This is an idiotic article similar to the same idiotic article that was posted months ago about some "alleged" Protestant movement toward confession. It's laughable.
Public or personal confession to those we've wronged is light years away (thank God) from confessing your sins to "another Christ" and asking for his absolution.
It's more accurate to say RCs are leaving their church in droves and heading for Protestant denominations because they cannot find ritualized confessions, co-redeemer, transubstantiation, "another Christ," idol-worship and dozens of other extra-Biblical fables hawked by the RCC.
And I've looked for but have not found any substantiation regarding what exactly transpired within the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church and their purported "revival of the ritual after ignoring it for a century."
Somehow I don't think the Missouri Synod would approve of this article's assessment of its worship.
Amen.
Eventually the truth of a thing will emerge. The challenge is to keep confronting the big lie, if we don't people begin to believe it. I think you can trace all these wrong headed beliefs to the failed theory of apostolic succession.
I don’t know how idiotic the article is.
I think raising the issue at all has some merit.
Certainly I agree that the hierarchical . . . or herarchical (a typo stumbled onto some truth there, it seems) . . . confessors are not any greater benefit on the whole—to the confessee . . . than another fitting brother or sister would be . . . or deacon or pastor . . .
I think the greater spiritual good is when we confess to those we have offended . . . and/or to our spiritual mentors, close friends, accountability partners etc.
In many respects, it seems to me—confessing to a priest—unconnected with the relationship(s) where the offense(s) originally occurred—in a private little booth—is a bit of a cheap shot at confession.
Kind of allows the confessee to go merrily on his way feeling smugly that he’s covered that base and is once again quite square with God. With the magicsterical’s rubber stamp of approval. While the relationship shredded or hindered or wounded is none the better; not any more restored . . . nor any more truly reconciled.
Confession and repentance are for TURNING AROUND AND GOING GOD’S DIRECTION vs our own willful direction.
I think the RC confessional is likely much better than none. But I don’t think it’s all God expects on that score.