Is catholic confessional pointless?

Question

If I commit a sin and I go to a catholic priest, and ask him for forgiveness, am I forgiven in the eyes of the lord, even if I don't really mean it? (i.e. Coveting something)?
If I do really mean it and I AM repentant, then whats the point of visiting a priest? Surley God knows if I am worthy or not and its not like the Priest is keeping score, as its meant to be private and annonymous anyway?

I always thought this was a bizarre thing to do and i could never work out why my parents made me go every month as a child to tell someone that I had said a sweary word 5 times and stole 10pence of my sister. (something else I wasn't sorry about, I can tell you that!).

:)

Answer 1

Not to upset anyone but yes I think it is pointless and I am Catholic. There are so many people who pray and worship God and have so many bad things happen to them that they do not deserve. So the way I feel is I am going to live my life day by day if I happen to sin so be it. I am not going to live my life doing things I don't want to do to make someone I can't even guarantee exists. I don't feel I am a bad person and I don't try to make anyone feel bad or hurt anyone. If I go to hell for living the way I want to so be it, if not again so be it. I feel God knows how I feel with or without going to church if he wants to except me for who I am I thank him. If not well what can you do. To me I feel God will except me for the good I try to do and forgive me for the bad weather I go to church or not. Again sorry If I upset anyone but that is my opinion.

Answer 2

If your confession is forced or your "repentence" is dishonest, then no, the Lord is not impressed. Confession and repentence must start at the heart, not the lips. You may indeed impress a human being (maybe even several) but God is not fooled. He still sees your heart.

The whole point of confessing your sins and problems to another person (or a priest, in the RC tradition) is to recieve help in overcoming whatever is weighing you down. Think of it as an AA style support group for sinners.

You go to your group of "homies", who all struggle with human weaknesses like you do, and say "Hey guys, I'm really having a hard time with this thing. My best friend got this great new computer, and I can't help feeling jealous about it. I've never wanted something this bad before, and it's driving a wedge between us! I'm so jealous over this object! What should I do?" (I'm using the covetousness as an example).

You're right, it doesn't help if you're not sorry or don't feel convicted about it. If you don't have any desire to change, why bother? If you DO want to be a godly person, though, it does help to have people around you, that care for you enough to help you through the rough times.

Unless I'm mistaken, your confessional priest is there to help you unload in a private setting, with a great deal of confidentiality. He should also be able to better advise you on how to overcome whatever is weighing you down most. He can also help you remember why you bother in the first place!

Peace.

Answer 3

Yes, "Confessional" is pointless. When Christ died on the cross, it allowed man to petition Him directly for forgiveness of sin as long as he was sincere. The Apostle Paul was quoted as saying, "Behold, I go before the throne of grace BOLDLY", meaning that he no longer had to have a priest step behind a veil in a temple to anoint a residence of God with blood from a sacrifice for atonement. The Scripture says, "And he cried with a lous voice and gave up the ghost.......and the VEIL of the Temple was RENT IN TWAIN (torn in two) from the TOP (Heaven) to the bottom (Earth)." This moment was the beginning of the dispensation of grace we live in that allows us to seek forgiveness the way we do.

Answer 4

Wow that's all I can say once again at the level of ignorance and arrogance I find here. Is Catholic confessional pointless? Well if you aren't sorry for what you did then yes it is. Just like when you confess your sins to God directly you have to indeed be sorry for them in order to be forgiven.
Catholics always confess their sins to God. Directly as well as through his Ministers. Jesus bestowed on the disciples the power to forgive sins. Look at John 20: 19-23 it's pretty clear there. Jesus gave his disciples the authority to forgive and not to forgive sins. This means a Priest must hear them in order to know whether to forgive them or hold them bound. Jesus provided sacramental confession to give us several gifts: humility, the certainty of forgiveness, spiritual direction and help to overcome self-deception in matters of sin.

Answer 5

Hi, I know that this will be difficult to understand and is not meant to upset but here are the facts.
when Jesus said to the Apostles whomever sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them,whomever`s sins you shall retain(not forgive)they are retained.
this is and was accepted dogma for the sacrament of confession right back to the first Christians.
the church states by this authority that when a Priest administers this sacrament he acts in the person of Christ and by this our sins are truly forgiven,not only this but because it is a sacrament we receive actual and sanctifying grace,which remits the sin and gives comfort and strength to the penitent.
now most important here is the fact that we are always inclined to sin (sinners by nature) and confession does not change our fallen nature.
we can only do our best to resist sin but it would be arrogant pride to think that we will never commit sin again because we have gone to confession,what we tend to forget is the cumulative effect of sin,it weights us down and burdens us,we find a comfort in knowing that God has forgiven us,and it is inspiring to actually hear that forgiveness spoken by the Priest, in persona Christi, protestant Christians do not practice Catholic confession but make their peace with God in their own way and of course this is repentance too,but some like to speak to their Minister at times because it is also helpful to hear a positive verbal reassurance too.

Answer 6

First of all, when a person goes to confession one of the requirements is to be truely sorry for your sins. God knows if you are truely sorry.

If you read Jn. 20:19-23 you will see that Jesus appeared to the Apostles and told them "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you." He continued with, "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

The Apostles were the first priests. He gave them the power to forgive or not to forgive. In order for the priest to forgive of not to forgive he must know what the sins are.

In all actuality we are not confessing to the priest, we are confessing to God throught the ministry of the priest. In 2 Cor. 5:17-20 St. Paul explains how the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ's work of reconciliation. James 5:13-16 tells us that the sins of the sick are fogiven in the sacrament. He specifies that the presbyters (priests) must be called.

"As the Father has sent Me, so I send you,"...Christ gave His power to forgive sins to His disciples and this power has been passed on because Christ knew people would sin until the end of time.

God bless,
Stanbo

Answer 7

Going to the confessional, telling your sins and getting your "hail Mary, our Father" pennance is works-related forgiveness and totally goes against what the Bible says. Not by works, but by faith. It's what you can do to get into heaven/get forgiveness.

Yes, you should confess your sins, but to God directly, not to some priest who can't forgive you. Only God forgives, which He's done already and the penalty paid throught the perfect sacrifice of His Son. You just need to accept it.

Confession is more for the confessor, because God, in His omnipotence, already knows what you did and why. It's our way of recognizing that we are sinful humans and need His help and grace to live according to His will for us.

Answer 8

Jesus came so that we might go directly to the Father through Him. We have a high priest--Jesus. We do not need earthly ones. Only if we are truly repentant for our sins should we ask for forgiveness for them. They won't be forgiven anyway, if we don't really mean it.

Answer 9

Yes, the church just makes you believe you have to go there to confess what they label as your sins. It's not necessary to go to a priest, you can feel sorry for what you do that you feel is wrong without having to go through a middle man.

Since God is within all of us, you know in your heart whether something you did was in the best interest of yourself or others or not. I think connecting directly to God is much better than connecting to the system of an organization made up of men in a heirarchy. We all have a direct link to the source, we don't need a church to be the middle man, they just get in the way.

Answer 10

i hope you will listen to what the Catholics have posted as you asked a question of them. you have received manyt idiotic and uneducated asnwers. if you were lookimg primarily to bash a group of Christians - well done. if you were actually looking to understand the concept - again, please read those posts from Catholics as their words are very true and clear.

God Bless.

PS - you can deceive the priest all you want in your confessions, however the Lord kows what's truly in your heart. i personally would not recommend confessing something in His name in which you were insincere.