Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» A state of grace means you are free of sin. Is that the purpose of confession? To erase/absolve one of sin? If not what is the point? of it?
Confession (in and of itself) will not - cannot - absolve one from sin.
Confession of sins is more for the sinner than God, and confession is meant to ease the conscience. only God can erase/absolve sin. God knows when we sin (and it is more often than not). However, we (humans) are a prideful people. we like to think we're "perfect". When we confess our sins we are acknowledging that what we realise that we did something wrong, that we are sorry for it, and that we desire forgivness. If we do not confess our sins it's like us saying we didn't sin (and are perfect) and therefore have no need for forgiveness. that leads to an inflated ego (think trump here). the truth is we ARE sinners and we desperately need God's grace (forgivness).
Teh same goes for human confessions. Say you purposefully stole something from a store (five-finger discount). Who wrong, you or the store? Yo udid. You "sinned" against teh store. Normally, your conscience will alert you that you have "sinned" (you feel guilty). You then have 2 choices - ignore your conscience or confess your guilt. Saying to another that "I'm wrong" is very hard (we don't like to admit that we are in the wrong). therefore we tend to ignore our conscience. We try to convince ourselves that what we did wasn't wrong (teh store can afford the loss, or that we had a need for what we stole, etc.). if we do this long enough, we can dull our conscience so that our "sins" no longer bother us. in doing so we are putting up a barrier of pride (I am the one who says what's right and what's wrong). however, if we confess our "sins" (break down our barrier of pride and go back to the store owner and confess what we did was wrong) it eases our conscience (we admitted that we were wrong and want forgiveness).
This post was edited by Shuhak at July 29, 2019 3:28 PM MDT
Just to be clear (your words) you have no idea what you are talking about when you say that "just to be clear, what the catholic religion calls "confession" is NOT true confession; it's just a way for them to raise money."
I'm a Catholic---and you have established no credibility for your authority or appropriate knowledge sufficient to discuss either Canon Law or Catholic theology.
So you are "perpetrating a fraud" upon anyone who actually believes your statement about Catholic confession.
The balance of your answer above has a number of faults, but they are obvious to anyone else with the appropriate education, so I will not make the necessary corrections.
I meant no disrespect. I have no desire to offend anyone (never my purpose or desire). Therefore I will remove that line so as not to offend anyone else.
As for the rest of my reply, I may not have stated my position too clearly, but I stand behind it.
This post was edited by Shuhak at July 29, 2019 3:28 PM MDT
Pardon my butting in tom but you say you are a Catholic. I have never understood the point of "confession". GOD already knows what you've done and so do you. Why would going through an intermediary help anything? I talk to God daily in my mind. I don't actually make sounds others can hear. I know HIS eye is on the sparrow so it's on me too. I also don't understand "extreme unction". Isn't that where if on your deathbed you are truly remorseful for what you've done you will be forgiven? If that is the case how is that fair? A Hitler could be forgiven then and get the same treatment as a Mother Teresa? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Does it make sense to you? Thank you for your indulgence and I'd sure like your take on it! :)
I never got the point of Confession Shuhak GOD already knows what you do. So do you. I don't see why verbalizing it to another human being is helpful. Why go through an intermediary when GOD doesn't need to be informed. HE knows. See my problem? I do appreciate your taking the time to explain it to me. Some things I just don't grasp. That is due to my inadequacy not your explanation. Thank you for your reply! :)
I do understand your problem. Confession doesn't sound "logical" to us.
Let's say that when you were young your mother sternly told you not to run through the house. One day, however, you ran through the house and, in so doing, accidently broke your mother's favorite lamp. You look down at the broken lamp and a feeling of dread comes over you. Your mother's words echo in your head - "don't run in the house!" You disobeyed her and in doing so you broke her favorite lamp. You just know she's going to punish you for disobeying her. it could be a spanking, grounding, loss of some privileges, or worse! Your mind reels with the worst possibilities of punishment imaginable. You now have a choice. You could clean the mess and hope she never finds out (which means you'd have to lie to her as she's sure to notice her favorite lamp is missing), ... or you could fess up and take the consequences of your actions - no matter what they may be. Sure you might get away with not telling her, but your conscience would bother you. And eventually, she'd probably find out anyway - and then you'd also be guilty of lying to your mother ... which would induce even more punishment (shiver). Yet, if you confess, not only will your guilty conscience go away, but you will suffer less punishment (than if you didn't confess).
For The sake of argument, let's say God told you not to run in the house... but you did anyway ... and, in doing so, broke His favorite lamp. Do you try to hide it or fess up? Many people try and hide what they've done. By doing so, the guilt and dread builds up inside them. to ease their guilty feelings, they form all sorts of scenarios in their minds - "it was just a small lamp. Maybe God didn't see". OR - "I wasn't really running, per say, just walking fast. He never said I couldn't walk fast in the house". OR - "there is no God therefore I couldn't have broke any rules". Sound familiar? When it comes to God, he knows everything we do, think, or even will think. So why should one confess to Him? Let's go back to your mom and her lamp. Suppose you chose to fess up to her and take the consequences. You go up to her and say, "mom, i ran in the house - even though you sternly told me not to - and in doing so I broke your favorite lamp." Then, with the fear of impending punishment, you look away and brace yourself for her reaction. How would you feel if, instead of being angry, she wrapped her arms around you and said, "It's ok, Rosie, I forgive you. Just don't do it again, okay?"? How big of burden would be lifted off your shoulders? Yet had you not confessed, that burden of guilt and worry would still be there weighing you down (guilt of wrongdoing and worry of getting caught). As illogical as it may sound, confession is for the wrongdoer, not the one who was wronged.
No Shuhak. I thank you for the fine explanation but it doesn't help me at all. My mom would know it was me just like God knows. So my admission to her would make sense. But admitting it to a priest at church makes no sense. That's my problem. God already knows. So his representative on earth (the clergy) doesn't need to listen to something already known. The clergy was not the offended one. The priest is just a middleman whose value is nil in my eyes with respect to confession. Also and more importantly I think when I talk to God he listens as intently to me as when the clergy does. I'm gonna ask. Sure they marry people and officiate at christenings and when people have suffered loss they are there to comfort them. But CONFESSION? I think it's ridiculous. Thank you for your reply m'dear! :)
This is where I was "called out" when I first responded to this. This admitting things to a priest is not right. The "middleman" (so to speak) between us and God is Jesus. HE(and only He) is the priest we confess to (He is our mediator). The catholic thing about confession and absolution is man-made and NOT scriptural. Only God can forgive sins (no pope, no priest, no clergyman - no one). PAying money to a "church", saying "hail mary's", or whatever wont do anything. that's trying to earn forgivness (which is impossible).
Yes God knows what we do (even before we do it). Yet He still wants His children to come to Him and confess their sins to Him. then they can know just how merciful and forgiving He really is.
I believe it may be a carryover from Judaism. Didn't they have to give the sacrifices (for their sins) to the priest - and only the high priest is allowed in the inner sanctum, where the altar is?
So ... perhaps the thought is ... you don't have to pay blood sacrifices, but you still have to go through the priest.
I'm an EX-Catholic and intend to remain so - I was always taught that absolution was God's way of forgiving sin using the priest as a channel. Horse faeces in my current opinion, I believed it as a kid.
This is the question I'm going to ask R. "Doesn't GOD listen to all of us equally"? I think God listens to me as attentively as he listens to clergy. So why would I go through a middleman when God already knows what I did? It just seems very silly to me. I abandoned church decades ago. Just a middleman that kept getting in the way. Now and for many years I go direct to the Source. I don't need a translator. Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday! :)
Shuhak 