ignore of the words of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, as recorded in St. John 20: 21-23.
"But people can fake it, or deceive the Priest by telling him only so much as they wish."
Catholics know that they cannot deceive God.
God uses the Priest as His agent or instrument. If the penitent deceives the Priest then, although the Priest utters the words of absolution in good faith, God does not apply the effects of those words to the soul. And not only are none of his sins forgiven, but he goes away with an additional mortal sin of sacrilege.
Bottom line - he does not go to Confession for the sheer joy of adding to his sins.
So why does he go? A Catholic goes to Confession because he is genuinely penitent, and he wants his sins forgiven. If he is not sorry and does not intend to make a genuine Confession, he just stays away and goes on with his sins.
Only when sincerely desirous of recovering God's grace does he present himself in the confessional. He is not so foolish as to go through the farce you suggest.
"Then a Priest absolves sin on certain conditions?"
Yes.
The penitent must tell fully and sincerely all his serious sins; he must be truly sorry for having committed them; determine to try to avoid them for the future; and promise to make good any injury to others whether by defamation of character or by theft of money or goods.
"So what stops Catholics from sinning, if they can just get absolution in Confession?"
Does a man willfully break his leg because he knows that a doctor can set it?
Catholics regard sin as a great evil and no Catholic thinks that he is morally free to commit any sin, with or without Confession. If he does commit sin he knows that it can be forgiven - provided - he repents and determines to try to serve God for the future.
Above all, he knows that Confession gives him no permission at all to commit the same sins again, and if he has the intention of doing so, he knows that the absolution is null and void.
I might just as readily ask whether Protestants go out to sin, because they (think) can get forgiveness without Confession? Or is there no forgiveness for Protestants?
"Confession is like washing a child and letting it play in the mud again."
Not at all.
The Church washes the child, and then forbids it to play in the mud again. But if it does play in the mud again, in spite of the prohibition, of course she is prepared to wash it again if it be truly sorry—as any true mother would do.
If readiness to forgive causes further sins, what will you say to God who declares that if a man's sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, provided he repents?
"Even though the Church forbids it, I know a Catholic who does confess and sin again."
He does not sin again because of his Confession; nor does his fall say that he was not truly repentant when he confessed.
Consider a man who is addicted to pornography, a great problem in our day.
He has a weakness, and he knows it. The evil that satan does uses that weakness to continuously pull him into the sin - even though he hates the sin and begs forgiveness.
Are you saying he should be kicked out of the confessional because he is weak?
Christ said something about forgiving seventy times seven, which in His time expressed an immeasurable number.
How often would you forgive? And isn't it better for the man to try, fail through weakness, and repent, than to abandon all efforts to return to God's grace?
"Okay, I get it. But if Confession does not stop sin, what is the point?"
Confession is an immense help in the prevention of further sin.
Remember that Christ did not institute this Sacrament precisely to eliminate any further possibility of sin, but to forgive sin once it has been unhappily committed.
To prevent sin, there are other Sacraments, and other means such as good example, religious instruction, life changes, prayer, and the grace of God, among others.
But if, in spite of these helps, a man falls through strong temptation, as anyone is likely to do, it is a very great good that his sin can be forgiven.
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