Communion?

Question

What's the point? Why do I need to confess my sins to a priest instead of confessing directly to God? I have never really undersood this.

OOPS, I met Confession.

Answer 1

Confess your sins to God not a priest. Then repent of your sins and follow the teachings of Christ.

Answer 2

CJ says no "priest" can forgive your sins---who does he think Jesus is? He is the eternal High Priest---he is who does forgive sins through his priesthood in the Church. Does CJ have no idea what the Body of Christ means? I would not doubt that at all because if he understood he would not be so jealous of us Catholics but, the thing is and what is really sad is he could become a Catholic too if he just put away his pride --- too bad.

Answer 3

If you read the Bible you would know. Jesus breathed upon the apostles, the first priests of His Church, signifying a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then told them, and no-one else, "whose sins YOU forgive, they are forgiven them". Only God can forgive sins. In this clear passage, God in the Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells us HOW He intends sins to be forgiven in His Church, through the ministry of His priests. However, Jesus did not give his priests the power to read minds. Therefore obviously the sins to be forgiven through this God-given ministry must be confessed. Ever since that moment Christians have been forgiven for their sins not by confessing to a man instead of to God, but by confessing to God in the manner God has ordained, instead of according to their own personal preferences.

Answer 4

Only God can forgive sins. This was the purpose of Christ dying for our sins (as atonement). If priests could forgive sin there would have been no purpose for Christ's atoning sacrifice. An ordinary man could have died for sin. One of us could have paid the debt for the sins of the world. But this is not the case. Ordinary men don't die for sin. Ordinary men die BECAUSE of sin.

The wager for sin is death. Sin causes eternal and physical death. Sin is thus, great in magnitude. The only One capable of covering sin would have to be someone greater than the sins of all creation. And greater than all of creation itself. He would have to be infinite, perfect, (like the spotless Passover lamb) and eternal. Only Jesus fit this qualification. He is God. He created the creation that He later came to save. He conquered sin and conquered death. Thus, we will be justified and given eternal life by the grace of God through Christ alone. No man can make that claim for us.

When the curtain of the Sacred Temple was torn during Christ's crucifixion. This was to signify that the priesthood was no longer needed as intercessors between God and man. Jesus fulfilled that purpose and proclaimed "It is finished." The priest is of null effect except to be an evangelist, which anyone can be.

The Holy Communion is to commemorate Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on our behalf. Doing Communion and confessing sins to another person at the same time is BLASPHEMY! The Bible is clear on this.

Don't continue this practice. Christ has a better plan for your salvation, and this is not part of it.

God bless

Answer 5

The bible certainly teaches that we must confess our sins directly to God.

But it also says that we should confess our faults to one another and pray for each other.

It depends on the situation, on the things being confessed, etc.

Contrary to what someone else said, many Catholics love the Lord and are part of His wonderful - and diverse - family.

god bless

Answer 6

You don't, When Jesus Christ went to the cross, Jesus told the desciples they would not be left without a comforter, you can imagine How sad they were about Jesus, well that comforter is The Holy Spirit that comes to live with you, you are not alone when you go to The Lord and confess that Jesus Christ went to the cross for your sins, after you've asked for forgiveness and repented, That Holy Spirit lives inside of you.
We would be seperated from God if not for Jesus Christ, since We have the Holy Spirit living in us, We can talk directly to God at any time through Jesus Christ.
You don't need a moderator, Jesus is our moderator.

Answer 7

Don`t you mean Confession?
The power to forgive sins was one Christ gave to his apostles (Luke 10:16; 2 Cor. 5:18-20. After he rose from the dead Christ said to the apostles, "'As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on then and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained'" (John 20:22-23).

We can be truly sorry for our sins--that is essential for forgiveness--but we can't forgive our own sins. We can't absolve ourselves. That is a power reserved to God alone. Through Christ that power was conferred on his apostles and their successors, the bishops, and their helpers, the priests. Confession is not an option. It is the ordinary (normative) means through which sins are forgiven.

Answer 8

You only have to confess your sins to a priest if you profess Catholic beliefs. Confession is a prerequisite to receiving communion. However, communion is an act of profession of Catholic Faith, so why would you receive communion, if you don't believe?

Answer 9

Wrong again CJ

Catholics confess their sins to priests because-- as it is clearly stated in Sacred Scripture--God in the Person of Jesus Christ authorized the priests of His Church to hear confessions and empowered them to forgive sins in His Name. To the Apostles, the first priests of His Church, Christ said: ``Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.... Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.'' (John 20:21-23). Then again: ``Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.'' (Matt. 18:18). In other words, Catholics confess their sins to priests because priests are God's duly authorized agents in the world, representing Him in all matters pertaining to the ways and means of attaining eternal salvation. When Catholics confess their sins to a priest they are, in reality, confessing their sins to God, for God hears their confessions and it is He who, in the final analysis, does the forgiving. If their confessions are not sincere, their sins are not forgiven.
Furthermore, Catholics do confess their sins directly to God as Protestants do: Catholics are taught to make an act of contrition at least every night before retiring, to ask God to forgive them their sins of that day. Catholics are also taught to say this same prayer of contrition if they should have the misfortune to commit a serious sin (called a ``mortal sin'' by Catholics).

Answer 10

Because I don't have time to listen to everybodys sins kid... you must go through the proper channel's.

If you don't feel your priest is doing a good enough job, feel free to visit Becky in Human Resources.