“The Apostles weren’t turned into perfect people. They still sinned.”
And the Apostles didn’t forgive sins, or say they could.
If you read John 20:23 you will see that Christ said they could... and the Church has done so in the spirit of Matt 18:15-18 since the beginning. That's good enough for me.
Go in peace. (Shaking the dust from my sandals...)
Then JesusisLord said that all believers can forgive sins. The Church was wrong to limit this to members of anointed clergy (anointed in the Spirit)... because clearly they are sinners. We've gone from no one can forgive to everyone can now... except sinning priests.
PeterPrinciple says that men can only do it when in the Spirit. Sins are not forgiven if we are not in the Spirit. Since all men fail and none are righteous... are sins ever forgiven by men? "Forgive our sins as we forgive others." So... we're not actually forgiving sins? We're forgiving what others do to us and God alone is forgiving sins. So... man hasn't been given this authority by Christ?
Then, we come full circle...
Why don't you guys get your theology straight before teaching the rest of us.
Did you follow them around?
Already in the 2nd Century we have Tertullian writing advice on how to pick a good confessor; it seems likely that he's not talking about some practice that was just invented out of thin air.