Why do Catholics Confess their Sins to a Priest?

[MRGV7373]

Remember , God is the only one that forgives Sin and Sins. When the priest absolves you, he does it in the name of the Father, Son and HS. The Priest is just assuring you that the work is done on the cross by Jesus. Jesus blood is the blood that absolves Sin. Not the Priest or your confessing your sin.  All sin is absolved by the cross. It is the free gift of God for those who believe and accept the Gift. That is why is is called Grace. God death for our justification and salvation.

[MRGV7373]

Jesus is God and only God can forgive sins. Jesus tells them that if people come to belief in Jesus as Their Lord and Savior, the apostles are to witness that sins are forgiven. If they don't receive Jesus as Lord, then the Apostles witness that the listeners sins are not forgiven. Apostles witness the truth, but never forgive sins, That is Gods job through Jesus and Jesus only. 

[MRGV7373]

The old testament vs the new testament on who are clean and unclean are not to be mixed. Jesus makes us clean fully by the cross. Jesus said it was finished on the cross. Why? All sin is forgiven by Jesus death. The jews went to the priest to say that they were clean.  Jesus breaks the structure since we can go directly to Jesus in Spirit.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 I'd love to know how you explain away John 20:23.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Jesus was assuring them (the apostles) that when they perceived a person had become a true believer, they were correct in pronouncing that their sins had been forgiven according to the gospel that they were preaching. Simple. God again is the only one to forgive sins. The apostles, priest any true believer can assure a person that their sins are forgiven or retained based on faith that lead to actions in Jesus Christ. Simple complete and accurate.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

Your tortuous misinterpretation of John 20:23 is completely off base, incorrect and not at all in line with the 2,000 year history of the Church.

Fail.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 I am quite surprised. I just finished listening to our RCC liturgist and this is what he confirmed as the RCC teaching and that my understanding was quite correct. Your understanding is not scriptural and leads one to believe that humans can forgive sins. No where in the NT does Paul or Peter ever forgive a person sins. They always say that in the name of Jesus they forgive, heal and grant contrition - just like a priest does today. You are sadly misguide in your belief

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

I think you are misunderstanding both me and the teachings of the Church here. I never said that priests can absolve people of their sins in the absence of the power of God and the forgiveness that comes only through the cross.

However when a priest pronounces absolution during the Sacrament of Reconciliation he is acting "in persona Christi" in the person of Christ.Through the actions of the ordained priest Christ forgives those sins.

Be more careful when discussing these things.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Why not go straight to the best? Jesus forgives sins, that what He said he did already. the priest just confirms what Jesus has already done. " It is Over " - all sin except blaspheme of the HS is forgiven. All believer in Christ are Priests are they not? What does ordination have to do with anything. Jesus never ordained anyone. They laid on hands and witness that the leaders were followers of Jesus and mature. The person of Christ is a prayer away.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 Again, you're confused about Church doctrine. The notion of "Jesus and me" without the Communion of Saints - the fullness of Christ's Church - is a false one that Jesus never taught and never intended. Jesus ordained priests at the Last Supper when he instituted the Sacrament of Orders and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. However, the common priesthood of the faithful is not the same as the Ministerial Priesthood, which is given only through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 In addition you are forgetting the Sacrament of Reconciliation instituted by Christ after his Resurrection. It was and is the will of Christ that we confess our sins to one of His ordained priests so that forgiveness be given by Christ through those He has ordained to minister to His people on earth. When we confess our sins in Reconciliation we ARE confessing them the Christ, but in the way He established for His visible Church on earth.

Remember to do His will, not you own.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 the idea of an ordained priest never exists in scripture in the NT. Show me where Jesus or the Apostles ever said to ordain anyone. They laid hands on men to have them empowered to lead a local church. But the idea of ordination and the forgiveness by priest is not part of any teaching in the first 70 years of the NT.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 I assumed you were only confused about Church doctrine but you also seem weak in your understanding of Scripture as well.

The three levels of ordination in the NT are diakonoi, presbuteroi and episkopoi - deacon, priest and bishop, an order the Church still maintains 2,000 years later.

Please read James 5;14, Acts 6:2-6, Acts 13:2-3

In Titus 1:5 the word καταστήσῃς means appoint or ordain and of course the word in that verse πρεσβυτέρους is the origin of our word priest.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 They were men that were to oversee the church. Where does it ever say the we confess our sins to the bishop, Priest or Deacon. It never does. It does say to confess your sins to one another. James 5:16 says confess your sins to each other. Where is the priest here??  I John 1:9 confess our sins, no Priest bishop or deacon is talked about. Why, God is wide open to hear from us directly. He will forgive - the He is Jesus in this verse, not human.Roman 5:1 God has done it

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 I've realized that the source of your confusion is that you believe in the twin heresies of sola scriptura and private interpretation. You base your view of the early Church entirely on your own understanding of the NT, divorced from the authority of the Church and without knowledge of the actual history of the Church. Deacons, priests and bishops were ordained from the beginning and Sacred Tradition taught the Church that confession was to be given to a priest.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 All Christian beliefs must start and have foundation in the teachings of Christ. Those teachings are in scripture. To have other teaching beyond what Jesus taught are nice to know but can be human teachings are not Godly teachings. Sacred Tradition does not trump Sacred scripture. The RCC church teaches otherwise and has caused great mistrust and many have left over time. How else do you account for 3 popes at one time?? Tradition had 3 ordained Popes at once. Trust??

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 By Sacred Tradition I mean the oral teachings of the Apostles to their successors, the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church. By the end of the 1st century there were 100 Catholic dioceses around the Mediterranean Sea, each one overseen by an ordained bishop who used both Oral and Written Tradition in order to explain the totality of Christ's teachings. The ordained priesthood, confession and infant baptism were among the truths of Christ they handed on to the Church.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Sacred Tradition is really Sacred Teachings of the RCC. How and what to teach beyond scripture has given the ever virgin Mary, Infallible Popes, confession to Priests, baby baptisms, and a whole bunch of false, misleading and unholy teachings that people really believe. These misguided doctrines have caused great splits in Christian ranks all in the name of ST. Totally false based on Scripture and contradict the teaching of Jesus, Peter and Paul. Even Mary must laugh at EV.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 The were not Catholic in RCC church. The were catholic as in United as fellow believers. You say you know your history, but seem very misguided in this area. No RCC church existed at this time. They were not Catholic or dioceses. They were local churches with local Bishops. Baby baptism was minimal and not scriptural. Confession was to one an other. See James, not to priest. Priest were picked from the believers. Oral tradition was good than, not now.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 Sorry, but nothing you wrote is historically accurate in any way, shape or form. Read some of the books I recommended. The Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church existed from the beginning. Read over again what I wrote to you. You are hearing from en established Church historian, not someone who makes up false "facts" to suit his own purposes. Catholic dioceses and bishops were established from the 1st century onward. Your version of history is an invalid aberration.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 It is very accurate. RCC did not exist for 325 years at least. Where is church named the RCC anywhere in any writings for the first 300 years?? They don't exist. You check your history. No Capital C just a little c as in catholic, united in faith, one church. Not the official CATHOLIC capital C any place and surely not ROMAN.  catholic and bishops exist but not ROMAN CC exited, not Popes yet, just Peter the Apostle with 11 additional Apostles at the same level of faith

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

I will end our little discourse here. I have given you Scriptural citations, historical facts and scholarly resources but you seem incapable of understanding anything even remotely resembling historical and ecclesiological truth. I don't know why I assumed you could, since you are uneducated in the faith, but I thought I would try anyway.

If you remain obstinately outside of the Catholic Church of Christ you will perish in your sins because you have rejected His salvation.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 then I perish but at least the truth be told. I trust in Jesus and that is where I stand. I reject certain church teaching because they are false and untrue. If God finds me guilty. However, I trust Peters great teachings of Act 2 and have confessed Jesus as Lord of my life and that Jesus blood has covered my sin. As for you, be careful in that you judge someone and no place in Jesus teaching does Jesus tell anyone to follow the RCC. Jesus says follow ME. Have you?? bye

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 Let me say this before I sign off. You say that you "reject certain church teachings because they are false and untrue." You don't seem to realize that in rejecting the teachings of Christ through his Church you have rejected the theological virtue of faith and so the things you do accept you accept only because of personal conviction not by faith that comes as a grace from God. In rejecting these teachings you have rejected faith and rejected Christ who gives you this faith.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Dane, We are personally responsible for what we believe. So if I choose to reject certain teachings because they are flat wrong. That is my choice and my responsibility. I don't reject faith in Jesus as Lord and I don't reject Christ. I do reject all false teachings that God has led me to reject. If you want to question that, you can go to God and Question Him. As for the RCC doctrine and teachings, I guess, in your view, Many are damned. I don't see God that way.l

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

Your "choice and responsibility" don't amount to any authority before God whatsoever. Christ promised and gave the Holy Spirit to His Church alone to guide it to all truth not to you personally. When you reject that truth because of your own private interpretation of Scripture you reject Jesus Christ. You cannot have it both ways. When you isolate yourself by what you "personally believe" you separate yourself from the Gospel of Christ and His Church and undo your salvation.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Dane, you preach falsehoods. Did the HS not come to people in Acts 1, did not the HS rush on the prophets and king in the OT. Individual hearts are what God through Jesus converts with baptism and confirmation. You are sadly mistaken.. Do you know Jesus as your personal savior or are you thinking that if you are part of the church you are saved??? You are saved by your own belief, not the churches. You are believing that the Church is perfect. It is not, Human. Learn.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

You have confused yourself by misinterpreting Sacred Scripture. Of course Jesus is my Lord and Savior but He also founded a visible Church on earth and invested it with the authority that can only come from the presence of the Holy Spirit who is the soul of the Church and has guided it to all truth. Christ's Church is both human and divine and in its divine aspect it is perfect.

You however are not in Christ's Church but are separated from it and from Christ.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 I have not confuse the scriptures, that is what they says. God is also found in many churches, why only the RCC, The eastern churches make the same claims. The Church are the human believers in Jesus, it is not RCC. And why be so judgmental? You sound offended that some one would doubt what the RCC says. Many people do and they leave. I raise the questions to find the truth. Do you always believe everything the RCC says. What a Capurnacus? earth as center of world

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Dane, and how are you to judge with the plank in your eye?? You should let God do the judging. Do you know more than God does about my salvation? I am raising questions of truth and they you condemn me for being honest?come on, I find that your have placed yourself as my judge and that is not your place.Only God can do that. You are very closed minded and don't know the truth since you don't ask any questions or have an open mind to find out the truth. Open your eyes

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

I have told you the truth from the beginning but you call the truth "falsehoods."

I have given you the truths of the faith taught by Christ, the Apostles and the Catholic Church from the beginning so that you can come to know Christ in His fullness but you say that I judge you.

So be it.

I don't doubt your faith, but it is incomplete. You must come into the fullness of Christ in His Church to which the Holy Spirit is calling you.

I will pray for you.

Merry Christmas.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Yes you do come to fullness in His Church. Some how you equate, RCC with God's Church. God Church is all believers in Jesus. No other Church exist. Humans have the RCC, eastern church, protestants, God Church is all believers in His Son Jesus. That is the fullness of Church. My faith is complete and maturing. RCC is not catholic nor Apostle driven or it would change many of it's teachings to match Jesus and the Apostles teachings. I will pray for you also.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

You are wrong, wrong, wrong and seriously deluded. But I realize that you have been taught fatally flawed lies and given an entirely invalid way of interpreting the Holy Bible, which is Sacred Scripture of the Catholic Church.

Heretics raised in heresy rarely give it up, regardless of the many ways in which the Holy Spirit encourages them to come to the fullness of the true Christ in His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Read Dominus Iesus and Lumen Gentium.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 You are very bias. The RCC could never say this about itself. But Jesus and Peter would conclude this. The True church is catholic no capital c as in one. All believers in Jesus as lord and savior are the church.I was raised in the RCC and found many things like the one and only church to be invalid via scripture. Much of what the church teaches is valid and good, and 10% is wrong and needs to be fixed. Mary was never ever virgin, babies should not be baptized. not script

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

Just for starters, please show me specifically where in Scripture we are told that "babies should not be baptized."

Take your time, but I want chapter and verse.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 You know that there are not any but let not forget the teaching. If one has to believe that Jesus is Lord and savior to be come Christian ( see John 6:40, John 3:16...) To believe you must be able to think and have mental skills that let you understand what you are doing. Belief First. Then baptism, See Acts 2:38-41. Peter the leader tells them what to do if you believe. Now adults and children can understand and believe. How do infants believe?? No develop mind yet. No baptism

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

You say that all doctrines must be proven directly from Scripture and yet you cannot show me where your heretical belief in the denial of the Sacrament of Baptism to infants is proven in Scripture.

You're not paying attention to the clear implication of Acts 2:38-39. The words of Peter refute you - "be baptized every one of you," and "for you and your children."

You also conveniently avoid Our Lord's words in Luke 18:15–16.

The Church has baptized infants for 2,000 years.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 So Dain where does it say Infants?? and you fail to understand what the scripture teaches. It says children and in this case it is to the descendants of Israel. Say be baptized everyone of you  - that believe. The non-believers did not get baptized. Luke 18:15-17 is all about coming to Jesus - not about baptism. Jesus show that we have to be humble and sincere to receive Him. Baptism is for believers. Jesus blesses the children which is what should happen with Infants

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Dane, you stretch the scriptures to fit where is does not belong. Jesus wants all to come to Him for blessing. Belief is needed for salvation. Baptism is for believers in Jesus. When a child or an adult comes to belief, then baptism is just fine. Infants and non-believers should not be baptized since they have not belief. Would it not be nice to remember an know that it was your choice to follow God? I wish I was baptized when I believed not as a baby, I never knew it

[ST4leave]

@dane5256 Hasn’t the church also have killed in the name of god for over a thousand years? When a church goes against Christ teachings, like it did before at that point in time that church is not a church of God?

[dane5256]

@ST4leave

No. Read the history.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373

I will end our little discourse here. I have given you Scriptural citations, historical facts and scholarly resources but you seem incapable of understanding anything even remotely resembling historical and ecclesiological truth. I don't know why I assumed you could, since you are uneducated in the faith, but I thought I would try anyway.

If you remain obstinately outside of the Catholic Church of Christ you will perish in your sins because you have rejected His salvation.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 I have given chapter and verses of what I believe and you have not addressed any of them. Now on baptism is cover and the verses are included. So try and answer this with any teachings in the NT or what Peter or Jesus taught. Good luck and stay on task this time.

[dane5256]

@MRGV7373 You should read a few books in order to get up to speed on the history of the Catholic Church -

"The History of the Church" written ca. AD 330 by Eusebius, Catholic Bishop of Caesarea,

The Letters of Ignatius, Catholic Bishop of Antioch written ca.AD 106.

The "Didache" most likely written in the 1st century.

"The Fathers of the Church" by Mike Aquilina, in which you can read some of the writings of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Rome and others.

Good luck.

[MRGV7373]

@dane5256 Dane, Best to relearn what you should know at a Catholic. What I said is the RCC teachings. See Matt 9:6. See what it says here about half way down. No Catholic believes that a priest, simply as an individual man, however pious or learned, has power to forgive sins.This power belongs to God alone; but He can and does exercise it through the ministration of men. So, Right from the Catholic website. Priest help the process.

[HateFenians]

I bet the priest is jacking off to all them sins.

[PInk77W1]

this video is amazing and priceless

[silvacecilia3455]

IT LOOOKS LIKE YOU DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND QHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT.........WHEN JESUS CAME TO DIE FOR OUR SINS HE PUT ALL THOSE LAWS IN THE PAST HE PUT HIMSELF OVER ALL THOSE LAWS AND MADE THEM ABSOLETE......NO PRIEST IS WORTH MORE THAN JESUS CONFESS YOUR SINS TO JESUS ONLY BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE SIN AND EVERYONE FALLS SHORT FROM THE GLORY OF GOD AND THAT INCLUDES "PRIESTS"

[year2008df]

... continuation - errors is this video presentation. If you are to follow TRADITION: (1) Priest must be Jewish descendant's of Aaron who are Levites. (2) most of the disciples were from the tribe of Benjamin and not Levi and they were not priest. (3) Jesus appeared to his disciples in person and breathed on them and gave them the holy spirit to forgive sin. To forgive sin means that you can perform miracles as Jesus did. Jesus did not appear to Catholic Priest to give them the holy spirit.

[year2008df]

You have a poor understanding of the old testament as related to modern day catholic priest. There is no comparison between the two. Aaron and his sons and their descendants from the Jewish tribe of Levi were the only ones permitted to be priest. Priest in the old testament did not forgive sins. The priests served as the mediators between God and the people. They are the ones who took the people's sacrifices and offered them up to God. You also have a poor understanding of Jesus Christ.

[year2008df]

@year2008df ... continuation - Jewish law does not permit anyone to be a priest except he is a descendant of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. Before the cross, sacrifices were offered for sin. After the cross - Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us all - no need to continue with Jewish law of offering sacrifices for sin any more.

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

[SlinkyDragon]

I am a catholic convert, and once the sacrament of confession was explained to me (that is to say that the Priest forgives you in the name of God and not in his own name) I didn't have a problem with it; as that was enough for me. However what you've cited from leviticus is pretty neat... I've found a lot of modern church practices in leviticus (Mostly about the Eucharist) but now I have one more thing to add to the list, thanks.

[DOVECOTEPLOT]

THATS THE OLD TESTAMENT , BEFORE CHRIST DIED TO FREE US AND GIVE US A DIRECT CONNECTION TO HIM THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT ! Turning to anyone other than CHRIST himself for forgiveness is blasphemy to his crucifixion and to the HOLY SPIRIT. Stop listening to man made traditions and read the WORD OF GOD only

[dis00612]

@DOVECOTEPLOT Yes this is the old testament but the only thing that was changed was the sacrifices and this does not take away the entire old testament practice. This is surely not a man made tradition and the bible tells us in 2 thessalonians 2:15"therefore,bretheren,stand fast,andhold traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle." the bible wasnt always there so what did the early christians follow? TRADITION! It was the only way they could know sense there was no bible

[DOVECOTEPLOT]

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER ,BUT BY ME !

7 If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from now on you know him, and have seen him

[offthehandleradio]

Intense! I like it.

[Mcate101]

Wow that really moved me Mr. Haddad.