pentecostal girl said:
John 20:22-23 "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit; they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain; they are retained."
He breathed on them???
What does breathing on something mean in the Sacred Scriptures?
Isn't it the communication of some dynamic power?
pentecostal girl said:
To ME this verse means that if someone sins against me or hurts me somehow (talking about me, being cruel to me, etc..) than I can forgive them and they will be forgiven by me.
Do you mean that Jesus, at this point in time -of all times!- has now decided to give you an OPTION to forgive or
not forgive?
It seems to me that we should look at this verse in context. This episode occurs on the day of the Resurrection. Jesus has risen from the dead. He goes to see His apostles, most of whom He has not seen since Thursday night. They were in hiding because they were afraid. They have been heart-sick for the past few days. He walks thru the door. He says "Shalom", the normal Jewish greeting, but perhaps, considering the context, it means much more. He then tells the apostles that, as the Father had sent Him, He now sends them.
He is giving them a mission, a mandate to do something. Then He "breathes on them". He is communicating some dynamic 'thing'. What is it?
Could it be that He is giving them the authority to bring his Victory over sin to the world? Last thing He had said on the cross was "it is finished". Some say that meant that His mission was accomplished. He had paid the price for Sin.
Catholics have no problem seeing it that way. NonCatholics have been told that the Catholic position is absurd. So, maybe it is hard for nonCaths to look at these verses with a mind OPEN to the
possibilty that what Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans see here might
possibly be true.
Of course, the idea of telling your sins to another human person repulses many people, even though elsewhere in the NT, it is clear that this is exactly what God says to do. Actually, in reality it is a very positive experience. By
HUMBLY admitting our sinfulness, we are giving ourselves the antidote to the PRIDE (putting our will ahead of God's will) of sin. And how can the Apostles forgive
or retain sins, if they don't know what they are? (Jesus did not make them psychics.)
pentecostal girl said:
I don't interpret this as God giving man the power to absolve sins.
He did not ever give this power to anyone other than the Apostles. He never said anything like this to anyone else. To you and me, He said "Forgive". Period. To the apostles He said "Forgive
or Retain". Is He giving them the option of
not going by the rule we are all supposed to follow? Or is it possible that He is talking about something else? Could it possibly be that Catholics -
of all people- are actually right? Were your own ancestors were right when they confessed their sins to a priest? (Remember that most nonCatholic Christians have more Catholic ancestors than nonCatholic ancestors.)
Could your Catholic ancestors have been right and the people who tell you that Jesus
could not have given such power and authority to men are just
wrong, because they have not looked at these verses with minds
open to the possibility that Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans are right?
If Jesus did do as we Catholics think He did, does He have such power? Authority?
No matter what nonCath "Teachers" say?
Do you see the points I'm trying to make, pg?
Why did He "breathe on them"?
I really would like to know what you think.
You said you would try to answer and I hope you do.
If you have any more questions about a protestanst view on this, feel free to ask! I'll try hard to answer your questions the best I can 
O.k to answer some of your questions 
