To the Roman Catholics?

Question

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"...And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"
1 John 2:1

We know we can go directly to Christ in our prayer, because he tells us so. We are even allowed to make requests of him.

"...yet ye have not, because ye ask not." James 4:3

Why does roman catholocism call for people to confess their sins to a priest? Why not go directly to Christ and confess your sins?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

properly, that's variety of like the "Calvinist" as against "Hyper-Calvinist" deal. human beings have made a semantic version that facilitates them talk a complicated concept in one image. valuable, technically, [C]atholicism is broader than the Latin ceremony, regardless of the certainty which you may desire to confess that the Latin ceremony is the only maximum primary to well-known Western societies. Why is that? might desire to that's surely the crushing dominance of the Italian abode workplace with admire to the lesser traditions? might you decrease slightly slack for those human beings taking the 50,000 foot view of the problem? If day after today, the adjectival use of "Roman" to delineate [C]atholicism's center nucleus of doctrine have been basically stopped, it could take no time at worried with a sparkling adjective to interchange it, as a results of fact the linguistic choose for this sort of gadget is real and inescapable. i think of a few thing like "Papal Catholicism" may be an sufficient alternative. In any adventure, background has created the identity you seek for to rehabilitate by skill of remarketing below a extra independent type call, and organic language will fill any vacuum left at the back of by skill of man made be conscious video games used to suppress the unfavorable institutions of the Roman label.

Answer 3

You completely misunderstand the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Any Sacrament is personal encounter with Jesus Christ- Reconciliation( Confession) is no different.

We do not confess to the priest, we confess to Jesus Christ. The priest is there to help us through the experience.

I know this because on more thanone occasion I have had priests says things to me during Confession that they had NO WAY of knowing about me- and they were spot-on with how it would improve my leading a Christian life.

There is really no way to descrive it to someone who cannot experience it because they refuse to.

All I can really say is- you have no idea what you are missing by not being Catholic- there is NO MORE AWESOME experience of Christ on this Earth!

Answer 4

Seek knowledge.


To sum up in a few brief sentences the titles of a Catholic Priest:

He is a king, reigning not over unwilling subjects, but over the hearts and affections of his people.

His spiritual children pay him not only the tribute of their money, but also the tribute of their love which royalty can neither purchase nor exact.

He is a shepherd, because he leads his flock into the delicious pastures of the Sacraments and shelters them from the wolves that lie in wait for their souls.

He is a father, because he breaks the bread of life to his children, whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.[I. Cor. iv. 15.]

He is a judge, whose office it is to pass sentence of pardon on self-accusing criminals.

He is a physician, because he heals their souls from the loathsome distempers of sin.

Answer 5

Because Catholics confess their sins the way Jesus Christ intended them to do so, and provide for them to do so, when He gave the first priests of His Church the power to forgive men's sins in His name. He breathed upon them, signifying a special empowerment by the Holy Spirit, and them told them, "whose sins YOU FORGIVE, they are forgiven them". Pretty straightforward. Jesus would not have empowered His priests to forgive men's sins if He did not intend them to exercise that power. However, He did not give them the power to read men's minds. Therefore the sins they are to forgive obviously must first be confessed.
.

Answer 6

Roman Catholicism asks people to go to the agents of Christ, the priests, who descend directly from Jesus' apostles. Peter, the first Pope of the Catholic Church, was given the keys of heaven by Jesus. Jesus told him whatever he bound on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever he loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Jesus gave Peter the ability to discern right from wrong and act according to the precepts of Christ. Peter was an agent of Christ, and the power of Christ flowed through him. Peter could not use Christ's power for his own personal use, but only to accomplish the mission of Christ.
Jesus acts through the priets, and the priest is giving you Christ's forgiveness, not his own.

Answer 7

Jesus authorized men to forgive sin in His name:

"Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'" -- John 20:21-23

Answer 8

Hey Blue Star, we didnt write the bible. It was back in the day and all those people created the bible as a set of guidlines, not a daily basis rule we had to follow to the core, and though there are plenty of contradictions as you've stated they're only minor. You probably havent even read them yourself.

Answer 9

my thought is for the verse that says confess sins to one another for healing taken and twisted into a way that it can be explained to the masses looking for something to leach off from for their fears of having to do more than they do just to get by

Answer 10

We can do either or both.

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.

Jesus said, "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)

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (Luke 20:22-23)

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

With love in Christ.

Answer 11

Why don't you worry about your own little world instead of worrying about the beliefs of others? I'm a Catholic. My religion is not perfect. Neither is your choice of religion. However, I'm not going to question your beliefs. They're yours, and that's fine with me. It's called "live and let live", and if this world minded their own business in matters like this, we'd be a helluva lot better off.