I am catholic. I understand apostolic succession and all that and I believe it, but I just wonder why Jesus didn't allow us to confess right to God? Why go through another human being?
2007-11-14 04:13:31 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
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i am having trouble with that statement...follow the link and you will see why...
2007-11-14 04:18:18 · answer #1 · answered by FarmerCec 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
No priest or any other person can forgive you for sinning against God. Only God can forgive you for sinning against Himself. People can forgive you for sinning against them. This is blasphemy what the Catholic church teaches. You can tell another person about your sins if you want to but they have no power and no authority to forgive you for God. The Catholic church has set itself up as God and they are not. This is not biblical as many of the practices of the Catholic church. The priest and the pope are sinners too, so how can they forgive you for God. Peter was never called to be a pope either and neither was anyone else. You do not pray to any dead saint for help. God is the one you are to pray to and only God.
2007-11-14 04:24:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Uh, read the new testament. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was riped in twain, two, from the top down. Jesus is now the one who takes us directly to the Father in heaven, there is no need for the priest and confession any longer. Read for yourself, don't believe me, I didn't write it, just informed you of it. (That means the Catholics, as well as many others, are wrong.)
2007-11-14 04:21:13 · answer #3 · answered by gigglings 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We can confess directly to God and there are no God-appointed intercessors except Jesus Christ, the Messiah. A priest is no closer to God than you or I.
I pray directly to God, as instructed in the Bible, and I confess my sins directly to God, as instructed in the Bible.
We are taught how to pray in the Bible and it says nothing about going through another human being. (Matthew 6: 9 - 13)
We are taught to confess our sins to God in the Bible (1 John 1:9) and it says nothing about having to confess to a priest.
2007-11-14 04:31:29 · answer #4 · answered by Loves the Ponies 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not catholic and I don't pray to a priest for forgiveness. I pray to God himself. I don't believe any priest has the power to grant me forgiveness. I believe only GOD does. I don't believe most catholic beliefs. How can a human grant me forgiveness when he's just a human and sins himself? What makes him better than me? Nothing.
2007-11-14 04:20:31 · answer #5 · answered by Katie H 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
For the same reason you can't psychoanalyze yourself. Shrinks have known for a century now that you can counsel yourself on your psychological problems till the cows come home, but you're spinning your wheels. You need to have another human being to talk to. That's just something very basic about our nature.
Jesus knew that. It's not that we are not allowed to confess right to God. We can. But he knew that there is something psychologically and spiritually good about talking to another person you can actually see. Jesus knew that it was important to hear another person remind you that God forgives you and calls you to repentance.
2007-11-14 04:16:43 · answer #6 · answered by FrereJacques 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am not catholic.In the New Testament we are told that all believers in Christ are both priests and saints.I believe Jesus wants us to confess to God and to people that we have hurt by our actions.
2007-11-14 05:45:43 · answer #7 · answered by Don Verto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He did... that's why the curtain was torn from the Holy of Holies in the temple at the moment of Jesus's death. It allows us access to God the father through his son's death.
That's the whole purpose of Jesus's coming to earth, to be a sacrifice that would take away our sins. Remember "NO one gets to the father, but by me"?
2007-11-14 04:24:09 · answer #8 · answered by Zipperhead 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People, read John 20: 21-23
It is very easy to go to God directly and say "Sorry, God, my bad" and not really mean it.
By going to a priest, you must show humility and contrition to even admit your sins in the first place. The priest also acts as a counselor to help you avoid sin in the future. The priest also assigns pennance which helps you get back on track back to God. A person assigning themselves pennance (do Protestants even do pennance?) is pretty silly.
The Bible is full of examples of God using people, even sinful people, to accomplish His plan.
2007-11-14 04:23:07 · answer #9 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Jesus didn't create priests to confess our sins to, man did. We go directly to Christ, who takes them to the Father. They tried that in the Old Testament, but men are too corrupt, and Jesus came to eliminate the middle man and sacrificing. Jesus is the ultimate way, the ultimate sacrifice.
2007-11-14 04:20:12 · answer #10 · answered by Mookie 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
We don't have to go through another human, Christianity is completley different in that you can pray straight to God. That was how he intended it Catholic's have added this in. (Catholisism is not a Christian faith as such or they would not practise this.)
2007-11-14 04:41:32 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋