[Claud]

So, can a believer bypass a priest and petition forgiveness directly from Christ...

Of course! We do at every single Mass: "Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy!" But how do we know the forgiveness has been granted?

Can a Priest withold forgiveness... if so, is he not deciding in the place of Christ... I would think so

Well, what does it say in John 20? "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven. Whose sins you retain are retained." And in Matt 18: "what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

[MHGinTN]

You asked, perhaps innocent of the Truth the Word of God devlares, "But how do we know the forgiveness has been granted?" For those IN CHRIST we have God's Promise that He forgives when we approach Him for forgiveness. To those not born from above, 'ya pays yer coin and ya takes yer chances.' [1 John 1:7-9 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.] And that is confess our sins to HIM, for it is HE who forgives sin. Your priest has not been raised to God level righteousness in order to have that power. Sorry

[PigRigger]

How do you know you are forgiven...?

Through faith in His promises... they are steadfast and unbreakable.

My problem with reconciling this act of confession... is that forgiveness can be withheld... this equates man to God in divining one's heart... which only God can do... The definition of that phrase and its' meaning is debatable... so I do not see it as instruction that one can withhold forgiveness...

I see no reason to confess are sins to each other, we have been asked to do such... but I don't agree that who we confess to can determine whether you are forgiven or not.... That is God's rightful place... not man's...