How do you know your sins are forgiven?

Question

We know Christ came to establish His church. We know he set up its heirarchy. We know the apostles ordained men to succeed them. We know Christ told his church leaders "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

How does a non-catholic know which of his sins the church has forgiven and which they have retained?

Answer 1

Nice question Shaun T. Being a Catholic myself you know my answer, but let me comment a bit.

If you notice every person above this post does not answer according to KNOWLEDGE, rather they answer according to FAITH.

A non-Catholic/Orthodox (don't forget our Orthodox brothers!) cannot know that their sins are forgiven, they can only have faith that they are forgiven. They rely upon and trust in the words of a book that what was said applies to them also. It is an act of faith that those words and sentences mean to them what they think they mean. It is not knowledge at all, but faith. Now to be very clear, I am not picking on their belief, in this instance, or suggesting that it is true or false, but only saying that it is not knowledge but faith.

A Catholic on the other hand, does not have faith that his sins are forgiven, but rather has knowledge that their sins are forgiven.

1. The individual Catholic has intuitive and immediate knowledge that the priest said to him "God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

2. The Catholic, if he has done any reading, has intuitive and immediate knowledge that the Catholic Church has always taught that the priest forgives sins in the name of Christ.

3. The Catholic has intuitive and immediate knowledge that the Catholic Church as witnessed by scripture and tradition, has always said that Christ gave the Church the ability to forgive sins through its priests.

4. The Catholic has intuitive and immediate knowledge that it has always been the Catholic Faith that Christ is God.

5. The Catholic has discursive and mediate knowledge that Christ, being God, doesn't and cannot lie.

6. The Catholic has faith, but not blind faith, but rather an intellectual assent rooted in the knowledge of the authority of history, reason, logic, philosophy, and the constant Christian teaching, that the whole Catholic faith represent actuality.

In other words, a non-Catholic/Orthodox can only say I have confidence that I have been forgiven, while a Catholic/Orthodox will say I have certainty that I have been forgiven.

Answer 2

Dear Shaun T.,

If you want to know the answer to your question, you have to go to the authority. The authority is not the church as many believe. May I ask you why do you assume the catholic church is correct in its teaching? Remember there baptists, mormons, seventh-day adventists, presbyterians etc. The catholic church is still involved in scandalls regarding the molestation of children by the catholic priests.
You see, God gave His law which is contained in the Bible. Now the entire Bible is true and trustworthy because it is the word of God. But men have focussed on certain verses of the Bible and made those the standard. When we choose certain verses in the Bible and exclude others, we have essentially cut out or removed those portions from the Bible and made them less important. And that is dead wrong!! The whole Bible is the word of God! And that is why the different denominations have their own professions and statutes! If all the denominations Have the same Bible, they all would eventually come to the same exact truth. Therefore, there should be only ONE church or denomination! So then, either one has the truth and the rest are in error or perhaps all of them are in error.
The fact is they are all in error! Type www.familyradio.com into your web browser.

Answer 3

Greetings,

First I would like to say that Yeshua never told the church leaders that they had the power to forgive sins. When he said, "Who's ever sins you forgive are forgiven and who's sins you retain are retained." He was speaking to his closest disciples and how they are to live there lives in Christ. So this was an instruction for all of us to live by. It was never meant to be use as a form of power control for the Roman Catholic Church to become the power base of God. In the Gospel of Mary Yeshua says, "You have no sins except those that you do in an adulterous nature which is called sin." What is sin? Sin is missing the mark like and archer shooting an arrow and missing his target. So we are the arrow and God is the Archer. Sometimes we miss the point that God is communicating to us.

Blessings in the Light,

Brother Olie Valentinus

Answer 4

Colossians 1:13-15 KGV
Matthew 9:6
Acts 5:31

Answer 5

The Church cannot forgive sins. No man can forgive sins. I am forgiven my sins through God's Grace by my faith in Jesus Christ. That's it in a nutshell. Anyone tells you you can be forgiven your sins by a man or woman (Priest, Clergyman, Pastor), has been deceiving you.

Answer 6

How I know my sins are forgiven is by knowing what Jesus teaches about sin. You must read your bible and ask God to forgive you of sin.
Romans 3:10 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
Romans 3:21-25 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. The church doesn't forgive your sins Jesus Christ the One who died for your sins does. He is the only way. Based on Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Recieve the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and ask for forgiveness of sins and repent(turn away from your sin)

Answer 7

There are some muslims who do undesirable issues wondering they are going to substitute after marriage and then be religious. it really is faulty. also, there are others who do undesirable issues because they're obviously off the right route. i imagine in both circumstances the guy might want to nicely be forgiven in the experience that they repent truly to Allah. yet, i imagine the only which is off the route is more advantageous effective off than the only which became always wondering he might want to do more advantageous effective, yet chosen to attend until eventually a later time. so a strategies as punishment from Allah, i do not imagine we may be able to say how or maybe as or what punishment we can receive for our sins. perchance some sins isn't punished in this global or the subsequent. we do not comprehend... yet, i do not imagine that that is healthy to save wondering about what punishment lets receive for what sins we've dedicated. also, if something we detect as undesirable takes position to us, it may't be a foul element after all. We might want to view it as Allah punishing us instead of seeing the blessing in what befell. to illustrate, someone might want to lose their pastime or their homestead burns or they have a minor automobile coincidence. all of us go by skill of trials, yet a number of them (and that i particularly imagine maximum of them) really help us in a roundabout way or yet another. We purely ought to work out it.

Answer 8

If u see parents, they do not like all the mischief's done by their children, and they do shout at, wack the kids sometimes. Likewise, god has created this perfect system where when u make mistakes/sin, u experience some tough time to realise the mistake and thats it. Neither the biological parents nor The Parent (god) hates, punishes, they always forgive.

Answer 9

I don't. I just pray that God finds it in his heart to forgive and other people do too. I am mindful that if you want to be forgiven that you have to show forgiveness to others that have wronged you or hurt you in some way. You don't have to forget but you can forgive all of us have that power.

Answer 10

I believe that if you ask God for forgiveness, you will be forgiven, regardless of what you did. There are a few exceptions, one of them being saying something blasphemous towards the Holy Spirit.