[ET(end tyranny)]

I think what you wrote is spot on. As a former Catholic I had wondered about the confessional. Why have it? We can go directly to YHWH with our confession, our repentence and our prayers for forgiveness.

Then it occurred to me that at times our anguish and shame and guilt can be so strong that people may need the verbal reassurance that their sin is forgiven, because they may have a difficult time forgiving themselves of their transgression.

How do you view the confessional vs going directly to YHWH?

[bdeaner]

How do you view the confessional vs going directly to YHWH?

I agree with orthodox Catholic teaching, which holds that direct contrition to the Lord, if pure, is sufficient for forgiveness. Yet, as you have noted, there is a very special grace that comes with participation in the sacrament of confession. Regular Confession, at least once per year, especially during Lent, is an obligation in the Church.

I was a fundamentalist Christian before I converted to Catholicism, and, speaking purely from personal experience, the sacrament of confession truly has been a blessing in my life. Talking to God in private and asking for forgiveness is all well and good, but it simply does not compare with speaking anonymously to another person, but knowing that the Lord hears you and in persona Christi is expressing His forgiveness directly to you through the voice of the priest. I am often moved to tears; and not always, but often feel a warmth generated throughout my body -- a feeling fundamentalists will be familiar with if they have ever been baptized in the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else quite like it. And there is also a sense of certainty that I have been forgiven--and a sense of purity and a freedom from temptation--that results from regular Confession that I had never known before.

I practicaly had to be dragged kicking and screaming into my first Confession, because it was a concept I had been very opposed to as an anti-Catholic fundamentalist. But now I am a true believer. It really is something 'out of this world.' I try to go about once a month, and now might try going even more frequently, because I just benefit so much from it -- especially with the freedom it gives me from further temptations. There is a strength of will that comes from the process that is difficult to describe, because it is not human -- it is a supernatural grace operating in the process -- a real treasure.

[bdeaner]

How do you view the confessional vs going directly to YHWH?

I agree with orthodox Catholic teaching, which holds that direct contrition to the Lord, if pure, is sufficient for forgiveness. Yet, as you have noted, there is a very special grace that comes with participation in the sacrament of confession. Regular Confession, at least once per year, especially during Lent, is an obligation in the Church.

I was a fundamentalist Christian before I converted to Catholicism, and, speaking purely from personal experience, the sacrament of confession truly has been a blessing in my life. Talking to God in private and asking for forgiveness is all well and good, but it simply does not compare with speaking anonymously to another person, but knowing that the Lord hears you and in persona Christi is expressing His forgiveness directly to you through the voice of the priest. I am often moved to tears; and not always, but often feel a warmth generated throughout my body -- a feeling fundamentalists will be familiar with if they have ever been baptized in the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else quite like it. And there is also a sense of certainty that I have been forgiven--and a sense of purity and a freedom from temptation--that results from regular Confession that I had never known before.

I practicaly had to be dragged kicking and screaming into my first Confession, because it was a concept I had been very opposed to as an anti-Catholic fundamentalist. But now I am a true believer. It really is something 'out of this world.' I try to go about once a month, and now might try going even more frequently, because I just benefit so much from it -- especially with the freedom it gives me from further temptations. There is a strength of will that comes from the process that is difficult to describe, because it is not human -- it is a supernatural grace operating in the process -- a real treasure.