[dhs12345]

Good. I have learned that debates about religion are always a loser. Here goes...

All IMHO...

Asking a priest for forgiveness versus praying directly to God is wrong. He is just a human. Likewise, receiving punishment from a priest is wrong.

Putting a priest in this position gives him a great deal of unquestioned power. The kind of power that corrupts because he is, after all, human.

And, no it is not wrong to ask friends and family to pray to God for you. Just as long as you don't pray *to* your friends and family.

[syriacus]

The kind of power that corrupts because he is, after all, human.

True. There is always the danger that people will become corrupt after they are given power.

[agere_contra]

I have learned that debates about religion are always a loser

Wise man :0)

No-one would dare ascribe the power to forgive sin to any human being, unless Christ had in fact given his Apostles that power.

But as Christ said to Peter and the Apostles: Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whose sins you retain, they are retained.

As per my previous long screed: God relies on humans to feed the poor, feed the hungry etc - and he places an extra responsibility on the Apostles to enact what we call the Sacraments - those miraculous acts of Christ that are the root of the Church: making present the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mass, the act of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confession (or Reconciliation), amongst others.

Catholics believe that Christ meant us to take Him seriously when He gave the Apostles these awesome responsibilities. He chose the Apostles - they had no discernable moral superiority, and certainly don't appear to have been the bravest and brightest. But that He did indeed choose these weak, wilful men to enact His Sacraments is evident from the Gospel record.