In the Catholic religion, who came up with the idea of confessing sins to get absolution?

Question

was it Jesus or some priest trying to bring reform

Answer 1

+ Confession actually goes way back in Jewish history.

Then whoever is guilty in any of these cases shall confess the sin he has incurred. (Leviticus 5:5)

Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD, he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged. (Numbers 5:6-7)

When they were gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out on the ground before the LORD, and they fasted that day, confessing, "We have sinned against the LORD." (1 Samuel 7:6)

I prayed: "O LORD, God of heaven, great and awesome God, you who preserve your covenant of mercy toward those who love you and keep your commandments, may your ear be attentive, and your eyes open, to heed the prayer which I, your servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your servants the Israelites, confessing the sins which we of Israel have committed against you, I and my father's house included. (Nehemiah 1:5-6)

Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all who were of foreign extraction, then stood forward and confessed their sins and the guilty deeds of their fathers. When they had taken their places, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, for a fourth part of the day, and during another fourth part they made their confession and prostrated themselves before the LORD their God. (Nehemiah 9:2-3)

He who conceals his sins prospers not, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtains mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide. I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD," and you took away the guilt of my sin. (Psalms 32:5)

I was still occupied with my prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, presenting my petition to the LORD, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain. (Daniel 9:20)

+ Then Christians took it a little farther:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

+ Absolution came solely from Jesus:

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19)

Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18)

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

In the medieval days the kings had absolute power over the people. The bishops came up with the idea of confession and the forgiveness of sin.
Towns were small, and had only one church. Everybody in town knew everyone else. When a person would go into the confessional booth, the priest would pump him for every last bit of gossip about himself and his neighbors. This gave the priest unbelievable power over the population.
The idea of forgiveness of sin gave the bishops power over even the kings. The kings had absolute power over your short life on earth, but the priests and bishops could send your everlasting soul up or down, whichever they chose. To the superstitious people of those days, that was the ultimate power. Even the kings crawled up on their knees begging for forgiveness. The real power was with the church.

Answer 3

Catholic means universal and this was the first church. Confession is good for the soul. In the very early church which begin with Jesus and the apostles, Jesus said upon you, Peter, I build my church. Since telling one's sins make a person feel a sense of relief from the burden of sin, Jesus and the apostles listened to people's sins and gave them absolution for their sins. You don't have to go in a cubby hole to get absolution. It is perfectly fine to do it face to face. I think, it is alright to simply talk to God, but science knows a person feels better if they tell someone so this is why it is done to help people release their sins more completely.

Answer 4

The first thing that someone should be considering is whether the idea of sin is actually real.

If God is supposed to be perfect how could She have made anything or anyone that wasn't.
Think about it. The idea of sin assumes certain things about God that seem highly unlikely.
All this talk about sin sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.

First it assumes a God who is too incompetent to organize a simple educational field excursion and figure out a way to get all of the students home safely.

How likely is this that God would not be smart enough to come up with a plan for our salvation that is going to work?

It also assumes that God must have created us imperfect if we are sinners.

One might assume that God would be able to create someone perfect each and every time if he chose to. Assuming God is capable of this, then it follows logically that we must be perfect creations if we are actually creations of this perfect God.

Unless of course you are saying that God chose to create us imperfect.

If God created us imperfect then anything that may go wrong is Gods fault, not ours. This seems a bit illogical at best so I think that we need to assume that What God creates would have to be perfect.

If this is the case and Gods creations are perfect, then nothing that we can do could change what God created perfect and make it imperfect unless we think that we are more powerful than God is.

How likely is it that we the creation could be more powerful than the creator. I personally find this idea somewhat amusing, and a bit absurd.

Religion tells us that God is perfect. If this is true then it could hardly be logically for Gods creations to be considered to be anything less than perfect.

If this is the case then Nothing that we can ever do could possibly change this perfection that God willed, unless we were so powerful that our choices could override and change the will of God.

How likely is that????

Think about it.

The idea of sin is simple nonsense; a lie made up about God by religion.

Love and blessings
don

Source --- Course in miracles

Answer 5

First of all Jesus wasn't Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or any other religion. He was,is, and always will be the son of God. I can't answer your question about who came up with the idea for the Catholic Church. But I can tell you this I can't forgive your sins, Billy Graham cant forgive your sins, and a priest can't forgive your sins. At one time they could, but when Jesus came the rules changed. He is the intermediary between you and God. You get your own forgiveness.

Answer 6

Actually the concept of confessing your sins is brought over from the times when the Jewish people lived in a city given to them by the Egyptians. It is based on the confession of sins to the God Anpu (Anubis in Greek terminology) prior to the weighing of your soul against Maat's feather.

Answer 7

A priest who wanted to have something to gossip about.

Actually no. On a serious note. The idea was probably from Jesus but more likely to be implemented literally, perhaps too literally, by people who needed to get a load off their chests and those who wanted a ticket to heaven.

Answer 8

Jesus

Answer 9

It was just a way to make sure to tie people indefinitely to the church. Everyone is a sinner (just look around you) you MUST come to us to confess or else you will be eternally damned. We are the ONLY ones who can save your soul. Pretty ingenious.... It takes a special kind of person/organization to manipulate people at that level.

Answer 10

No easy answer, because the practice apparently evolved over time from something informal to a church ritual. Maybe the link below will help: