God forgive your sins, why do you have to confess them to a Priest?

It's mainly about power and money.

The Church wants you to believe that it's a necessary connection to the Creator which is why so much of the history of the Christian faith involves political intrigue.

It's no coincidence the parts of the Bible most often removed during the occasional re-editing in the past were scriptures and even entire gospels that focused on a direct connection between man and God, namely that anyone can talk to God anywhere, anytime without a representative of the Church being involved.

The useful role of the clergy is to provide guidance and help those with questions or conflict. Humans are fallible, however so you have to keep in mind that the application of that role may be imperfect (most likely will be) and that any member of the Church is just as capable of sin as any other person.

Originally posted by ecoparity
It's mainly about power and money.

The Church wants you to believe that it's a necessary connection to the Creator which is why so much of the history of the Christian faith involves political intrigue.
It's no coincidence the parts of the Bible most often removed during the occasional re-editing in the past were scriptures and even entire gospels that focused on a direct connection between man and God, namely that anyone can talk to God anywhere, anytime without a representative of the Church being involved.

The useful role of the clergy is to provide guidance and help those with questions or conflict. Humans are fallible, however so you have to keep in mind that the application of that role may be imperfect (most likely will be) and that any member of the Church is just as capable of sin as any other person.

Hi, eco, I do not wish to debate but for you to believe the truth of Confession of our mortal sins to a priest.
Repentance and Confession are gravely serious to the life of our soul. Look at the grace you receive and
the assurance of absolution. We can know of both, Our Lord set it up this way. To use your words...

"The Church wants you to believe it's a necessary" to follow all of her teachings because everything we know of Christ, less the Old Testament prophecies come from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Bible is Catholic, by his God given authority, Pope Damasus decided the Canon in 382 A.D. No part of
the Canon has been removed, it remains the same to this day. Martin Luther was the one who threw out 7 books of the Canon. They showed his heresies to be false. He failed in trying to toss the Book of James.

You are so right, we are all sinners even the Popes. That is why God has given them a special charism,
on faith and morals, they cannot error. The teachings of the faith, Our Lord's teachings given the Apostles can be known today. And proof, the written Word of God is inerrant, all of the original writings chosen are divinely inspired.

I repeat and shall not tire of saying a logical, the RCC compiled the Bible, God gave her the gift to interpret
Scripture NOT every person reading the Bible. Important then to read a Catholic Bible. I suggest the English
translation of the first Bible, the Latin Vulgate called the Douay-Rheims Bible. The footnotes help so much
on tough verses. www.drbo.org...


God bless you ecoparity,


colbe

Martin Luther split off from the Catholic church for a lot of reasons, the primary one being the Church selling tickets to heaven / get into heaven free cards.

The largest edit of the Bible was during the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, an event that pre-dated Martin Luther by quite a bit. To be fair, Luther actually translated the bible from Latin into High German, an act that really pissed off the Church as it made the Bible available and able to be read by common people. He left out some chapters between the old and new testament but oddly enough they must not have contained anything all that critical given the only place you can find them is in Catholic bookstores. (Jewish scholars also deem those same chapters as being un-needed or even question that they were valid in the first place).

It's pointless to debate though, Christians cannot accept that the Bible is not the literal "word of God" delivered to the masses in crystal clear HD with stereophonic, high fidelity. The reality of where it began and where it has ended up, including the entire focus on eternal punishment in Hell for all non Catholics, Jews, Arabs, Buddhist, Krishnas,Kami-no-michi, Hindus, Sikhs, etc, et al couldn't be further apart if the events took place on two different planets.

As hard as it is for some to understand, a confession direct to the Big Man himself w/ no third party facilitation works just fine for a very large number of people. The assurance that the message has been received is a function of faith, a concept which that same large number of people are able to have without the third-party calling plan to Jesus. Agnostics and Atheists seem to do just fine without even bothering to call at all.

Seriously though, anyone who thinks the Church (original or extra crispy) isn't driven by finance and power are living in a fantasy World, IMO. I'm not a theologian but I do study history...

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Well, if a Priest were not required what would they have to do with themselves? After all, it's that 10% tithe fee I think it's really all about. .

Catholics do not have a tithe fee ... it's some of the protestants that have that required 10% thing. Catholic have no such rule. And going to Confession costs nothing. There are no slots to stick money in at the confessional .. that's a Jack Chickism ... totally false.

Parish confessionals are usually open for about an hour a week. So it doesn't take up that much time. During the rest of the time priests are saying mass, praying, visiting people in nursing homes and hospitals, counseling, doing weddings and funerals ... and the usual things that people do like eat, sleep, read books, exercise.

.

Jehovah Witness pass a plate between pews, just as do the RC's within the constabulatory (house of worship), but do so as a formality, not expected, they also take communion (RITUALISTICALLY), without taking of it, the symbolism only. It says to me a warped version of something is being played out and this cannot be good (BECAUSE NO ONE TOLD THEM THE PURPOSE OF ACTION) could result in dangerous rituals. Why did the RC instead of looking to the east (front toward) decide to change its direction (standing at the alter) to the WEST and look at towards Its congregation back to the East? Going to confession is a giving up of your soul to "our fathers, hail mary prayers penance"--do good deeds?? (if you were really bad). Make an act of contrition (PRAYER). As children I suppose you would, generally left the RC at 8th grade 13 years of age. Not realistic.

Go back and read the reasons in the OP that former Anglican priest Taylor Marshal gives for the reason Jesus established confession of our mortal sin to a priest. We can talk about the grace given in Confession later.

God wants everyone to understand sin, MORTAL sin, (serious) sin for what it is, you could lose your soul! Who formally goes to their prayer closet or the other, saying you confess your sins to someone else. Right, on a regular basis. Give me a break. And the ACT of stating your sins requires humility. When you're finished, hearing the priest's words of absolution, you are joy filled. You HEAR those words.

You can't make anyone believe so remember, when God shows you personally, I pray you'll accept Sacramental Confession of our moral sins to a priest. It makes spiritual and logical sense.


Baltimore Catechism: A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.

reply to post by colbe

God forgive your sins, why do you have to confess them to a Priest?

Because some secret services need to gather some data.

Matthew 18:8
And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting ifire.


Our Lord is using hyperbole to make His point, do not choose Hell. Repent and be baptized, both are required. You receive God's presence in your soul at water baptism, Original Sin is removed. After baptism, make a regular from the heart confession of your mortal sins to God...as soon as you can. Why? If you have one mortal sin on your soul at death, you will not get into Heaven. No one knows their last day, do not be prideful and gamble disbelieving. There are examine your conscience guides and websites, they take you through the 10 Commandments. 99.98% of sexual sins are mortal and must be confessed.

www.scborromeo.org...

Start a daily PRAYER life from now on (we're at the start of the Great Tribulation) even if it is only ten minutes a day The more you pray, the more you want to pray. You draw closer to God. These two, both, repeating, so very important, make a regular CONFESSION of your serious sins (mortal) to God.

Catholics, you all know what you must do, you have to GO to Confession.