How come catholics ask the Priest for forgiveness?

Question

Jesus said in the Bible that no man can come to the Father except through Him. Nowher in the Bible does it say that the preist is the one to forgive you.
If i am wrong in this please let me know the scripture verse so I can look it up.

Answer 1

No BIBLE does not say that you should confess your sins to priest..there are some verses that says that we should confess our sins to each other...

James 5:16:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

But as a priest we need not want a person...

1 Timothy 2:5::
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

GOD be with you...Speak to the LORD,not to men.JESUS taught HIS disciples to Pray....Your Prayers are heard...

Answer 2

The only way you get the right answer to this is through a Catholic. Observations from other sect is just an opinion and not an answer.

The Sacrament of Penance has evolved over the years, always in harmony with its biblical roots.

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.

During his earthly life, Jesus was a visible sign, a sacrament, of God’s love. After Jesus’ Ascension, the Church continues that sign, although imperfectly this side of heaven. The Sacrament of Penance flows from Jesus’ Incarnation and his followers’ sense of communion with God and each other.

“Open confession” may sound good, but would it be the personal encounter which the present practice offers?

At a time when we see a tremendous flight from personal responsibility, do we want personal repentance to become “...and for whatever I may have done wrong”?

Approximately two million young people attended World Youth Day in Rome. Many of them went to individual confession in the Circus Maximus. Would they have had a stronger sense of God’s love for them as individuals if a priest or bishop had given general absolution instead? Probably not.

Confession has been the occasion for many people to appreciate how much God loves them and how much they have resisted that love.

Most parishes schedule a Penance service during Lent, with opportunity for individual confession. Or make appointment with a priest. Why not participate in one of them? You can actually try a confession.. In this way you will truly know why we confess to a priest.

Here is a guide for you.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Good-Confession-in-the-Catholic-Church

I am no trying to convert you. I just want you to experience it yourself. In that way you can have your own answer from your experience.

Answer 3

We aren't asking the Priest for forgiveness, we are verbally asking Christ, the Priest is there as a counselor because it is also important that you forgive yourself.
Guilt is a burden that is often associated with the plea for forgiveness especially when your plea is between you and a God without a physical Voice of sympathy.
The Priest is a sympathetic ear and a counselor, to guide you though the process of forgiveness and guilt to salvation.

Answer 4

Because the first thing Jesus did after his resurrection was to appear to the apostles and give them the power to forgive sins in his name ... and the church has been doing so continuously, ever since.

This was the most radical, head-on, frontal attack on satan, sin, and death that the world had ever known, and it is done acccording to the power and grace that Jesus obtained for us, by his perfect and atoning sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.

This is a grace giving gift that Jesus entrusted solely to the holy and universal church that he founded, for the purpose of our salvation.

You and others like you, fail to recognize this because you have been deceived and led astray by false teachers, who have themselves been led astray by others, and so on.

On the fisrt Christmas, the angels announced that God's peace had come to mankind:

Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying:
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will.

Later, Jesus said:

Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid.

The peace that both the angels and Jesus spoke of was peace between God and man that resulted from Christ's perfect sacrifice and mediation, which made the forgiveness of sins possible.

That peace is not automatic. That peace must be proclaimed, then claimed, then granted ... and that's the whole purpose of the gospel ... and that's the reason Jesus empowered his apostles and his church, to offer absolution for sins, in his name.

Those who reject this great gift can still apologize directly to God for their sins, but they will not know whether God has truly accepted their apology until Judgment Day ... and by then it may be too late.

Meanwhile, Catholics have the absolute assurance and peace of Christ available immediately, through the great sacrament of reconciliation, without any doubt at all.

That's why Catholics can truly rejoice in the authentic peace of Christ, and we do that along with Jesus himself, at every Mass.

Joh 20:20 And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.
Joh 20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Joh 20:23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Answer 5

This question has been asked many times before so here is the answer :Catholics ask God for forgiveness to the Priest who is acting on God's behalf through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.(Confession)

Answer 6

The bible doesnt have any direct line stating that 'priest' have the authority to forgive a person for his sins. Priest just offer this service to help people relinquish themselves from their guilt and to provide them with an inner peace, knowing that through the Priest, God has forgiven them for their sins.

Answer 7

"The priest is, indeed, another Christ, or in some way, he is himself a continuation of Christ." (Pope Pius XI, Encylical on the Priesthood)

The Catechism presents the Roman Catholic priest as "another Christ", something which the Bible condemns and forbids. Yet, Jesus talked about the time when "other Christs" would arise.

Answer 8

Because Catholicism is a ritualistic religion. They have seven sacraments: Baptism, Confession, Eucharist, Holy Orders, Confirmation, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction. Many sects that are not Catholic recognize these as well. The idea is that man is unholy and unworthy of the contact with God. It seems that you have a disagreement with them, that is why I assume you are a protestant. That is an old argument.

Answer 9

They don't know any better. John 20:21-23, JB: “‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’”

How did the apostles understand and apply this? There is no record in the Bible of a single instance in which an apostle listened to a private confession and then pronounced absolution. However, the requirements for being forgiven by God are set out in the Bible. The apostles, under the direction of holy spirit, could discern whether individuals were meeting such requirements and could on this basis declare that God had either forgiven them or not forgiven them.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “Many contemporary historians, both Catholic and Protestant, trace the origins of private penance as a normal discipline to the churches of Ireland, Wales, and Britain, where the Sacraments, including Penance, were administered usually by the abbot of a monastery and his priest-monks. With the monastic practice of confession and public and private spiritual direction as the model, repeated confession and confession of devotion seem to have been introduced for the laity. . . . However, it was not until the 11th century that secret sins were absolved at the time of confession and before the fulfillment of penance.” (1967), Vol. XI, p. 75.

Historian A. H. Sayce reports: “The ritual texts show that both public and private confession was practised in Babylonia. Indeed, private confession seems to have been the older and more usual method.”—The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 497.

Answer 10

They do not know the right route to take, its the wrong road to go down, how can a man that is imperfect as you are and a sinner take care of sins? they can't, only Jesus as you said can do this.