why can't Catholics confess their sins directly through Christ Jesus, instead of doing it through a priest?

Answer 1

Both doctrine and ritual...

Answer 2

WOW -- when did we stop being able to confess to Jesus directly?! Oh my gosh has the vatican council changed this?! okay i'm teasing but,,,, this is a constant laugh for us - i'm just thankful you're asking and hope you will take the asnwers of those actually in the denomination seriously : )

I can and do confess directly to God/Christ. However in the Rcc we go to the priest to fully confess with our mouths (as we are tought in scripture) to our priest (what you hold bound will be held bound and what you absolve....) for those sins that are more greivious. unfortunately for some people sining becomes second nature -- it's much more effective to have to speak it out loud to a person. the priest is our person. have you ever had this burning question and when you finally ask someone - after saying it aloud - you know the answer?! well that's kind of what going to confession is all about. it really makes me think about it all the more when i have to speak it out loud. thepriest is also there to help me through any consiquences and to give me guidance on either fixing the problem or finding resoluvtion, repairing hte damge or just talking me through it....

I hope you will continue to ask quetions about that which you don't know. you can also go to vatican.va for a copy of the cathchism : )

Thanks for asking and God Bless!
YSIC

Answer 3

We confess our sins directly through Jesus Christ all the time, especially during Mass while preparing to receive the Eucharist.

The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."

When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.

Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ.

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with a priest ordained in the name Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

In the sacrement of Penance, we meet Christ in the peron of the priest, ready and eager ot absolve us & restore us to new life. We confess our sins to God through His minister, the priest, who absolves us in the the name of Christ.

In my practice I have found that by confessing my sins aloud, I wake up to what I'm doing. It's profound to hear my thoughts out loud. Secondly, when I say it outloud to another person (not a priest) I get enlightnment just by saying out loud to another person. In the confessional, Wow, I spill my sins and then the Priest is usually like a counceilor. Where I'm beating myself up by calling someone "Stupid", I'm overwhelmed with forgivness and love. Just my personal experiences. I've never had a bad confession. Although, my first one in over a decade was hard ... I felt clean, and forgiven after I took that major step back to reconciliation w/ Church & God. Usually the penance assigned by the Priest help bunches too!

We are required to confess to a Priest when we've done a mortal sin before taking the Eucharist ... this is because the eucharist unites all parishioners together in the body of Christ ... so we need to be clean. If we were dying and couldn't reach a priest, well, we could & should confess to God: Whole hearted contrition (truly sorry 4 sins), confession (say out loud), and satisfaction (assign ourselves penance --- way's to correct ourselves).

BTW ... Confessionals are confidential ... see link to Catechism.

Answer 5

I'm not Catholic, but I'd guess they can go through Christ. Talking through a priest has the advantage of quicker feedback and immediate help for people who are troubled.

Again, I'm not even Christan, but it makes sense. The system seems to work for them.

Answer 6

Because Jesus himself said to do so. "Whatever sins you forgive will be forgiven in heaven, whatever sins you retain, will be retained in heaven."(John 20:21-23)
Jesus gave the keys of the Kindom of Heaven to Peter and put him and the rest of the apostles in charge of His Church. Jesus said to Peter "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Mat 16:19)
The apostles are like bishops and they in turn ordained priests and handed down what Jesus gave them.[W]hat you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim. 2:2).

Jesus gives this power to men to exercise in his name (Jn 20:21-23)

Answer 7

because of the fact Jesus by no potential supplies a definitive answer. And he did seem to delegate slightly authority whilst he suggested, "Whose sins you forgive would be forgiven." He even remarked that forgiving sins is a lot extra handy than curing the unwell and infirm. interior the early Church, the project of forgiveness did not upward push up until eventually Christ not on time his return long sufficient for it to be a difficulty. decrease than probability of persecution, many Christians apostasized, then tried to rejoin the religion community later. people who caught the persecution out have been slightly perturbed and would not enable readmittance without public confession and a few severe penitence. The employment of clergymen and private confession became into seen a gracious version after the prospect of persecution diminished. As for praying to saints, this grew out of the persecution besides. you are able to bear in mind a passage wherein Paul reassures grieving Christians that their friends and families who've died won't omit the final resurrection. Martyrs got here to be seen as heroes, exemplars and persevering with individuals of the community of "saints", the two worth of honor and able to consistent to desire for others. In 2 Timothy a million:sixteen-18, Paul expresses prayers for one Onesiphoros, to whom he refers interior the previous annoying. In 2 Timothy 4:19, he sends greetings to the "homestead" of Onesiphorus, implying that Onesiphorus is ineffective, and that prayers for the ineffective have been person-friendly in his day. There are additionally previous testomony passages approximately prayer for the ineffective, or there have been until eventually Martin Luther decrease numerous books out of the Bible. (2 Maccabees 12 is exceptionally unambiguous.) And if the residing saints would desire to desire for the ineffective, it became right into a organic progression to anticipate the ineffective saints would desire to desire for the residing, considering the fact that they have been all of one communion. The early Church theory as an area, not with the individualistic, "vertical" spirituality of later years. "I" am not "stored", "we" are the "physique of Christ".

Answer 8

god is everywhere so therefore you can be walking down the street and confess to the lord.confession is just one way the church tries to control you and keep you fearful.nothing harder than telling a priest what you did wrong.of course it would be nice if you could get a priests confession.could be interesting

Answer 9

The priest represents Jesus.

Answer 10

The Necessity and Practice of Orally Confessing Sins
James 5:16 - James clearly teaches us that we must “confess our sins to one another,” not just privately to God. James 5:16 must be read in the context of James 5:14-15, which is referring to the healing power (both physical and spiritual) of the priests of the Church. Hence, when James says “therefore” in verse 16, he must be referring to the men he was writing about in verses 14 and 15 – these men are the ordained priests of the Church, to whom we must confess our sins.

Acts 19:18 - many came to orally confess sins and divulge their sinful practices. Oral confession was the practice of the early Church just as it is today.

Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5 - again, this shows people confessing their sins before others as an historical practice (here to John the Baptist).

1 Tim. 6:12 - this verse also refers to the historical practice of confessing both faith and sins in the presence of many witnesses.

1 John 1:9 - if we confess are sins, God is faithful to us and forgives us and cleanse us. But we must confess our sins to one another.

Num. 5:7 - this shows the historical practice of publicly confessing sins, and making public restitution.

2 Sam. 12:14 - even though the sin is forgiven, there is punishment due for the forgiven sin. David is forgiven but his child was still taken (the consequence of his sin).

Neh. 9:2-3 - the Israelites stood before the assembly and confessed sins publicly and interceded for each other.

Sir. 4:26 - God tells us not to be ashamed to confess our sins, and not to try to stop the current of a river. Anyone who has experienced the sacrament of reconciliation understands the import of this verse.

Baruch 1:14 - again, this shows that the people made confession in the house of the Lord, before the assembly.

1 John 5:16-17; Luke 12:47-48 - there is a distinction between mortal and venial sins. This has been the teaching of the Catholic Church for 2,000 years, but, today, most Protestants no longer agree that there is such a distinction. Mortal sins lead to death and must be absolved in the sacrament of reconciliation. Venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, but the pious Catholic practice is to do so in order to advance in our journey to holiness.

Matt. 5:19 - Jesus teaches that breaking the least of commandments is venial sin (the person is still saved but is least in the kingdom), versus mortal sin (the person is not saved).

Jesus Christ Granted the Apostles His Authority to Forgive Sins
John 20:21 - before He grants them the authority to forgive sins, Jesus says to the apostles, "as the Father sent me, so I send you." As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, so Christ sends the apostles and their successors forgive sins.

John 20:22 - the Lord "breathes" on the apostles, and then gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. The only other moment in Scripture where God breathes on man is in Gen. 2:7, when the Lord "breathes" divine life into man. When this happens, a significant transformation takes place.

John 20:23 - Jesus says, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." In order for the apostles to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally confess their sins to them because the apostles are not mind readers. The text makes this very clear.

Matt. 9:8 - this verse shows that God has given the authority to forgive sins to "men." Hence, those Protestants who acknowledge that the apostles had the authority to forgive sins (which this verse demonstrates) must prove that this gift ended with the apostles. Otherwise, the apostles' successors still possess this gift. Where in Scripture is the gift of authority to forgive sins taken away from the apostles or their successors?

Matt. 9:6; Mark 2:10 - Christ forgave sins as a man (not God) to convince us that the "Son of man" has authority to forgive sins on earth.

Luke 5:24 - Luke also points out that Jesus' authority to forgive sins is as a man, not God. The Gospel writers record this to convince us that God has given this authority to men. This authority has been transferred from Christ to the apostles and their successors.

Matt. 18:18 - the apostles are given authority to bind and loose. The authority to bind and loose includes administering and removing the temporal penalties due to sin. The Jews understood this since the birth of the Church.

John 20:22-23; Matt. 18:18 - the power to remit/retain sin is also the power to remit/retain punishment due to sin. If Christ's ministers can forgive the eternal penalty of sin, they can certainly remit the temporal penalty of sin (which is called an "indulgence").

2 Cor. 2:10 - Paul forgives in the presence of Christ (some translations refer to the presences of Christ as "in persona Christi"). Some say that this may also be a reference to sins.

2 Cor. 5:18 - the ministry of reconciliation was given to the ambassadors of the Church. This ministry of reconciliation refers to the sacrament of reconciliation, also called the sacrament of confession or penance.

James 5:15-16 - in verse 15 we see that sins are forgiven by the priests in the sacrament of the sick. This is another example of man's authority to forgive sins on earth. Then in verse 16, James says “Therefore, confess our sins to one another,” in reference to the men referred to in verse 15, the priests of the Church.

1 Tim. 2:5 - Christ is the only mediator, but He was free to decide how His mediation would be applied to us. The Lord chose to use priests of God to carry out His work of forgiveness.

Lev. 5:4-6; 19:21-22 - even under the Old Covenant, God used priests to forgive and atone for the sins of others.