Why do catholics confess to men priests? Why not confess right to God himself? i

Question

Also why the hail marys? Why is she looked to so much with catholics?

Answer 1

because the catholic religion is all about tradition.
and nobody in leadership has bothered to look at what the bible says, instead, they go by the ritualistic traditions which are actually un-biblical.

confessing to a priest will do nothing for you, coz God says to confess to Him.
they sometimes use the excuse of the scripture that says "confess your sins one to another".. but if you read that passage, you will realise its talking about discussing your sins honestly with others in order to be accountable to someone to change. but its only God that we get forgiveness from.

as far as Mary goes? again, they dont read the bible where it says that you are only to pray to the Father in heaven in Jesus name. they also obviously missed the spot where it forbids you to talk to the dead. mary is dead. she was awesome, but she is dead at the moment, in heaven and unable to hear them. it says nowhere that she and only a selected special few are saints. we are all saints when we are saved into Christ Jesus. thats what God calls us, saints.

if any catholics dont believe me, take a look at all of the epistles, alot of them start with "to the saints of (insert place like ephesus or corinth here)". He addresses the people of the church, as saints. so unless that church is full of corpses of great men and women of God... He is writing to alive people.

"My people perish from lack of knowledge".

its just a lack of knowledge of what the bible says..so, what God says.

its sad :-(

Answer 2

I was raised Catholic and asked the very same questions - no one could really answer them.

It wasn't until I was an adult and I realized that both is renewing. If you confess to a priest, you are talking to someone who can guide and give you advice. Isn't that what doctors recommend to people who need to talk about their problems?

But, I never felt like I needed to go through a priest to receive forgiveness. I have long given up confession through the church. My beliefs in the Catholic religion have differed, so I believe I can classify myself as "Spiritual" rather than Catholic.

Answer 3

The priest is a help and an aid in confessing your sins. Christ knew of our humanity and of our physical needs. This is the reason he gave the power to forgive sin to his priests. Man has the great ability to rationalize his actions. The priest gives an objective viewpoint to our sins. Why would you not want all the help you can get.

The help of the confessional does not eliminate your ability to talk to God and ask forgiveness. This you should do at all times but also use the physical help that Christ left for us.

Answer 4

Catholics confess to priests b/c the believe priests are representatives of Jesus, and while you can confess right to God - it add a more human element, where you admit to someone you've done wrong and promise not to do it again. It's like the difference between asking God to help you lose weight and telling your good friend... your good friend's more physical/vocal reminder can provide quite helpful. As for Mary, she is highly regarded b/c she Said yes to doing God's will and carried Jesus in her womb.

Answer 5

Because the priest has to assign a penace or else you're not forgiven. It's just the way it works.


Recite this...
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Mary is the mother of jesus.

I don't believe any of that stuff.

Answer 6

Because the church villainized all women except Mary whom they twisted into a virgin goddess and an example of the epitome of piety and good woman behavior. Basically, a slave to mankind. It was a way of destroying the goddess divine by making her subservient to all men.

It's very sad really.

As for the hail Mary's... ask a Christian why they ask others to pray for them. It's the same thing. They're trying to beg her to support them in their needs to god in the hopes that god will listen to her when he won't listen to the petitioner themselves.

It's a copout. Ask mommy to get a favor for you instead of doing it yourself.

Answer 7

+ Forgiveness of Sins +

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.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm

+ Confession +

The Bible instructs us to confess to each other:

James 5:16 - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

Acts 19:18 - Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices.

Matthew 3:5-6 - At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him (John the Baptist) and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

Mark 1:5 - People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him (John the Baptist) and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

1 Timothy 6:12 - Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 John 1:9 - If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.

Numbers 5:6-7 - "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."

Nehemiah 9:2 - 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.

Sirach 4:26 - Be not ashamed to acknowledge your guilt, but of your ignorance rather be ashamed.

+ Mary and the Saints +

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints. You, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints is communication, not worship.

The Hail Mary prayer simply recites Bible passages (the Word of God) and asks Mary to pray for us:

Hail Mary Full of grace, the Lord is with you. (These are the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary, a Bible quote.)

Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (This is Mary's cousin Elizabeth's greeting, another bible quote.)

Holy Mary, (The angel Gabriel said she was full of grace and Elizabeth said she was blessed.)

Mother of God, (the Bible says Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, God the Son)

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. (A simple request to pray for us.)

Amen.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt4sect1chpt2art2.htm

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 8

because in my opinion, and this is just my opinion, the catholic church is about, has always been about, and will continue to be about, control of it's people...of course you can confess your sins directly to God, why couldn't you? the hail marys are just more of the smoke and mirrors...

Answer 9

I'm Catholic, been so for 35 years. We go to confess to seek forgiveness from Jesus. After Jesus rose from the dead and before He ascended to Heaven, He spent 40 days with the 12 apostles. During this time He gave them the authority over His church, Peter being the high priest (first pope). One of these authorities/duties/abilities was to hear confessions and through Jesus Christ, they could forgive the sinner. It's really isn't the priest that forgives, it's Jesus through the priest. My Bible is at my mother's house right now, so I can't give you exact scripture to support this. It is found in the Book of Acts. Email me later and I will be able to do so.

Jesus gave authority to the apostles to be able to forgive sins, baptize, marry a couple, ordain other men into the priesthood, and others. These are our 7 Holy Sacraments that the Catholic Church still hold onto to this day. It's all said in the Book of Acts. These sacraments are done physically by a priest but they are there to physically/verbally say the words and perform the anointing, blessing, pouring water over your head, ask the couple if they will take these vows, etc. But it is actually Jesus Christ that blesses us throught these sacraments. We can't physically go to Jesus right now for these blessings so He allowed a priest to stand in for him. Peter and the apostles handed this authority over to other priests as they were ordained and this has continued on for 2000 years. Same as the high authority that Peter had was handed to the next pope.

We pray to Mary, His mother, only to ask her to intercede for us. We do NOT worship her or ask her to answer our prayers. Only God can answer prayers. It's like me asking you to pray for me, you can intercede for me. She is in Heaven right next to Jesus, so 'technically' she is closer to Jesus than we are on earth. Who better to ask for intercession? Also same in regards to praying to saints. We honor Mary a lot because she accepted the blessing of God to carry His Son and bring Him into the world and to care and watch over Him as He grew into an adult. She is full of grace (God's grace) and blessed highest by God so we honor her highly and show great respect to her. She wasn't just a woman that gave birth to Jesus. God created her extra special, by her being conceived without the stain of original sin. She had to be a pure, unblemished vessel in order to carry His Son and give birth to Him. God has blessed many people mentioned throughout the Bible, many of these people we called saints today (David, Isaac, Abraham...) but Mary was blessed the most because she carried Jesus within her body. What an honor! God truly blessed her. She is in Heaven and we are able to pray to all souls that are in Heaven. We do not worship them, we worship only the Holy Trinity -God- but we honor them and have great respect for these holy souls. We can pray to them (talk to them) and ask them to pray for us. They have a 'direct connection' to God, Himself, because they are in Heaven with Him right now.

I hope this helps you understand the Catholic Church a little more. If you have more questions, please feel free to email me.

Answer 10

hate to answer a question with a question; but why does anyone go to church altogther? did jesus not tell his followers to pray in secret? (not to mention the "Just reward" supposedly coming to the "hypocrites" who prayed publically in churches).

Why? because thats what their customs evolved into.