Why do Catholics confess sins to a Man, and make the priest the mediator?

Question

Why do Catholics confess sins to a Man, and make the priest the mediator, when the word of God clearly says that the only Mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ.

Are they just being ignorant of the Bible? What would it take to open their blind eyes?

Answer 1

Even the unsaved Pharisees knew that only God can forgive sins. Jesus is God.

Catholics are a Babylonian pagan cult, and most of their practices are stolen from there. "Confessionals" is a Babylonian practice.

Answer 2

We confess our sins to priests at the command of Jesus 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 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.

Oral confessing of sins is recommended over and over in both the Old and New Testaments:
+ James 5:16
+ Acts 19:18
+ Matthew 3:5-6
+ Mark 1:5
+ 1 Timothy 6:12
+ 1 John 1:9
+ Numbers 5:6-7
+ Nehemiah 9:2
+ Sirach 4:26

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.

Remember all sacraments are encounters with God. This sacrament is a healing encounter between God and the penitent.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1422 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

No, YOU are just being ignorant and blind.

Read John 20: 21-23 and you will see that jesus gave His disciples the power and authority to forgive and retain sins.

The priest is not a mediator. The priest is an instrument of God that He uses to forgive our sins. The priest forgives our sins in the name of Jesus Christ.

What will it take to open YOUR blind eyes?

Answer 4

Jesus gave the apostles power to forgive sins. BUT REMEMBER, Jesus was supposed to come back SOON. So once the apostles died and Jesus had not returned, the deal should have been nullified. Jesus did not give any power to the present day priests because he was supposed to return within his follower's lifetimes.

Where does it say the power to forgive would be passed on from Jesus' apostles to present day priests? It only talks about the people Jesus gave the power to. There is nothing saying they can pass this power along to others.

Yes, the priest is just a man, given authority by other men, who think they have some sort of special connection to God. Same with the Pope - he is chosen by other MEN, not by God.

You need to separate what Jesus REALLY said from what other people "said he said". In other words, I could say that God or Jesus gave me special powers and therefore I am in control of your soul. Would you believe that? Of course not. The same is true of Paul and the others who didn't even live at the same time as Jesus. For them to say they have been "blessed" or that God or Jesus gave them powers of forgiveness is only a figment of their imagination. Jesus, himself, in the flesh, when he was alive, said NO SUCH THING. It is only vanity that makes priests and popes think they have any special power of forgiveness. They are ordinary men, just like you.

Answer 5

Have you ever read the Sacrament of confession? Have you read the Book of James, or the Gospel of John?

GOD is present in the confessional booth.

After his Resurrection, Jesus told the apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:23).

The Letter of James says, “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” (5:16).

Confessing one’s sins to someone designated by the Church reaffirms our belief that God can act through created things and through people. That belief helps us understand Jesus’ Incarnation and the sacraments.

Answer 6

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and could never reconcile the scriptures to this practice. If I sin against you, I am going to confess to you and ask Jesus to forgive me. Many of the Catholic rituals are just that, rituals.

Answer 7

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 8

Ah, Brian my friend....when will you actually LOOK at what we are trying to tell you?

When wil you stop pulling scripture out of context and- even WORSE- ignoring the scriptures that show you the Catholic Church has it right?

Check this out-
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/confession.html

Answer 9

The Catholic church was created by Paul. It continues the power trip Jewish leaders were on. As long as the masses must come to you to be saved, you have power over them. You can make them do your will. If you study, you will see that the original church after Jesus left was a group where all (men and women) joined together, bringing all they had, and lived as equals. They understood that a personal relationship with God was what mattered.

Answer 10

Christ told the apostles to follow his example: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (John 20:21). Just as the apostles were to carry Christ’s message to the whole world, so they were to carry his forgiveness: "Truly, 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" (Matt. 18:18). After his Resurrection, Jesus told the apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:23).

This power was understood as coming from God: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). Indeed, confirms Paul, "So we are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20).

Some say that any power given to the apostles died with them. Not so. Some powers must have, such as the ability to write Scripture. But the powers necessary to maintain the Church as a living, spiritual society had to be passed down from generation to generation. If they ceased, the Church would cease, except as a quaint abstraction. Christ ordered the apostles to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." It would take much time. And he promised them assistance: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28:19–20).

If the disciples believed that Christ instituted the power to sacramentally forgive sins in his stead, we would expect the apostles’ successors—the bishops—and Christians of later years to act as though such power was legitimately and habitually exercised. If, on the other hand, the sacramental forgiveness of sins was what Fundamentalists term it, an "invention," and if it was something foisted upon the young Church by ecclesiastical or political leaders, we’d expect to find records of protest. In fact, in early Christian writings we find no sign of protests concerning sacramental forgiveness of sins. Quite the contrary. We find confessing to a priest was accepted as part of the original deposit of faith handed down from the apostles.

During his lifetime Christ sent out his followers to do his work. Just before he left this world, he gave the apostles special authority, commissioning them to make God’s forgiveness present to all people, and the whole Christian world accepted this, until just a few centuries ago. If there is an "invention" here, it is not the sacrament of penance, but the notion that the sacramental forgiveness of sins is not to be found in the Bible or in early Christian history.

Answer 11

Don't be ridiculous. Of course they know to pray to God, but it doesn't hurt to talk to others about your problems so they can pray for you, too. And this is coming from an atheist.