Why does Catholicsm teach that is IT has the power and authority to forgive people's sins?

Question

In one of the catholic books (not sure if it's their bible or not) it states: "The Church, who through the bishop and his priest forgives sins in the name of Jesuse Christ..." Pg363-364, #1448

Only GOD can forgive sins. So, How can a bishop or a priest (who are both human and can perish along with everone else in the world) forgive my sins? What power do they have? Under what authority? Are they "playing God"? Their title means nothing. Your thoughts, please.

Also, I never understood why people went to confessionals when they can just go straight to God. "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but GOD only?" Mark 2:7

And confessing/Hail Mary's means nothing if you don't repent (turn away) from your behavior.

Answer 1

*You lack understanding of how this truly works:
The Roman Catholic Church also believes and teaches that Sin is only forgiven by God.

Here is what you don't understand and what the true belief is and why:
In Jn 20:23 Jesus tells His Apostles that whose sin you forgive they are forgiven and whose sins are retained are retained.
This is more or less repeated in Mt 18:18.

James 5:16 says to confess your sins to one another

The doctrine called "en persona Christi" simply means that when a Preist hears confession and renders absolution, it is not him nor the Church that is forgiving sin. Jesus Christ is hearing the confession and forgiving the sin and is merely using the Preist as a conduit...it is Jesus operating "through the Preist". There is no prohibition to praying directly either. But the Catholic believes when confession and absolution goes through the preist you are assured it was heard. On your own, outside of the sacrament, maybe....maybe not. At some points it may become a little confusing but the bottom line is, neither man nor an institution forgives sin, only God, through the Son

There is not a single Catholic Preist who will tell you differently. Find one and ask.

Answer 2

Wow, that is a hard one to answer. This is about power.

Lemme see if I can remember history...

And in the beginning, there was.... (LOL)
a priest who, first of all, could read, and would read (INTERPRET) for the masses, most of whom couldn't read at all, let alone Greek or Hebrew.

Then the Vulgate came along, which was written in 'everyday' Latin (and from which all? translations result today)

And, hmm... I remember several instances where people would go off doing their own translating and 'interpreting' themselves, made a big mess of it, started burning babies or some such weirdness, and the Catholic church went in and whacked them all. I think this was in France somewhere.
So I guess it's dangerous to interpret all by yourself cuz it can cause all sorts of crazy ideas (David Koresh) and 'misunderstandings'.

So I guess when people sat around pondering their sins, the good bishops and priests didn't want us to go forgiving ourselves too easily, OR punishing ourselves too harshly either.

I guess it comes down to trust - the Catholic church didn't trust a bunch of illiterate people to be able to judge whether or not their sins were forgivable in the eyes of God.

Answer 3

Oh, great one, read your catechism. It seems that you forgot that it IS GOD WHO FORGIVES. The church just performs the rite. They would have no authority by themselves.
Somebody also asked Jesus, when He pardoned a sick man of his sins, people asked Him: "Do you have authority to forgive sins ? Only God can do that." and He said: "What is more difficult, telling someone that his sins are forgiven or healing him ?
And He healed the man."
Besides, remember that Jesus Himself told His apostles that they could do it. "Those whom you forgive their sins, they will be forgiven. Those to whom you do not forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven."
In the Gospel of Matthew, it says: "You are Peter ( stone ) and on this stone I shall build my Church. I shall give you the keys of the Kingdom, and what you tie on the earth will be tied in Heavens. "
The idea of confessing indicates also that in certain cases, forgiveness cannot be given until restitution has been made or something like that

Answer 4

Because they are the beast power (little horn power) spoken of in Daniel 7 and 8 and also in Revelation 13. They will think to change laws and times Daniel says and they are doing just that by first changing God's law where it says Sabbath the 7th day to Sunday the 1st day and also it will cast down the prince of host stated in Daniel 8 which is Jesus.

Daniel 8:11Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down.

The above text basically is stating that they will take away the daily sacrifice which is Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary interceding on our behalf. They put themselves in the place of the heavenly sanctuary and state that they can forgive sins which is blasphemy.

Answer 5

"Only GOD can forgive sins"?

Luk 17:3 Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him.
Luk 17:4 And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying: I repent: forgive him.


Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another: merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.

Col 3:13 Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also.
Col 3:14 But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection.

Answer 6

I completely agree with Chris C.....this is exactly what the Catholic Church teaches. Blessed be God forever.

Answer 7

Because they truly believe that the Catholic Church is the only true church of God. Also, they see themselves as the Mother Church have authority over all other churches

Answer 8

It is a common brain washing tactic. Much of Catholicism is full of these tactics. For instance their mass is 90% ritualistic. So, for an hour, you get the same thing every week and for 5 minutes you get a moral homily. These behavior influencing tactics keep the people coming back and paying their tithe.

Answer 9

Jesus did no longer say those words as you declare in John 20:23. Jesus reported "Whose soever sins ye remit, they're remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye preserve, they're retained. To remit ability to deliver, remitted ability to deliver lower back, A sin preserve ability to maintain and retained additionally ability to maintain. Jesus instructed you in case you do no longer forgive adult men their trespasses, His father won't forgive yours. Jesus reported in basic terms adult men (sons of guy) be able to forgive sin on earth, as quickly as a guy or woman has died (the spirit isn't any longer in the flesh) the flexibility to forgive is lost. Jesus reported in case you flow in the previous the alter and do no longer forget which you have a controversy with somebody go away your present and flow to that guy or woman and reconcile, if that guy or woman won't forgive than take one or 2 others with you so as that each and each word could be prevalent (each and every word heard) and if that guy or woman nonetheless won't forgive you, than that guy or woman does not understand the regulations of God the daddy, and continues to be gazing the regulations as given by using Moses, (eye for a watch), manage him as a heathen (a gentile) or pubilcan and take it to the church (the religious church outfitted by using Jesus devoid of arms for God His Father. It dose no longer be counted who exchange into in the incorrect, you ought to forgive them. The Christ will perfect this down in the e book of existence and you'd be judged in accordance to your instructor's words.

Answer 10

Religions are mostly about power and fear. They are very far from real spirituality. That's just the way it is. Don't worry too much about that. I couldn't care less about religions. Find your own spirituality and/or relationship with god. Priests and monks and popes no different from other men like you and me. "We are all singing, all dancing crap of the world."