Why is it necessary to go to a priest?

Originally posted by Hoonbaba
I read somewhere that he/she would go to heaven IF his/her heart were in the right place (i.e. truly remorseful after having committed sin), but if his/her heart was very numb to such sin, then they would go to hell.  Am I correct?

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This is difficult, because emotions are so fickle. I mean, is it possible to be sorry you did something, and not feel bad emotionally? Can we be remorseful without that "crying feeling"?

I have always assumed that it's not that you absolutely *must* - you may achieve perfect contrition on your own, or more likely through the grace of God - but that it's an awfully good idea to be on the safe side when talking about things which could imperil your soul.

The key is "perfect contrition." Human beings love to lie to themselves. You can really kid yourself for quite some time. I'm a walking testimony to that, LOL. I've been gaining weight, and intentionally have ignored the scale. Well, the doctor's appointment today was a bucket of cold water dumped on my head. Yes, I've gained weight, and I've got the accompanying blood sugar problems now. I get to start the diabetic diet now, just in time for the holiday season.

But that doesn't explain why we MUST go to a priest. The Resurrection was the final installment in Jesus paying for all sin, right?

Yup.

But who can live the perfect, sinless life once you make that commitment to God? A few might be capable, but for the most part, we're still mortal beings.

Jesus understood that. He did so much for us, He set up a support network for His followers, to keep us focused on Him.

He gave us His Church.

He gave us nourishment, spiritual and physical, in His Body and His Blood.

And He gave His Apostles the power to forgive sins. After the Resurrection, He met with His Apostles, He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." And then He gave them the ability to bind or loose sins, both on earth and in Heaven.

Why is it necessary to go to a priest?

Jesus said so.



Peace be with you,
~VOW

Hoonbaba-----I was just thinking:  Why is it necessary to go to a priest when confessing mortal sins?

 

This Tradition a Sacrement was taught by the first Christians. Here are a few proofs.

 

"In church confess your sins, and do not come to your prayer with a guilt conscience. Such is the Way of Life...On the Lord's own day,assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins,so that your sacrifice may be pure"
Didache,4:14,14:1(A.D.70),in ACW,6:18,23
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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Confess your sins. Do not come to prayer with a guilty conscience."
Epistle of Barnabas,19:12(A.D. 74),in ACW,6:63
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"Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to soberness[of conduct], and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise repentance towards God. It is well to reverence both God and the bishop."
Ignatius,Epistle to the Smyraeans,9(.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:90


"The Pontifex Maximus--that is, the bishop of bishops--issues an edict: 'I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication.' "
Tertullian,Modesty,1(A.D. 220),in ANF,IV:74


"[Prayer for the Consecration of a Bishop] O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who dwellest on high yet hast respect unto the lowly, who knowest all things before they come to pass; Who didst give ordinances unto Thy church by the Word of thy grace; Who didst foreordain from the beginning the race of the righteous from Abraham,instituting princes and priests and leaving not Thy sanctuary without ministers; Who from the foundation of the world hast been pleased to be glorified in them whom Thou hast chosen; And now pour forth that Power which is from Thee, of the princely Spirit which Thou didst deliver to Thy Beloved Child Jesus Christ, which He bestowed on Thy holy Apostles who established the Church which hallows Thee in every place to the endless glory and praise of Thy Name. Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high priest,that he may minister blamelessly by night and day,that he may unceasingly behold and propriate Thy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority to forgive sins..."
Hippolytus,Apostolic Tradition,3(A.D. 215),in AT,4-5
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"In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance...when he does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord"
Origen,Homilies on Leviticus,2:4(A.D. 248),in JUR,I:207

Originally posted by VOW
The key is "perfect contrition." Human beings love to lie to themselves. You can really kid yourself for quite some time.

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How can you kid yourself about a sin? I just don't understand this. Can you kid yourself about murder, adultery, larceny, blasphemy, etc? I don't think you easily can, imho. It seems to me that you cannot kid yourself about a sin if it is grave enough to be considered mortal to you.

But even if you could "kid" yourself about a certain sin, what does that say about its mortality? Now let's be fair and say that it is very grave, yet you are not convicted of it because you did not do it with full and clear intention, or your conscience does not consider it be as grave a sin as the Catholic Church claims it is. What can be said of that sin in your life? I've heard that if a person truly does not believe an action to be mortal, then God will have mercy, and that sin won't be held against them. That in mind, what danger is this person's soul in, and just what can you do about it?

I guess I don't see that much of a difference between confessing in your room and confessing in front of a priest, contrition wise. I mean, what is the priest going to do? Is he going to lay a "no no" guilt trip on you, or perhaps some fire & brimstone? No one can change a person's mind; one man, one priest, cannot alter a person's paradigm.

Well, if you think abortion is murder, I can point you at a bunch of people who are kidding themselves. If you think war is murder, I can do the same. There are lots of cases where people can come up with perfectly reasonable-sounding excuses... Even for things that, in the abstract, they know to be wrong.

Yeah where does it say you have to go to a priest.&nbsp; My&nbsp; bible says something different

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanses us from all sin.
&nbsp;8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us.
&nbsp;9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


Hmm. I dont see anything in here but our one and only high priest Jesus.
John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

We pray directly to the Father in the name&nbsp;of Jesus. Priest were under the old law but now we are under a new convenant with a new high priest Jesus Christ.

Heb 7:11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need <I>was there </I>that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.

14 For <I>it is </I>evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest

16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.

17 For He testifies: "You <I>are </I>a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek."

18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness,

19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, <I>there is the </I>bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

20 And inasmuch as <I>He was </I>not <I>made priest </I>without an oath

21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: "The LORD has sworn And will not relent, 'You <I>are </I>a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek' "),

22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.

24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, <I>who is </I>holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, <I>appoints </I>the Son who has been perfected forever.



NKJ Hebrews 8:1 Now <I>this is </I>the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore <I>it is </I>necessary that this One also have something to offer.

4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;

5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See <I>that </I>you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

7 For if that first <I>covenant </I>had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah --

9 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

10 "For this <I>is </I>the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

11 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

13 In that He says, "A new <I>covenant," </I>He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

16 For where there <I>is </I>a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

17 For a testament <I>is </I>in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

Col 2:14 2cort 3:3-6

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To Jason:

*I* can't tell you what would happen to a non-Catholic who commits a mortal sin. That's up to God.

When I first became a convert, I also had trouble with the whole "confession-thing." But as the priest explained to me, Confession should be WELCOMED by every Catholic, because it imparts Grace.

My personal impression of confessing to another person is just EMBARASSMENT. I don't want to tell someone the secrets on my soul! And I'm sure that is 99.999% of other, non-Catholic objections to Confession. Guess what, folks? The priest doesn't CARE what you have done. I have gone to Confession with the heavy weight of knowing the true nature of my sins, and the priest brushes them aside. Does that mean my sins are nothing? Of course not! He doesn't CARE what I've done. He is interested in turning around my focus, from sin, from MYSELF, and show me the way back to God.

THAT is the purpose. THAT is the source of Grace that my instructing priest was trying to explain to me. Don't get hung up on the idea, "Well, I can just take my sins to God." Get real. DO YOU HONESTLY DO THAT? The "normal human reaction" to any sin is to try to put it completely out of your mind. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry." Come on. Admit it.

You have no concept what it is like to sit before the priest, confess your sins, and then LEAVE the confessional feeling like your feet don't even touch the ground. Instead of having this "bad thing" lurking in the back of your mind, haunting your thoughts, reminding you just what a terrible sinner you REALLY are, it's GONE. Wiped clean! The presence of that sin takes up a part of your mind, a part of your consciousness that is WASTED with the existence of that sin. Once you leave the confessional, you have a nice clean FREE place in your mind that you can now turn over to God, to glorifying His magnificent mercy.

The priest also counsels you on the occasion of sin. He can tell you how to avoid the commission of such a sin in the future. He is actively interested in YOU, to help you re-establish your relationship with God. You NEED that personal interaction, and you most certainly benefit from the advice the priest can give you.

To use one of the neverending supply of "VOW-examples," look at it this way. You are seeing confession as taking a dose of castor oil. Yeah, the stuff is good for you, but it's NASTY. You'd rather swallow a nice, tasteless pill that is guaranteed to give the same result.

I'm telling you, yeah, you THINK it's castor oil. But it truly ends up being more like an ice cream cone. It's not "medicine" at all, but a wonderful thing.


Peace be with you,
~VOW

How do I know that confession isn't just a cleverly constructed psychological catharsis and "high"?

How do I know that confession can actually impart real redeeming grace to me and that it can actually affect me on a spiritual level?

How do I know that ANYTHING is true??? Geesh...

I did'nt know I was debateing. I was just posting my thoughts. I still want to see the verse that says we confess to a priest instead of confessing to God. I want to see some sort of verse that say the priest can take your confession and give it to the Pope/apostles and it will be forgiven. I showed how that if you pray to the father in the name of Jesus your sins will be forgiven. It makes absoultly no sense whatsoever to have to confess your sins to a priest. I think the bible teaches that all christisans are priests and kings and not some select few.

Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. See Rev 5:10

Please show me book chapter verse where aposteles are to have successors.

If these statemens and questions are construed as debateing simply dont answer them. I am just trying to learn here.

The "legalistic" view of Confession used to bother me, but thankfully, I have realized that many of the rules of the Catholic Church are in effect our pastors acting as shepards. Is it "necessary" to go to Confession? Strictly speaking, no. But for a Catholic who has put him/herself under their care, not going to Confession should cause the person not going to analyze the state of their faith.

The rules aren't about controlling people, they are about caring for them. A priest can literally act as a vessel of God's grace, in a similar way as we all have at some point. It is a part of his ministry. We each have our own ministries, and we are each given the grace to perform them. It really helped me when I stopped looking at the Catholic Church's "Laws," and saw instead their active sheparding of their faithful. Confession can only help a sinful human.

God Bless,

Neal