Posted on 01/11/2015 12:54:31 PM PST by NYer
Freedom of speech is a great thing. Unfortunately, it comes at an unavoidable price: When citizens are free to say what they want, theyll sometimes use that freedom to say some pretty silly things. And thats the case with the 12 claims were about to cover.
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Some of them are made over and over, others are rare. Either way, while the proponents of these errors are free to promote them, we as Catholics have a duty to respond.
5. "You don't need to confess your sins to a priest. You can go straight to God."
As a former Baptist minister, I can understand the Protestant objection to confession (they have a different understanding of priesthood). But for a Catholic to say something like this...it's disappointing. I suspect that, human nature being what it is, people just don't like telling other people their sins, and so they come up with justifications for not doing so.
The Sacrament of Confession has been with us from the beginning, coming from the words of Christ Himself:
"Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:21-23)
Notice that Jesus gives His apostles the power to forgive sins. Of course, they wouldn't know which sins to forgive if they weren't told what sins were involved.
The practice of confession is also evident in the Letter Of James:
"Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." (James 5:14-16)
It's interesting that nowhere does James (or Jesus) tell us to confess our sins to God alone. Rather, they seem to think that forgiveness comes through some means of public confession.
And it's not difficult to understand why. You see, when we sin, we rupture our relationship not just with God, but with His Body, the Church (since all Catholics are interconnected as children of a common Father). So when we apologize, we need to do so to all parties involved — God and the Church.
Think of it this way. Imagine you walk into a store and steal some of their merchandise. Later, you feel remorse and regret the sinful act. Now, you can pray to God to forgive you for breaking His commandment. But there's still another party involved; you'll need to return the merchandise and make restitution for your action.
It's the same way with the Church. In the confessional, the priest represents God and the Church, since we've sinned against both. And when he pronounces the words of absolution, our forgiveness is complete.
But you still have to do purgatory time for them right?
Sal said that God forgets her sin..if He has forgotten your sin..how can He remember how much purgatory time you need? ... No one dies without sinning.. but when God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to me
“Contrition” not “Contribution” - sorry, long day, tired eyes...
Post number 54.
Christians can come to God and do that sort of thing any time they feel the need to. No need to wait until it's time to go to confession and tell a priest.
It's me and God time with a heart to heart discussion with my Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and not a stand in for Him. I talk to HIM directly.
And your basis for that is what?
Just how pure does one have to be if sinless is not good enough?
There you go. Confusing them with making sense.
But write a large enough check to Rome and you too can be declared pure enough to face God directly!
:)
Ahhh yes the old indulgence scam.. built Rome ya know
"As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs"?
I hope people pray and make sacrifices for me, and have Masses said, as well, either now or after I die, so I won’t be there as long, if I make it! But I never take my salvation for granted! I try my best to avoid hell by not falling into mortal sin, and going to Confession asap if I do!
Does it ever occur to people that there is something the matter with a “purification process if one can buy their way out?
The RC has added or used a translation that adds "Therefore" to v. 16, but which is not there, but it used here to support confession to non-existent RC priesthood. .
Instead, NT presbuteros (elders) were never titled “hiereus” (= priest, from "preost"), which is only used for Jewish and pagan priests which have a unique sacerdotal function as their primary role, unlike NT presbuteros.
And while the binding and loosing aspect that pertains to forgiveness (which can be related to healing) - that of God removing chastisement due to intercession of others, as Christ showed, (Mk. 2:5-11; Jn. 5:8ff) - does apply primarily to the elders, yet what Jn. 5:16-18 exhorts is believers also confessing faults to other believers and praying for such that they may be healed.
For as in Mt. 18, power of binding and loosing can be had by any righteous laity of fervent prayer:
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:16-18)
James is teaching that any righteous man can be like Elias who bound the heavens from raining for 3.5 years, and then loosed them again. And which has application in other areas (not "name is claim it.")
In Dt. 17, if there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within their gates, then it was brought before the Levitical magisterial authority, whose judgment was binding to one, and loosing to the other.
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. (Deuteronomy 17:11) The Lord also enjoined conditional obedience to the Scribes and Pharisees, (Mt. 23:2) and who claimed the power of dissolving vows, etc. But not as being the supreme infallible standard, thus the Lord reproved their unScriptural judgments by Scripture. (Mk. 7:2-16)
Mt. 18:15-20 has application to all, but first specifically deals with judgments in personal matters. Which binding and loosing Dt. 17:8-13 corresponds to, in which an unresolved personal matter is brought to the church, whose judgment binds and looses, (cf. Matthew 18:17) with one being in sin and the other vindicated.
Paul with the church also exercised this binding power in 1Cor. 5 "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5)" (1 Corinthians 5:5)
And fathers and husbands are given some binding and loosing power in regards to daughters and wives respectively. (Num 30:3-7)
Even valid civil authorities have a power to bind and loose, physically. (Rm. 13::1-7) .
Isn't Jesus' death on the cross enough to pay for your sins?
But I never take my salvation for granted!
Nobody ought to although I don't doubt some people do. But not anyone I know. We all know what we were saved from both in this life and the next.
I try my best to avoid hell by not falling into mortal sin, and going to Confession asap if I do!
All sins damns. If you sinned only ONE sin in your entire life, you would still go to hell.
Adam and Eve sinned only one sin and it brought sin into the world and condemned them and caused God to promise a redeemer.
There is NOTHING that we can do to make us good enough for heaven. Works don't do it and avoiding as much sin as possible doesn't do it.
Your words state that Jesus did not leave His authority to “His Church” (whether that is what you meant, or not). In your account, Pentecost has no meaning. And the Church as Body of Christ, as taught by St. Paul, becomes merely the work of men.
And that cannot be. Jesus clearly says He is building a church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus was called ‘Rabbi’ for a reason; He was a teacher, but more than that, He taught with authority.
As such he invested his authority in St. Peter, who became the Bishop of Rome, as is our Pope today.
That's beautiful! God is everywhere, and we can talk to Him anytime and know He's listening. I've spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms, for one or another of my parents, talking with Him; driving; doing housework, or just sitting- you name it! He makes all our daily life special if we remember to include Him in our day!
Pentecost was not about authority.
It was about giving the church the power to do what Jesus commanded.
I addressed the John passage already, in #17 of this thread.
**“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)**
The Lord is prophesying. The disciples would receive the Holy Ghost after his departure (on the day of Pentecost), of which he also prophesied would only happen with him going away. Remember?...he told them to tarry in Jerusalem for ‘the promise of the Father’. (luke 24:49)
The remitting of sins was to begin at Jerusalem as well. Jesus said that they were to preach repentance and remission of sins in his NAME, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47).
Peter preached it first on Pentecost, telling convicted souls to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the NAME (remember Luke 24:47?) of JESUS CHRIST for the REMISSION of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. Acts 2:38.
In Acts 11 we find Peter back in Jerusalem, after the conversion event at Cornelius’ house in Caesarea. Answering to those that questioned his hanging out with the Gentiles, he told of them receiving the Holy Ghost. With God giving them the Spirit, his hand was forced to obey God’s ordained plan, and baptise them in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins. Notice his testamony at that point:
**Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the lord Jesus Christ; WHAT WAS I, THAT I COULD WITHSTAND GOD?”.
God expected Peter to do HIS part, and baptise them in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission sins. Peter HAD to do it, for it was required by God.
**Notice that Jesus gives His apostles the power to forgive sins.**
By baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.
**Of course, they wouldn’t know which sins to forgive if they weren’t told what sins were involved.**
Sin is sin. You mean to tell me that people are to remember every sin that they commit, and tell the priest each one? What if they forget one, leave the confession, and get killed crossing the street?
If I gossip, for instance, I may have done harm to that person that I cannot repair in this life. I can go to the person and say I'm sorry; I can even go to the people to whom I gossiped and try to repair what I've done, but I still can't take back those words that poisoned people's minds against someone because of my sin. Those consequences are at least in part my responsibility, and I must make reparation for them. I can make reparation in Purgatory after I die. I also believe that faith and good works go hand in hand. As a follower of Christ, I must serve Him by accepting my suffering, and actively helping others and worshipping God whenever possible. which makes reparation for my sins in this life.
St. Sir Thomas More said it much better than I ever could: Give me the grace, Good Lord To set the world at naught. To set the mind firmly on You and not to hang upon the words of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly pleasures. Little by little utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of all its business. Not to long to hear of earthly things, but that the hearing of worldly fancies may be displeasing to me. Gladly to be thinking of God, piteously to call for His help. To lean into the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him. To know my own vileness and wretchedness. To humble myself under the mighty hand of God. To bewail my sins and, for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful in tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leads to life. To have the last thing in remembrance. To have ever before my eyes my death that is ever at hand. To make death no stranger to me. To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of Hell. To pray for pardon before the judge comes. To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me. For His benefits unceasingly to give Him thanks. To buy the time again that I have lost. To abstain from vain conversations. To shun foolish mirth and gladness. To cut off unnecessary recreations. Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss at naught, for the winning of Christ. To think my worst enemies my best friends, for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred. These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasures of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it gathered and laid together all in one heap. Amen
clarifying: (after his departure) was about 50 days after the ascension.
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