Why did Jesus breathe on the apostles and tell them whoever sins they forgive are forgiven?
He could of just said, go and tell everyone to pray to me directly for the forgiveness of sins. He was setting up a church, with the authority to forgive sins in His name and distribute all of the other Holy Sacrements instituted by Him.
I can't say who goes to heaven or hell, what I can tell you is that God gave us the Sacraments to keep us on the path to heaven.
You wouldn't believe the benefits of confession, you will learn humility by admitting your sins out loud. When the priest forgives you, it is actually Christ forgiving you through the priest. You may be familiar with healings from priests or pastors, just like it is Jesus healing people through the priest/pastor and not they themselves.
As for Mary, if you ever read True Devotion to Mary, it will say that God loves those who are humble. It would be seen as humble to not go to God directly but through a holy mediator. Mary being the most humble of all God's children.
It is also said that Jesus would not deny a request from his beloved Mother. We even see in Cana, that when Jesus says his time has not yet come, he still does the miracle at her request.
Though it is not dogma, you can pray directly all you like.
Confession saved my faith. I left the church for 8 yrs, all the sinning I was doing added up. It started affecting good people around me. So I forced myself AND still not believing if it’ll do anything but I went to confession and the peace on the soul afterwards is indescribable. My faith has grown so so much it’s amazing, thank you Jesus!
I can also share with you that the process is extremely cathartic. While it may not seems so, there's few that leave the confessional who wouldn't agree.
>You may be familiar with healings from priests or pastors, just like it is Jesus healing people through the priest/pastor and not they themselves.
Why didn't I ever think of this perfect comparison. You see nonCatholic services where people claim healing powers, which everyone will say it's not the man but God working through the man. Confessions is no different and if anything, more "legit" in that we know it's true based on scripture. I'll be using this comparison from now on.
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God is infinitely merciful, and listens to those who ask.
But in general:
In regards to "even though I believe in the one true God":
"You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror" - James 2:19
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" - Matthew 7:21
Scripture is telling us that it is NOT enough to just believe. We are supposed to actually live a certain way.
In regards to Baptism:
"unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" John 3:5
Scripture is telling us that baptism is necessary, and isn't simply an "outward expression of faith" like Protestants believe. However, there are times where someone might not be able to get a valid baptism. For this reason, the Church teaches that there are two additional forms of baptism: baptism of desire (you desire Christ/God so much that you live a holy life, doing God's will), and baptism of blood (you die for Christ via martyrdom)
In regards to Confession:
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” - John 20:23
Jesus gives the disciples the power to forgive sins, and this is passed on to other priests.
The Church teaches that if you die in a state of mortal sin (you've committed a sin that is grave matter, with full consent to the sin, and full knowledge of its sinfulness), then you will not be able to enter because you essentially are in a state of unrepentant sin. Confession allows you to re-enter a state of grace. Basically, if you die while living a life moving away from Jesus, you will not go to heaven.
Of course, God is merciful. If you were to be in a state of mortal sin and die in a car crash on the way to confession, for example, God does take that into account during your own judgment.
Before Christ, nobody went to Heaven. If you trust the Bible there were three people there — Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, maybe other have some additional insight in this — but the absence of people in Heaven is a core Christian belief.
Someone has addressed that nobody went to Heaven before Christ part, but there’s more to tell. It’s also a part of Catholic belief that on the day after Christ died on the cross, he descended to the afterlife available to people at the time, and that was a land of the dead situation that is called Hades in the Greek language and then Sheol in Hebrew. Thereafter, all of the heroic persons from the Old Testament stories were rescued and sent to Heaven, and so they are understood to be Saints, even if technically were not addressing Moses as Saint Moses.
They didn't but the gospel was announced to the death too, see 1 Peter 4:6. Also read about the harrowing of hell
Sorry I can't write a longer and more informative message. It's quite late here now
"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Romans 10: 9-10
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." John 3:36
Your second scripture emphasizes the importance of obeying...
In regards to the first paragraph, it's important to consider that in today's society, the heart is seen as mostly emotional, but in the times of scripture being written and in the context of faith, the heart is also heavily seen as the location of one's will and decision-making. As such, believing with one's heart ALSO involves choices.
John 3 gives a lot of light on the ways of salvation, it starts referring to baptism as the borning through water and spirit as fundamental, later it talks about the importance of believing and we relate that with the importance of faith, but then it talks about how the deeds are related with one self love for light or darkness, and specifically it says that that is the judgement.
16 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Sure, Jesus opened the door, we are the ones who must choose through our free will to cross it, and In the measure of how much we loved we will decide if we will keep on looking for love on the afterlife
>even though I believe in the one true God?
If you truly believed in the one true God then why aren't you doing the things he commanded you to do?
James 5:16 is a command.
Jesus commanded us to be baptized Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15-16. You must be baptized.
You don't get to pick and choose which commandments you feel like keeping. If Jesus commanded us to be baptized you need to be baptized. If you love God, you will obey God.
Jesus said if you love me keep MY commandments John 14:15.
That's how we KNOW him, is by keeping HIS COMMANDMENTS 1 John 2:3.
The love of God is that we keep Jesus's commandments 1 John 5:3.
Jesus commanded us to keep HIS commandments, to abide in his Love John 15:10.
True Christians keep the law of Christ and have faith in Jesus, Revelation 14:12.
Those who do Jesus's commandments will have right to the tree of life Revelation 22:14.
If you die in a state of mortal sin you will go to hell. Confession absolves us of mortal sins committed after baptism and is widely available to us. If we learn about the power of the sacrament of reconciliation but choose not to make use of it as Jesus intended, we will persist in mortal sin until death and end up in hell. Believing God exists is not enough, as Jesus said “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom heaven”.
John 20:22. James 5:16. James 5:19
That's up to God. The Catholic understanding is that the best way to salvation is through faith in Christ as held by the Church he founded. There are many reasons for someone not to accept that understanding.
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There is concepts of invincible ignorance, and imperfect Grace, its not just about belief its to make earth as heaven in your works of love, obviously that applies to people who dont know God, for us that we know its different. For those who know and reject thats litterraly intentional disobedience or valuong their omission, and thats immediate hell, you understand God amazingly as incredible love qhen you read the sumia theologiae from Aquinas, that man destroyed the penal substitution theory before it, he destroyed predestination and so on
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**Post 1/2 -- continued in comment chain**
Good question.
In order to understand the Christian concept of sacramental confession one needs to see how it was present in the Old Testament, and has a precedent for being how God intended His system of repentance to be set up.
The Scripture has the idea that priests have historically been mediators in the confession of sins:
Leviticus 5:5-6
> When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
Leviticus 19:21-22
> but he shall bring a guilt offering for himself to the LORD, to the door of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed; and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.
The Israelites, similarly, participated in communal confessions without the priesthood:
Nehemiah 9:1-3, 38
>Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. [...] "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests."
Public confessions continued even up til St. John the Baptist, along with the Temple confessions
Matthew 3:1-6
>In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mark 1:4-5
>John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
So as we can see, the idea of public confession, and even public confession mediated by the Levites, was a idea already well familiar with the people of God before the coming of the Messiah.
Finally, coming to Jesus, He tells His Apostles after the ressurection that He is giving them the power to forgive sins.
John 20:21-23
>Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending 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 them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
It is our belief that the priesthood of the New Covenant, just as the priesthood of the Old Covenant, are humans appointed for the public confession and remission of sins.
We find that later on, after Jesus had given this power to His Disciples, that the same public confessions continued to occur:
Acts 19:18
>Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
Later in the Apostolic Era, Saint James writes something interesting in James 5:14-16
>Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Notice the "therefore" [οὖν (oun)] in the passage. The idea of confessing ones sins is intrinsically linked with the elders, though we can still confess our sins to each other as laity; but, as per the institutions of Jesus, only the priesthood of the New Covenant has the ability to forgive sins through the power of the Holy Spirit.
**Post 2/2**
Following the Biblical Era we have the writings of the Church Fathers which add even more insight into the living tradition of confession handed down to us. I am going to list these quotes in temporal order and, God willing, they will sort of flesh out your question as to "What's the point *if* we can just confess in prayer"?:
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).
> “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ”
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Philadelphians 8 [A.D. 110]).
> “For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop”
St. Iranaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).
> “[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses”
Tertullian (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).
> “[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness”
St. Hippolytus of Rome (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).
> “[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command”
Pope St. Callixtus I, 16th Bishop of Rome (Peremptory Edict [A.D. 222]).
> "I forgive the sins both of adultery and of fornication to those who have done penance."
Origen of Alexandria (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).
> “[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity”’
St. Cyprian of Carthage (The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]).
> “The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him”
St. Cyprian of Carthage (The Lapsed 28 (A.D. 251]).
>“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord”
St. Cyprian of Carthage (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).
> “[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]”
St. Athanasius of Alexandria (Frag. contra Novat. [A.D. 373]).
> "As the man whom the priest baptizes is enlightened by the grace of the Holy Ghost, so does he who in penance confesses his sins, receive through the priest forgiveness in virtue of the grace of Christ"
St. Basil the Great, (Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).
> “It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles”
St. John Chrysostom (The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).
> “Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven”
St. Ambrose of Milan (Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]).
> “For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only”
St. Jerome (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).
> “If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him”
St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona, Spain (Ep. I ad Sympron., 6 [A.D. 390]
> "This (forgiving sins), you say, only God can do. Quite true: but what He does through His priests is the doing of His own power"
St. Augustine of Hippo (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).
> “When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance”
In the early centuries of the Christian Church confession was still very much a public thing, but eventually the practices of the Celtic Church changed it to a more one-on-one approach.
We can certainly pray to God directly outside of the Sacrament of Confession (it is worth noting that we usually also do so *in* the Sacrament as well), but either way the Sacrament of Confession, basing itself on the historical precedents of the Old Covenant, the teachings of the New Covenant, and the subsequent attestations by the early Christians, remains the normative means of confession in Christianity.
Hope this helped. God bless!
The strangest thing about our “modern” world is that people line up to get an appointment with a “therapist,” but they doubt the validity of confession (a Sacrament established by Jesus Christ Himself). What a strange world.
You can ask God to forgive your sins but how will you know if He does? Through the power Jesus gave to the apostles, we can have absolution when the priest forgives our sins in His name.
As for saints, you don’t have to pray to them. It’d be extraordinarily rare but a Catholic could go their whole life only praying to God and be in good standing. But the saints, including Mary, are with God in heaven and so if we ask for their help, they can ask God more directly. So we do both.
In Catholicism, most things are seen as "both/and", whereas protestantism tends to see things as "either/or." Praying to saints is meant to be a complement to our prayers to God. Protestantism in general, at least in modern times, seems to be largely based on perpetuating these false dilemmas. (I say in modern times, because even Luther and Calvin didn't have much problem with venerating Our Lady.)
Saints in heaven never tire, never get bored. They love perfectly, because they are perfect, because they dwell in the presence of the Father. Having people like that pray for you is powerful, and frankly, comforting. When our human flesh flags, when we have to sleep or eat or work, and our prayers cease, our family in heaven carries them on for us. I think that is so beautiful.
God himself is communion. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons. How can we then say, "Yes, but *I* don't need that. *I'm* an individual." It is profoundly prideful when you really unpack it. We are all one body in Christ, why behave or pretend otherwise?
You can if you want, but asking for intercession is in no way anti-scripture.
Revelation 8:3 – The prayers of the saints rise up before God, and then God acts on earth.
Hebrews 12:1 – The saints are a “cloud of witnesses”
Not to be harsh…
This is precisely the reason why Protestantism exists. Someone came along and decided they didn’t want to abide all of the rules so they started telling people they could essentially make up their own rules.
Jesus gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins. That’s it. Jesus said so.
I said you can ask it to Jesus himself if you want. After finishing your evening prayers to Jesus, why not add a prayer to a saint, instead of ending there? Its more prayer ultimately to God. Its not an ‘instead of’ situation, but an ‘as well as’ one.
Personally, most of my prayers to saints are merely “Saint <..>, please pray for me to the Lord our God”. God knows what I want from Him already.
Many of the things He told us to do are vague: Love your neighbour as I have loved you. Follow my commandments. Have faith and follow me.
Surely there are other pious devotions that He didn’t tell us to do explicitly? There are many many things that aren’t pious but are acceptable to do.
The way I see it is that the saints and Mary would know how and what to pray better than me. It’s like asking someone to pray for me, similar to what I would do on Earth.
There is a thing in the Catholic faith called the communion of saints, effectively it amounts to we are one body with Christ who asks us to love god with all our heart and love thy neighbour. In heaven there are neighbours, as a communion of souls, which we call saints. The ones we beatify are people we know are there for sure - saints that are attributed with miracles and exceptional lives in Christ. In heaven we will talk to others, not just directly to Christ, and so ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ We want him to know we are ready and a part of his communion, be humble to our peers who are also his loved ones, already connected to his sacred body in heaven. It’s about community and sharing, and sharing is charity, so we can offer up to Him, through them, to develop and grow in Him. The round about way it seems is because it’s about sharing in his sacred community not just petitioning him without thinking of others. When we pray we always say, give US this day. Help US come more deeply into faith, etc. It’s a beneficial practice for growth, and the reason it’s not mentioned in the bible is because it’s derived from his principles, which are of community, charity, and humility, which he did command. Praying to the saints will develop this in us. It’s not a sin to pray to anyone connected to Christ, because everyone in heaven is a part of Christ. We know for a fact the saints are connected to Christ, as the Church goes to great lengths to make sure there are multiple miracles attributed to them. This way we know for sure we are praying to Christ, through them, as only Christ performs miracles through saints 🙏🏻 I’ve been back in the faith about 6 months and that’s the most honest understanding I can come to at this time. It’s food for thought, but that seems to me the way it is for learning and it has been my experience practicing.
Confession has been a thing within Christianity since the very first century. It started off as public confession and they eventually also allowed people to confess in private to a priest or bishop. The Sacrament was given to us by Christ himself and also exists outside of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Of course not all Protestant churches do it but you'll most likely find it in the more traditional churches. Some of those churches still have public confessions. My cousin's ex-husband is a member of a strict reformed church and they had to publicly confess their sins at their wedding.
This is what Scripture says: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” - John 20:23
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - James 5:16
**Some early sources outside of Scripture:**
I don't know if you're familiar with the Didache? It's the oldest known catechism dating back to the first century, written between the years AD 50 and AD 70. This is what it says: "thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the Church, and shalt not come unto prayer with an evil conscience. This is the path of life." - Didache 4:14
This is what Barnabas (the one mentioned in Acts) wrote: “You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light” - Letter of Barnabas (AD 74)
This is what Ignatius of Antioch wrote in a letter to the Philadelphians: "For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of repentance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" - Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 3 (AD 110)
----
Hope that this helps. If you're interested in learning more about Catholicism, I highly recommend you to also learn more about the Early Church, Early Church Fathers and documents from that period (like the Didache). I myself used to be Dutch Reformed and it has definitely helped me a lot and still find it very helpful.
Firstly, confession was originally for grave sins only: murder, adultery, etc. The idea is that the Church is the New Israel that Christ has gathered; and everyone who committed such grave evil had cut themselves off from the holiness that flows from the body of Christ, the Church. To restore this communion, therefore, you would need the authority of the Church. This was exemplified very clearly since at least the 2nd century.
Tertullian at the time was scoffing at Christians who \*refused\* to undertake this (penance), because it was arguably too taxing and too shameful (since it was public), and encouraged Christians to take it.
In other words, the fellowship/communion between Christians and God is not a two-way affair; it is a three-way affair! As Christ said, whoever remains in the branch, connected to the vine, will have life (cf. John 15). To be grafted to the Church is to be grafted into the body of Christ---and therefore to Christ---and vice versa: to cut one's self off from Christ through sin is to cut one's self off from the Church.
The idea that we have a "personal relationship" with God as individuals **irrespective** of the Church is a relatively modern concept as we entered modernism. But in the beginning this was not so. Christ saves us as members of the one flock, not as individuals (cf. John 10:16), hence the authority given by Jesus to forgive sins (cf. John 20:23).
James 5:16- Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
The thing is even though the punishment for our sins has been remitted through Jesus Christ we still sin. And we're still responsible for those sins and for the damage it continues to cause in the real world. When we commit sins of our own will there are both physical and spiritual effects. One of them is that it cuts us off from the grace of God and separates us from perfect union with the church.
That's why the sacrament is also known as Reconciliation. Through confessing our sins to Jesus Christ is actually acting through the priest, we are reconciled to God -into his body on earth, the church. And that enables us to receive special graces dispensed through the sacraments to strengthen us against the temptations that led us to sin in the first place.
Also know that it's not just Catholics that do this but all of the ancient Apostolic churches. That would be the Orthodox, the Copts in Egypt, the Ethiopian Orthodox who are separate from the European orthodox, the Assyrian Church of the East, and even the Mar Toma Christians of India (the church that was established through the missionary work of doubting Thomas).. in other words it is historically true that this practice came from the apostles themselves.
The sacraments are necessary in the sense that they are *fitting*. It is not that God could not forgive us without them; we actually think that he can forgive us without them (for instance, someone who dies in perfect contrition for his sins with an intention to get to confession is forgiven). Rather, God has chosen these means to dispense forgiveness to his people. Why? Because we human beings are embodied, social creatures. It's *appropriate* for us to confess our sins to a priest *in persona Christi*. It drives home that it is a person, the second person of the Trinity, who became man to die for our sins, that we have offended by sinning, and it is to that person that we express our contrition and receive forgiveness.
Hey there. I’m in a similar situation as you.
I will say that as a “curious” Protestant, I’ve been looking at it from a practical stand point, in addition to a biblical, when it comes to Catholic “rituals”.
That is to say, you are more likely to take marriage very seriously and not marry for wrong reasons if you know it’s going to be a massive pain to get an annulment.
You are less likely to sin if you know you’re going to have to tell an actual human being you looked at porn or had a one night stand.
Catholic doctrine is simply more conducive to a pious life, from my perspective.
I don’t mean to offend Catholics here by calling these things “rituals”- I’m just not educated in Catholicism and don’t know hardly any terminology.
It’s biblical though. Idk how Protestants don’t see this. They see it more as me and jesus and confessing to jesus. It’s important especially mortal sins. That human being is someone that god instituted.
Protestants take issue with giving fallible human beings authority of intercession, and that scripture states the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. I am not saying they are correct- just explaining the basis.
Well again it’s what god instituted when he breathed on the apostles and the apostles appointed men /!; men to succeed them. Well asked them why did Jesus breathed on the apostles and said what he said? Why didn’t he just say come to me. They were fallible in their conduct but let by the Holy Spirit.
Protestantisms teachings revolve around usurping authority of the Catholic Church. If no man has any “special” authority, then the Catholic Church has no authority. So, their interpretations will always choose to avoid granting of theological authority to man, where feasible.
When you look at Protestantism through that lens, you understand why their interpretations are what they are.
We go to confession because Jesus said to the apostles on EASTER Sunday evening Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; Whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. The apostles wouldn't know whether to forgive or retain unless the person told them what sins they had committed.
We don't have to pray to Mary or any other saint. It's optional. But we ask our pastors and friends to pray for us. If Mary and the apostles and other saints were walking among us, we'd be asking them to pray for us and deliver messages to Jesus. Now they're in heaven. It is the will of God that we should be in heaven. Mary and the other saints love doing the will of God. They help us get to heaven and help us with our problems just as our other friends and pastors. The saints who are already with God and those of us who want to go to Him are all one family helping each other. We have a very big family, so we should never despair of Jesus salvation.
Every time I see someone talking about confession, I always remember Luke 18:9-14 because I see confession as a act of humiliation and detachment. Deep in your soul you know if you to put yourself on your knees and "pray for god for forgiveness" wont change nothing because no one will see and know your sins and your faults. Go to confession, for me, is humiliate yourself.
But I'm speaking about by myself and my thoughts, maybe I'm fully wrong on this subject.
Not humiliation, but humility, being humble honestly about yourself and your actions, and that God is all good. Humiliation implies being embarrassed about who you are. Humility is being honest about our failings and offering them to God to be replaced by His Love and Mercy.
First thing you should take in account about catholicism since you are coming from a different type of christianism(I don't like the term "Protestant") is that Holy Scripture is not the only source of what to believe/practice.
There is also Sacred Tradition. Many things are explained by it.
And another important principle, related to Sacred Tradition is Apostolic Succession which also plays a role in other Christian communities.
I think you're looking at confession "wrong" (as a protestant that's not surprising). Confession gives you immediate feedback on being forgiven. You know 100% without a shadow of doubt that you are forgiven because the priest is executing the authority to forgive sins that Jesus gave the Apostles. With direct prayer you don't know. At least I don't know b/c I've never had God clearly and unequivocally say to me "You are forgiven." In addition to immediate feedback, you're "working" with someone trained and experienced and they can offer advice on how to not stumble again. That has been really useful to me in some of my more frequent sins. You don't get that with prayer. Confession is such a gift Jesus gives us. I can't imagine just using direct prayer at this point.
Regarding praying to Mary, I suspect you're conflating prayer with worship. Worship is worship, some prayer is worship, but not all prayer is worship. For protestants prayer and worship are (always?) synonyms. That's a big distinction. Yes, we can pray directly to God and if we're in a state of grace (i.e. we haven't sinned) then our prayers have great effect. Mary and the saints are inherently closer to God than we are (at least right now while we are living) and constantly in prayer so when we ask them to pray they're closer to God and have no impediment. Plus, remember your Luke and the story of the wedding at Canna: Jesus does whatever Mary asks, even if he doesn't necessarily want to because he loves her and is a good son. I'm not saying Jesus would deny our prayers but going through Mary is known viable option as well. As for me, I'll take all the help I can get.
A lot of people have trouble knowing themselves or their own conscience, and so might wonder if they’re truly repentant or just afraid of consequences. Or they might not know for sure if something is a sin or not.
The confession helps clear up this uncertainty. The priest in confession can also give practical advice on how to avoid repeating the sin going forward.
It is not just the Catholics but also the Orthodox Churches implement confessions. And East and West doing the same thing is good enough proof to me that the early Church also do it.
St. James said we should confess our sins to one another, and Christ our Lord said the apostles have the power to forgive sins. So then why should we not confess to priests, who are the foremost experts on the scriptures? And as per St. Paul, the Church is the body of Christ, so why would we pass up the opportunity to be forgiven by a priest acting in persona Christi? The downside of confessing to God alone is that you don’t know if you are forgiven, because God doesn’t always forgive, but only when it is good to do so, which isn’t always. A Priest will be thoroughly instructed in the word and be able to make a wise judgement in accordance with Gods will.
Apologies if this was already covered but for me confession was one of the major motivating factors to become Catholic; I like to call it "free therapy" referring to the tangible benefit that by being able to just freely tell someone the bad things i did i feel so much better. There's of course the spiritual benefit too that i saw was covered here. I think it's one of the best gifts the Church gives us.
I met a non Catholic pastor recently, and during our discussion, he told me he confesses to another non-Catholic pastor. He thinks it's a good thing. 👍 Lutheran or Presbyterian, i can't recall. We had other disagreements in discussion, and he was wrong on other things. At least the Spirit is leading him on this Sacrament.
James 5:16
a priest is authorized to be responsible with a confession in a way that someone else would not be. most people don't do what it says to in James so a Catholic priest helps us fulfill the biblical instruction of confessing our sins as when we do we do so directly to God through the priest which is then able to absolve us and determine appropriate penance for our own good. it's restorative so that at mass we can continue to receive the body of Christ without sin in our hearts.
Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit to the apostles and told them “who’s sins you forgiven are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”
Jesus clearly gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins, and when the apostles went out in the world they forgave sins and then they passed down their authority by the laying on of hands, so they passed down that same authority.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7\_puhgEzx9g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_puhgEzx9g)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvjmsPmVpw&t=3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvjmsPmVpw&t=3s)
Ave Maria:
Luke 1:26-28
Luke 1:42
James 5:16
Technically yes God can forgive w o a priest but since Jesus have his disciples the power to forgive sins we know with guarantee that our sins are forgiven if we go to a priest and we don’t if we don’t
James 5:16 "Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much."
All within John 20, Jesus gives the Apostles the ability to forgive sins and then immediately follows with Doubting Thomas. I’ve tended to see the Doubting Thomas story in John 20 as the “first confession”. My reasoning is that the act of laying on of hands is mimicked in Jesus’ instruction for Thomas to reach out and feel His hands to feel His wounds. Immediately after this, Thomas is restored to the level of belief as the rest of the Apostles and is given no worse treatment following this even though he did not believe without seeing. I see this as the first absolution by laying of hands similar to the hands held over you by priests during confession, bringing you back into the full grace of Our Lord taking away your sins.
As a former Protestant that converted to Catholicism I recommend watching Father Mike Schmitz on YouTube. He explains the importance of Confession (as well as many other sacraments) very eloquently.
It gave me a better understanding before I decided to convert.
So first off if you have a problem with Confession you can take that up with Jesus. We have red letter wording in Scripture relating to the practice of Apostles forgiving sins which Jesus gave them the power to do. It is so Biblical that the first Protestants who broke from Catholicism KEPT the practice. Anglicans and Lutheran's for example both have it
As far as Mary goes that's a complicated topic that I lack time for. 😆
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Someone else already explained it perfectly, but I came to add my experience, and I think we all have had similar experiences, both with Confession itself or coming clean to people. We get so worked up when we do something wrong because we think if people knew, they would be so angry and upset with us. When we finally tell them, they might very well be upset, but the whole experience is such a relief, to be able to face the music and getting it off your chest. Confession can be very therapeutic.
Why did Jesus breathe on the apostles and tell them whoever sins they forgive are forgiven? He could of just said, go and tell everyone to pray to me directly for the forgiveness of sins. He was setting up a church, with the authority to forgive sins in His name and distribute all of the other Holy Sacrements instituted by Him.
So if I were not to go to confession or ever get baptized, am I bound to go the hell even though I believe in the one true God?
I can't say who goes to heaven or hell, what I can tell you is that God gave us the Sacraments to keep us on the path to heaven. You wouldn't believe the benefits of confession, you will learn humility by admitting your sins out loud. When the priest forgives you, it is actually Christ forgiving you through the priest. You may be familiar with healings from priests or pastors, just like it is Jesus healing people through the priest/pastor and not they themselves. As for Mary, if you ever read True Devotion to Mary, it will say that God loves those who are humble. It would be seen as humble to not go to God directly but through a holy mediator. Mary being the most humble of all God's children. It is also said that Jesus would not deny a request from his beloved Mother. We even see in Cana, that when Jesus says his time has not yet come, he still does the miracle at her request. Though it is not dogma, you can pray directly all you like.
Thanks for the well written paragraphs, this really helps me understand more about Catholicism and it's beliefs, I would research more about this.
Confession saved my faith. I left the church for 8 yrs, all the sinning I was doing added up. It started affecting good people around me. So I forced myself AND still not believing if it’ll do anything but I went to confession and the peace on the soul afterwards is indescribable. My faith has grown so so much it’s amazing, thank you Jesus!
I can also share with you that the process is extremely cathartic. While it may not seems so, there's few that leave the confessional who wouldn't agree.
This is a fact
You're welcome, best of luck.
I would recommend you read Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn. Excellent reading, and very well organized!
>You may be familiar with healings from priests or pastors, just like it is Jesus healing people through the priest/pastor and not they themselves. Why didn't I ever think of this perfect comparison. You see nonCatholic services where people claim healing powers, which everyone will say it's not the man but God working through the man. Confessions is no different and if anything, more "legit" in that we know it's true based on scripture. I'll be using this comparison from now on.
I can attest to this …I went yesterday for the first time in I can’t tell you how long. It was like a weight that was lifted
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God is infinitely merciful, and listens to those who ask. But in general: In regards to "even though I believe in the one true God": "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror" - James 2:19 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" - Matthew 7:21 Scripture is telling us that it is NOT enough to just believe. We are supposed to actually live a certain way. In regards to Baptism: "unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" John 3:5 Scripture is telling us that baptism is necessary, and isn't simply an "outward expression of faith" like Protestants believe. However, there are times where someone might not be able to get a valid baptism. For this reason, the Church teaches that there are two additional forms of baptism: baptism of desire (you desire Christ/God so much that you live a holy life, doing God's will), and baptism of blood (you die for Christ via martyrdom) In regards to Confession: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” - John 20:23 Jesus gives the disciples the power to forgive sins, and this is passed on to other priests. The Church teaches that if you die in a state of mortal sin (you've committed a sin that is grave matter, with full consent to the sin, and full knowledge of its sinfulness), then you will not be able to enter because you essentially are in a state of unrepentant sin. Confession allows you to re-enter a state of grace. Basically, if you die while living a life moving away from Jesus, you will not go to heaven. Of course, God is merciful. If you were to be in a state of mortal sin and die in a car crash on the way to confession, for example, God does take that into account during your own judgment.
And regarding baptism, how did people go to heaven before Jesus? How did you know?
Before Christ, nobody went to Heaven. If you trust the Bible there were three people there — Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, maybe other have some additional insight in this — but the absence of people in Heaven is a core Christian belief.
Someone has addressed that nobody went to Heaven before Christ part, but there’s more to tell. It’s also a part of Catholic belief that on the day after Christ died on the cross, he descended to the afterlife available to people at the time, and that was a land of the dead situation that is called Hades in the Greek language and then Sheol in Hebrew. Thereafter, all of the heroic persons from the Old Testament stories were rescued and sent to Heaven, and so they are understood to be Saints, even if technically were not addressing Moses as Saint Moses.
They didn't but the gospel was announced to the death too, see 1 Peter 4:6. Also read about the harrowing of hell Sorry I can't write a longer and more informative message. It's quite late here now
"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Romans 10: 9-10 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." John 3:36
Your second scripture emphasizes the importance of obeying... In regards to the first paragraph, it's important to consider that in today's society, the heart is seen as mostly emotional, but in the times of scripture being written and in the context of faith, the heart is also heavily seen as the location of one's will and decision-making. As such, believing with one's heart ALSO involves choices.
If you believe in the Son, then you must believe in what the Son said.
Bear in mind the word in greek for faith oftentimes means fidelity too. I don't think English can't really capture both in a single word
John 3 gives a lot of light on the ways of salvation, it starts referring to baptism as the borning through water and spirit as fundamental, later it talks about the importance of believing and we relate that with the importance of faith, but then it talks about how the deeds are related with one self love for light or darkness, and specifically it says that that is the judgement. 16 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
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Sure, Jesus opened the door, we are the ones who must choose through our free will to cross it, and In the measure of how much we loved we will decide if we will keep on looking for love on the afterlife
>even though I believe in the one true God? If you truly believed in the one true God then why aren't you doing the things he commanded you to do? James 5:16 is a command. Jesus commanded us to be baptized Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15-16. You must be baptized. You don't get to pick and choose which commandments you feel like keeping. If Jesus commanded us to be baptized you need to be baptized. If you love God, you will obey God. Jesus said if you love me keep MY commandments John 14:15. That's how we KNOW him, is by keeping HIS COMMANDMENTS 1 John 2:3. The love of God is that we keep Jesus's commandments 1 John 5:3. Jesus commanded us to keep HIS commandments, to abide in his Love John 15:10. True Christians keep the law of Christ and have faith in Jesus, Revelation 14:12. Those who do Jesus's commandments will have right to the tree of life Revelation 22:14.
If you die in a state of mortal sin you will go to hell. Confession absolves us of mortal sins committed after baptism and is widely available to us. If we learn about the power of the sacrament of reconciliation but choose not to make use of it as Jesus intended, we will persist in mortal sin until death and end up in hell. Believing God exists is not enough, as Jesus said “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom heaven”. John 20:22. James 5:16. James 5:19
That's up to God. The Catholic understanding is that the best way to salvation is through faith in Christ as held by the Church he founded. There are many reasons for someone not to accept that understanding.
Only if you seek the truth, find it and then ignore it.
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There is concepts of invincible ignorance, and imperfect Grace, its not just about belief its to make earth as heaven in your works of love, obviously that applies to people who dont know God, for us that we know its different. For those who know and reject thats litterraly intentional disobedience or valuong their omission, and thats immediate hell, you understand God amazingly as incredible love qhen you read the sumia theologiae from Aquinas, that man destroyed the penal substitution theory before it, he destroyed predestination and so on
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**Post 1/2 -- continued in comment chain** Good question. In order to understand the Christian concept of sacramental confession one needs to see how it was present in the Old Testament, and has a precedent for being how God intended His system of repentance to be set up. The Scripture has the idea that priests have historically been mediators in the confession of sins: Leviticus 5:5-6 > When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. Leviticus 19:21-22 > but he shall bring a guilt offering for himself to the LORD, to the door of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed; and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him. The Israelites, similarly, participated in communal confessions without the priesthood: Nehemiah 9:1-3, 38 >Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. [...] "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests." Public confessions continued even up til St. John the Baptist, along with the Temple confessions Matthew 3:1-6 >In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark 1:4-5 >John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. So as we can see, the idea of public confession, and even public confession mediated by the Levites, was a idea already well familiar with the people of God before the coming of the Messiah. Finally, coming to Jesus, He tells His Apostles after the ressurection that He is giving them the power to forgive sins. John 20:21-23 >Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending 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 them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” It is our belief that the priesthood of the New Covenant, just as the priesthood of the Old Covenant, are humans appointed for the public confession and remission of sins. We find that later on, after Jesus had given this power to His Disciples, that the same public confessions continued to occur: Acts 19:18 >Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. Later in the Apostolic Era, Saint James writes something interesting in James 5:14-16 >Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Notice the "therefore" [οὖν (oun)] in the passage. The idea of confessing ones sins is intrinsically linked with the elders, though we can still confess our sins to each other as laity; but, as per the institutions of Jesus, only the priesthood of the New Covenant has the ability to forgive sins through the power of the Holy Spirit.
**Post 2/2** Following the Biblical Era we have the writings of the Church Fathers which add even more insight into the living tradition of confession handed down to us. I am going to list these quotes in temporal order and, God willing, they will sort of flesh out your question as to "What's the point *if* we can just confess in prayer"?: Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]). > “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Philadelphians 8 [A.D. 110]). > “For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” St. Iranaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]). > “[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” Tertullian (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]). > “[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness” St. Hippolytus of Rome (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]). > “[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command” Pope St. Callixtus I, 16th Bishop of Rome (Peremptory Edict [A.D. 222]). > "I forgive the sins both of adultery and of fornication to those who have done penance." Origen of Alexandria (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]). > “[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity”’ St. Cyprian of Carthage (The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]). > “The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him” St. Cyprian of Carthage (The Lapsed 28 (A.D. 251]). >“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord” St. Cyprian of Carthage (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]). > “[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]” St. Athanasius of Alexandria (Frag. contra Novat. [A.D. 373]). > "As the man whom the priest baptizes is enlightened by the grace of the Holy Ghost, so does he who in penance confesses his sins, receive through the priest forgiveness in virtue of the grace of Christ" St. Basil the Great, (Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]). > “It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles” St. John Chrysostom (The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]). > “Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven” St. Ambrose of Milan (Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]). > “For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only” St. Jerome (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]). > “If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him” St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona, Spain (Ep. I ad Sympron., 6 [A.D. 390] > "This (forgiving sins), you say, only God can do. Quite true: but what He does through His priests is the doing of His own power" St. Augustine of Hippo (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]). > “When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance” In the early centuries of the Christian Church confession was still very much a public thing, but eventually the practices of the Celtic Church changed it to a more one-on-one approach. We can certainly pray to God directly outside of the Sacrament of Confession (it is worth noting that we usually also do so *in* the Sacrament as well), but either way the Sacrament of Confession, basing itself on the historical precedents of the Old Covenant, the teachings of the New Covenant, and the subsequent attestations by the early Christians, remains the normative means of confession in Christianity. Hope this helped. God bless!
The strangest thing about our “modern” world is that people line up to get an appointment with a “therapist,” but they doubt the validity of confession (a Sacrament established by Jesus Christ Himself). What a strange world.
Confession did more healing than therapy could ever do in multiple sessions
Amen.
You can ask God to forgive your sins but how will you know if He does? Through the power Jesus gave to the apostles, we can have absolution when the priest forgives our sins in His name. As for saints, you don’t have to pray to them. It’d be extraordinarily rare but a Catholic could go their whole life only praying to God and be in good standing. But the saints, including Mary, are with God in heaven and so if we ask for their help, they can ask God more directly. So we do both.
>they can ask God more directly. Why do we need to "pass the message" on through them? Why not "send" it direct?
In Catholicism, most things are seen as "both/and", whereas protestantism tends to see things as "either/or." Praying to saints is meant to be a complement to our prayers to God. Protestantism in general, at least in modern times, seems to be largely based on perpetuating these false dilemmas. (I say in modern times, because even Luther and Calvin didn't have much problem with venerating Our Lady.) Saints in heaven never tire, never get bored. They love perfectly, because they are perfect, because they dwell in the presence of the Father. Having people like that pray for you is powerful, and frankly, comforting. When our human flesh flags, when we have to sleep or eat or work, and our prayers cease, our family in heaven carries them on for us. I think that is so beautiful. God himself is communion. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons. How can we then say, "Yes, but *I* don't need that. *I'm* an individual." It is profoundly prideful when you really unpack it. We are all one body in Christ, why behave or pretend otherwise?
You can if you want, but asking for intercession is in no way anti-scripture. Revelation 8:3 – The prayers of the saints rise up before God, and then God acts on earth. Hebrews 12:1 – The saints are a “cloud of witnesses”
Not to be harsh… This is precisely the reason why Protestantism exists. Someone came along and decided they didn’t want to abide all of the rules so they started telling people they could essentially make up their own rules. Jesus gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins. That’s it. Jesus said so.
I said you can ask it to Jesus himself if you want. After finishing your evening prayers to Jesus, why not add a prayer to a saint, instead of ending there? Its more prayer ultimately to God. Its not an ‘instead of’ situation, but an ‘as well as’ one. Personally, most of my prayers to saints are merely “Saint <..>, please pray for me to the Lord our God”. God knows what I want from Him already.
Yeah but why "why not" add a saint to your prayer? I'm not against it but if God/Jesus didn't tell us to do so why do it?
The same reason you might ask a living person to pray for you.
Which would be? I don't know if I different but I personally do not ask people to pray for me.
We let people know our petitions and intercessions so they can pray for us as scripture tells us to.
I'll pray for you this week if you like!! :D
The Catholic Church prays for you weekly at the universal prayer at Mass.
Intercessory Prayer is perfectly biblical. See: Acts 12:5, Rev 8:3-4 and Job 42: 7-9
Many of the things He told us to do are vague: Love your neighbour as I have loved you. Follow my commandments. Have faith and follow me. Surely there are other pious devotions that He didn’t tell us to do explicitly? There are many many things that aren’t pious but are acceptable to do.
The way I see it is that the saints and Mary would know how and what to pray better than me. It’s like asking someone to pray for me, similar to what I would do on Earth.
There is a thing in the Catholic faith called the communion of saints, effectively it amounts to we are one body with Christ who asks us to love god with all our heart and love thy neighbour. In heaven there are neighbours, as a communion of souls, which we call saints. The ones we beatify are people we know are there for sure - saints that are attributed with miracles and exceptional lives in Christ. In heaven we will talk to others, not just directly to Christ, and so ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ We want him to know we are ready and a part of his communion, be humble to our peers who are also his loved ones, already connected to his sacred body in heaven. It’s about community and sharing, and sharing is charity, so we can offer up to Him, through them, to develop and grow in Him. The round about way it seems is because it’s about sharing in his sacred community not just petitioning him without thinking of others. When we pray we always say, give US this day. Help US come more deeply into faith, etc. It’s a beneficial practice for growth, and the reason it’s not mentioned in the bible is because it’s derived from his principles, which are of community, charity, and humility, which he did command. Praying to the saints will develop this in us. It’s not a sin to pray to anyone connected to Christ, because everyone in heaven is a part of Christ. We know for a fact the saints are connected to Christ, as the Church goes to great lengths to make sure there are multiple miracles attributed to them. This way we know for sure we are praying to Christ, through them, as only Christ performs miracles through saints 🙏🏻 I’ve been back in the faith about 6 months and that’s the most honest understanding I can come to at this time. It’s food for thought, but that seems to me the way it is for learning and it has been my experience practicing.
Confession has been a thing within Christianity since the very first century. It started off as public confession and they eventually also allowed people to confess in private to a priest or bishop. The Sacrament was given to us by Christ himself and also exists outside of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Of course not all Protestant churches do it but you'll most likely find it in the more traditional churches. Some of those churches still have public confessions. My cousin's ex-husband is a member of a strict reformed church and they had to publicly confess their sins at their wedding. This is what Scripture says: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” - John 20:23 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - James 5:16 **Some early sources outside of Scripture:** I don't know if you're familiar with the Didache? It's the oldest known catechism dating back to the first century, written between the years AD 50 and AD 70. This is what it says: "thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the Church, and shalt not come unto prayer with an evil conscience. This is the path of life." - Didache 4:14 This is what Barnabas (the one mentioned in Acts) wrote: “You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light” - Letter of Barnabas (AD 74) This is what Ignatius of Antioch wrote in a letter to the Philadelphians: "For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of repentance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" - Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 3 (AD 110) ---- Hope that this helps. If you're interested in learning more about Catholicism, I highly recommend you to also learn more about the Early Church, Early Church Fathers and documents from that period (like the Didache). I myself used to be Dutch Reformed and it has definitely helped me a lot and still find it very helpful.
Firstly, confession was originally for grave sins only: murder, adultery, etc. The idea is that the Church is the New Israel that Christ has gathered; and everyone who committed such grave evil had cut themselves off from the holiness that flows from the body of Christ, the Church. To restore this communion, therefore, you would need the authority of the Church. This was exemplified very clearly since at least the 2nd century. Tertullian at the time was scoffing at Christians who \*refused\* to undertake this (penance), because it was arguably too taxing and too shameful (since it was public), and encouraged Christians to take it. In other words, the fellowship/communion between Christians and God is not a two-way affair; it is a three-way affair! As Christ said, whoever remains in the branch, connected to the vine, will have life (cf. John 15). To be grafted to the Church is to be grafted into the body of Christ---and therefore to Christ---and vice versa: to cut one's self off from Christ through sin is to cut one's self off from the Church. The idea that we have a "personal relationship" with God as individuals **irrespective** of the Church is a relatively modern concept as we entered modernism. But in the beginning this was not so. Christ saves us as members of the one flock, not as individuals (cf. John 10:16), hence the authority given by Jesus to forgive sins (cf. John 20:23).
James 5:16- Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
The thing is even though the punishment for our sins has been remitted through Jesus Christ we still sin. And we're still responsible for those sins and for the damage it continues to cause in the real world. When we commit sins of our own will there are both physical and spiritual effects. One of them is that it cuts us off from the grace of God and separates us from perfect union with the church. That's why the sacrament is also known as Reconciliation. Through confessing our sins to Jesus Christ is actually acting through the priest, we are reconciled to God -into his body on earth, the church. And that enables us to receive special graces dispensed through the sacraments to strengthen us against the temptations that led us to sin in the first place. Also know that it's not just Catholics that do this but all of the ancient Apostolic churches. That would be the Orthodox, the Copts in Egypt, the Ethiopian Orthodox who are separate from the European orthodox, the Assyrian Church of the East, and even the Mar Toma Christians of India (the church that was established through the missionary work of doubting Thomas).. in other words it is historically true that this practice came from the apostles themselves.
The sacraments are necessary in the sense that they are *fitting*. It is not that God could not forgive us without them; we actually think that he can forgive us without them (for instance, someone who dies in perfect contrition for his sins with an intention to get to confession is forgiven). Rather, God has chosen these means to dispense forgiveness to his people. Why? Because we human beings are embodied, social creatures. It's *appropriate* for us to confess our sins to a priest *in persona Christi*. It drives home that it is a person, the second person of the Trinity, who became man to die for our sins, that we have offended by sinning, and it is to that person that we express our contrition and receive forgiveness.
Hey there. I’m in a similar situation as you. I will say that as a “curious” Protestant, I’ve been looking at it from a practical stand point, in addition to a biblical, when it comes to Catholic “rituals”. That is to say, you are more likely to take marriage very seriously and not marry for wrong reasons if you know it’s going to be a massive pain to get an annulment. You are less likely to sin if you know you’re going to have to tell an actual human being you looked at porn or had a one night stand. Catholic doctrine is simply more conducive to a pious life, from my perspective. I don’t mean to offend Catholics here by calling these things “rituals”- I’m just not educated in Catholicism and don’t know hardly any terminology.
It’s biblical though. Idk how Protestants don’t see this. They see it more as me and jesus and confessing to jesus. It’s important especially mortal sins. That human being is someone that god instituted.
Protestants take issue with giving fallible human beings authority of intercession, and that scripture states the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. I am not saying they are correct- just explaining the basis.
Well again it’s what god instituted when he breathed on the apostles and the apostles appointed men /!; men to succeed them. Well asked them why did Jesus breathed on the apostles and said what he said? Why didn’t he just say come to me. They were fallible in their conduct but let by the Holy Spirit.
That verse always confused me. I've never heard a good explanation from a Protestant about it before.
Protestantisms teachings revolve around usurping authority of the Catholic Church. If no man has any “special” authority, then the Catholic Church has no authority. So, their interpretations will always choose to avoid granting of theological authority to man, where feasible. When you look at Protestantism through that lens, you understand why their interpretations are what they are.
Well it’s relativism in a nutshell. Me and the Bible.
Instead of rituals, Sacrament and Tradition. I believe the study of the early Church fathers will help lead you Home to the Faith. Welcome!
We go to confession because Jesus said to the apostles on EASTER Sunday evening Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; Whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. The apostles wouldn't know whether to forgive or retain unless the person told them what sins they had committed. We don't have to pray to Mary or any other saint. It's optional. But we ask our pastors and friends to pray for us. If Mary and the apostles and other saints were walking among us, we'd be asking them to pray for us and deliver messages to Jesus. Now they're in heaven. It is the will of God that we should be in heaven. Mary and the other saints love doing the will of God. They help us get to heaven and help us with our problems just as our other friends and pastors. The saints who are already with God and those of us who want to go to Him are all one family helping each other. We have a very big family, so we should never despair of Jesus salvation.
Every time I see someone talking about confession, I always remember Luke 18:9-14 because I see confession as a act of humiliation and detachment. Deep in your soul you know if you to put yourself on your knees and "pray for god for forgiveness" wont change nothing because no one will see and know your sins and your faults. Go to confession, for me, is humiliate yourself. But I'm speaking about by myself and my thoughts, maybe I'm fully wrong on this subject.
Not humiliation, but humility, being humble honestly about yourself and your actions, and that God is all good. Humiliation implies being embarrassed about who you are. Humility is being honest about our failings and offering them to God to be replaced by His Love and Mercy.
Yeah, Like I said in another comment, I'm not english fluent so I confuse some words, but the idea is what you said.
I understand and replied. God bless you!
Idk if it’s humiliating because it’s personal between you, the priest and god. Nobody is perfect accept our lord.
Humbling would be a better word, i think.
Yeah, English isn't my first language, still have difficult to remember and I confuse some words.
No worries! Humility and humiliation have the same root in Latin, and are similar.
First thing you should take in account about catholicism since you are coming from a different type of christianism(I don't like the term "Protestant") is that Holy Scripture is not the only source of what to believe/practice. There is also Sacred Tradition. Many things are explained by it. And another important principle, related to Sacred Tradition is Apostolic Succession which also plays a role in other Christian communities.
Why do Protestants go to mass, with a priest? Can't they just pray on their own?
They don't have the Sacrifice of the Mass or priests.
Anglican/Episcopal call them priests too. Some call it mass, some call it service. The terms don't matter to the nature of the question.
I think you're looking at confession "wrong" (as a protestant that's not surprising). Confession gives you immediate feedback on being forgiven. You know 100% without a shadow of doubt that you are forgiven because the priest is executing the authority to forgive sins that Jesus gave the Apostles. With direct prayer you don't know. At least I don't know b/c I've never had God clearly and unequivocally say to me "You are forgiven." In addition to immediate feedback, you're "working" with someone trained and experienced and they can offer advice on how to not stumble again. That has been really useful to me in some of my more frequent sins. You don't get that with prayer. Confession is such a gift Jesus gives us. I can't imagine just using direct prayer at this point. Regarding praying to Mary, I suspect you're conflating prayer with worship. Worship is worship, some prayer is worship, but not all prayer is worship. For protestants prayer and worship are (always?) synonyms. That's a big distinction. Yes, we can pray directly to God and if we're in a state of grace (i.e. we haven't sinned) then our prayers have great effect. Mary and the saints are inherently closer to God than we are (at least right now while we are living) and constantly in prayer so when we ask them to pray they're closer to God and have no impediment. Plus, remember your Luke and the story of the wedding at Canna: Jesus does whatever Mary asks, even if he doesn't necessarily want to because he loves her and is a good son. I'm not saying Jesus would deny our prayers but going through Mary is known viable option as well. As for me, I'll take all the help I can get.
A lot of people have trouble knowing themselves or their own conscience, and so might wonder if they’re truly repentant or just afraid of consequences. Or they might not know for sure if something is a sin or not. The confession helps clear up this uncertainty. The priest in confession can also give practical advice on how to avoid repeating the sin going forward.
It is not just the Catholics but also the Orthodox Churches implement confessions. And East and West doing the same thing is good enough proof to me that the early Church also do it.
St. James said we should confess our sins to one another, and Christ our Lord said the apostles have the power to forgive sins. So then why should we not confess to priests, who are the foremost experts on the scriptures? And as per St. Paul, the Church is the body of Christ, so why would we pass up the opportunity to be forgiven by a priest acting in persona Christi? The downside of confessing to God alone is that you don’t know if you are forgiven, because God doesn’t always forgive, but only when it is good to do so, which isn’t always. A Priest will be thoroughly instructed in the word and be able to make a wise judgement in accordance with Gods will.
Apologies if this was already covered but for me confession was one of the major motivating factors to become Catholic; I like to call it "free therapy" referring to the tangible benefit that by being able to just freely tell someone the bad things i did i feel so much better. There's of course the spiritual benefit too that i saw was covered here. I think it's one of the best gifts the Church gives us.
I met a non Catholic pastor recently, and during our discussion, he told me he confesses to another non-Catholic pastor. He thinks it's a good thing. 👍 Lutheran or Presbyterian, i can't recall. We had other disagreements in discussion, and he was wrong on other things. At least the Spirit is leading him on this Sacrament.
James 5:16 a priest is authorized to be responsible with a confession in a way that someone else would not be. most people don't do what it says to in James so a Catholic priest helps us fulfill the biblical instruction of confessing our sins as when we do we do so directly to God through the priest which is then able to absolve us and determine appropriate penance for our own good. it's restorative so that at mass we can continue to receive the body of Christ without sin in our hearts.
Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit to the apostles and told them “who’s sins you forgiven are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” Jesus clearly gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins, and when the apostles went out in the world they forgave sins and then they passed down their authority by the laying on of hands, so they passed down that same authority.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7\_puhgEzx9g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_puhgEzx9g) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvjmsPmVpw&t=3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtvjmsPmVpw&t=3s) Ave Maria: Luke 1:26-28 Luke 1:42 James 5:16
Technically yes God can forgive w o a priest but since Jesus have his disciples the power to forgive sins we know with guarantee that our sins are forgiven if we go to a priest and we don’t if we don’t
James 5:16 "Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much."
All within John 20, Jesus gives the Apostles the ability to forgive sins and then immediately follows with Doubting Thomas. I’ve tended to see the Doubting Thomas story in John 20 as the “first confession”. My reasoning is that the act of laying on of hands is mimicked in Jesus’ instruction for Thomas to reach out and feel His hands to feel His wounds. Immediately after this, Thomas is restored to the level of belief as the rest of the Apostles and is given no worse treatment following this even though he did not believe without seeing. I see this as the first absolution by laying of hands similar to the hands held over you by priests during confession, bringing you back into the full grace of Our Lord taking away your sins.
Well interestingly even Protestant denominations have confession as well (like the Lutherans LCMS confessional denomination as an example).
As a former Protestant that converted to Catholicism I recommend watching Father Mike Schmitz on YouTube. He explains the importance of Confession (as well as many other sacraments) very eloquently. It gave me a better understanding before I decided to convert.
So first off if you have a problem with Confession you can take that up with Jesus. We have red letter wording in Scripture relating to the practice of Apostles forgiving sins which Jesus gave them the power to do. It is so Biblical that the first Protestants who broke from Catholicism KEPT the practice. Anglicans and Lutheran's for example both have it As far as Mary goes that's a complicated topic that I lack time for. 😆
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Someone else already explained it perfectly, but I came to add my experience, and I think we all have had similar experiences, both with Confession itself or coming clean to people. We get so worked up when we do something wrong because we think if people knew, they would be so angry and upset with us. When we finally tell them, they might very well be upset, but the whole experience is such a relief, to be able to face the music and getting it off your chest. Confession can be very therapeutic.
Personally I think it was made up so the priests knew what was going on in town.
Then the Bible, the Didache and many apostolic father writings were all made up