Ping!
Amen.
“The priest, after all, was the one ordained by Jesus to hear confessions with the power to bind and loose in John 20.”
I’m sorry, in John chapter 20 these words are not spoken to Roman Catholic priests, but to the assembled disciples, after Jesus breathed on them and imparted the gift of the Holy Spirit to them. I can see a basis for public confession of sins, and receiving forgiveness from the congregation by appealing to this text, but to imply that some member of the church has a special office given to them by Jesus to hear confessions and offer forgiveness would imply that only those individuals possess the Holy Spirit.
Priesthood is not a special office given to a few in the church, but the privilege and responsibility of every member. This is demostrated in 2 Peter 5:9, which demonstrates fulfillment of the prophecy made in Exodus 19:5-6. As the Holy Spirit dwells in all the faithful, we are all priests serving under the High Priest, Jesus, and we have no need of any other mediator between the Father and ourselves.
It is only the Catholic Church that has not changed her doctrines to suit the prevailing winds of culture for 2000 years.
Vatican II?
21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
This has nothing to do with the forgiving of sins we commit against God by an earthly human, be it a priest or any one else. All of those sins have all ready been forgiven by God through the finished work of Christ when we repent and forgive the sins committed against us by other humans.
John 20:21-23 deals with the sins committed by others against us. We have to forgive those people to allow God to forgive our sins against Him. It is not a privilege given to the apostles but a command given to all believers, including the apostles.
Scripture to explain the concept of binding and loosing.....
20 "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
24 "When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25 "But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
26 "So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.'
27 "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
28 "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.'
29 "So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.'
30 "But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
32 "Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?'
34 "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
35 "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
This is the biblical meaning of binding and loosing. You have to forgive to be forgiven. It has nothing to do with priests and confessionals. How arrogant and/or deceived can a man be that he thinks he has the right to forgive sins committed against God for God and the wisdom to determine a just punishment/penitence?
What bothers me is how few, if any, understand this principle and what effect it will have on their salvation. Unknowing Catholic believers dutifully participate in meaningless confessions for fear they could lose salvation if they don't..
BVB
Lots of errors here. Just in this initial paragraph...
“Protestants do not believe in the necessity of reparation for their sins. Therefore, they believe that every sinner, no matter how evil their past life will be saved and rewarded in Heaven exactly the same as a person who lived their whole life loving God and trying to please Him. The Catholic Church believes that the Death and Resurrection of Christ is all that is needed for every single human being to be saved, and make it to Heaven, if they will to be saved. Jesus opened the gates to Heaven which no mere human being is or ever was capable of doing. But, in justice, the goodness or the evilness of our lives WILL have consequences and these will be administered to us by the Justice and the Mercy of God. So it is worthwhile to do our best to live a holy life.”
A) - reparations: “1. the making of amends for wrong or injury done: reparation for an injustice; 2. Usually, reparations. compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered...”
Forgiveness and reparations are antithetical. If I forgive my son’s debt, I don’t make him pay it back. I can’t think of any scriptures saying we need to pay reparations to God. Can you?
B) “...they believe that every sinner, no matter how evil their past life will be saved and rewarded in Heaven exactly the same as a person who lived their whole life loving God...”
Umm...no. Saved? Yes. Rewarded? No. Jesus taught that the workers hired for the last hour would be paid the same as those who worked all day. However, he also taught that there was a greater reward for a good and faithful servant.
C) “But, in justice, the goodness or the evilness of our lives WILL have consequences and these will be administered to us by the Justice and the Mercy of God. So it is worthwhile to do our best to live a holy life.”
Works done for a reward don’t mix well with being born again. Someone who has been born again does works because he is a new creature, not because he wants payment. If my son comes and works for me for payment, I take no pleasure in it. If he comes and helps us with the horse corrals because he is our son, then I delight in him.
If you are trying to live a holy life for reward, then you are stuck in the flesh and trying to manipulate God. Those works are filthy. And in Heaven, our reward is likely to be the delight of our Father, not personal advancement!
BFHU (whoever that is): "In the early church confession was made before the priest and the whole assembly. You really had to humble yourself. But, this was changed to confession privately to the priest to graciously accommodate those weaker souls with the graces of confession, who could not bring themselves to confess before the whole church."
Calvin: "Wonderful, indeed, is the folly or the insincerity of the Papists, who strive to build their whispering confession on this passage. For it would be easy to infer from the words of James, that the priests alone ought to confess. For since a mutual, or to speak more plainly, a reciprocal confession is demanded here, no others are bidden to confess their own sins, but those who in their turn are fit to hear the confession of others..."
Mr Rogers: When Catholics confess their sins to a Priest, does the Priest confess his sins back in return?