I don't think that's a good defense of the Sacrament... God forgives the sin as soon as the sinner repents... As Frank Sheed puts it in his Theology for Beginners:
"It is not for the sinner to decide how his sins shall be forgiven.
But the question is worth a longer look, for a profound principle is involved - God's plan of using men to convey His gifts to men. Life itself is from God, but He uses a human mother and father to give it to us. That, of course, is in the natural order. But it applies to the supernatural as well. His revelation normally comes to men through other men. The whole of our Sacramental life is lived within the community which He founded and which He and the Father and the Holy Spirit indwell. By our sins we damage the community, and weaken its power to do the work for which Jesus founded it. The Sacrament of Reconciliation undoes the damage and restores our relation with our fellow Christians. The men who feel so certain that they must go to God alone for forgiveness, would never know Christ lived, much less died for them, unless men had told them. It may have been living teachers if they belong to a teaching Church, or the long dead men who wrote the Bible (to say nothing of the living men who gave it to them and told them what it is).
Of the whole of God's revelation this is true; new birth in Baptism is given by God through man; so is Holy Communion (whatever the special value they attach to it). A reason, one imagines, for making this solitary exception of forgiveness of sin is that it involves confessing one's sins to a man, which naturally one dislikes."
He goes on to explain how Confession is a reversal of sin by which the soul bends itself to God's will rather than its own and that it puts our sins into the worst possible light.
Guess all these verses from the Word aren't sufficient....
Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Isaiah 43:25-26 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Hebrews 10:17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
Daniel 9:9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Numbers 14:19-21 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,
Micah 7:18-19 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Matthew 6:9-15 "This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
Matthew 26:28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
God promises in His word that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Are you really saying that God's word is not trustworthy?
Or that you don't trust God when He tells us that but you trust a man instead?
So you trust a man to absolve you of your sins, but don't trust God?
If you don't trust God enough that He forgives your sins like He said He would and does, then you don't have enough faith to be saved and you are in a world of hurt.
I stole a quarter from my Mom's purse when I was in second grade. It bothered me so much I gave it to her and said I found it on the playground at school. I "confessed" that sin to a priest four or five times and never really felt or was sure I was forgiven.
Oh??
1 John 3:24
The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.