Do You Need to Confess Sins to people, or just to God?

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Rhamiel

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You must always confess to God. That is, every sin you commit is a sin against God; thus you must always confess all your sins to God.

Now about confessing to other people, I think that if you sinned against that man or woman you must confess it to her/him. You sin against God and you must ask His forgiveness, but you also sin against other people and you must ask their forgiveness too, if they can.

Every sin is a sin against God so this is why you must ask for His forgiveness every time you sin; but also most of our sins are done against other people too, so we must ask for their forgiveness too. But I think there can also be instances when it is better not to tell, but judging that depends on the wisdom God gave you.

very true, I would also recomend reading 1rst Corinthians chaperter 12
12:26 in particular is good for this topic
"And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it"

we are all one body, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link (please do not take that litteraly but just as like an idea, since the strength of Christianity is Christ and the Holy Spirit and not the weakness of man this is not exactly the case but it is a common term that helps you understand the mindset)
in short, every sin is agianst God, but it is also agianst every Christian
when you sin you are wounded spiritualy, and you do less to help other Christians, we have no idea how our sins affect everyone else so we can not always ask for forgiveness from everyone we hurt with our sins
that is why we ask God, and the Church as a whole to forgive us with confession to a minister
also to build up humility
 
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ivebeenshown

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Jesus never expected people to spell out in lurid detail what sins they had committed. His message was clear: the Father knows, so repent and sin no more, and go on with your life as best as you are able with God's guidance..

This is a very good point. I'm sure our Father has no problem when we feel miserable about what we do and decide to spill it all out to Him, but they can indeed be summarized.
 
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Rhamiel

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Thank you for your post- I generally agree with this, but have three comments:

1. the verse from James 5 is arguably the most direct instruction in the Bible with regard to how we should deal with sin and confession. But this verse does not suggest that it is mandatory to confess your sin to a person.

2. I am not aware that Jesus ever suggested that we must confess our sins to a fellow human being.

3. Neither in James, or anywhere else in the Bible, is there any instruction as to how detailed a confession of sin should be- either to God or to others. I think it is very interesting that Jesus, in the Lord's Prayer, simply says the following in Luke 11 (I bolded the key passage):

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
2 He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.' "

So Jesus suggests that we should only ask God to forgive our sins, nowhere does it suggest that we need to go into gory details about what those sins are, or that we should confess them to someone other than God.
_________________________________

Let me give some examples of why I believe this is an important issue for Christians, and why I am keen to hear other's insights into this matter:

1. I have several times been at Church services where someone, during their testimony prior to being baptized, has talked about their former life of sin- describing in detail a former history of drug abuse, or sexual immorality.

Personally, I don't think it is necessary or appropriate to do this, especially when there are children present. We are all mortal human beings, and can never expunge from our minds what we hear. Despite our best intentions, I believe it is not possible to totally erase from our consciousness such a person's sordid past when we meet them face to face at other church functions. Imagine, for example, a community church leader or teacher, who confesses to past sins involving some perversion- can we (especially a prospective employer) really expunge those thoughts from our minds and not let them bias our assessment of that person, even if they have totally repented? Besides, is it not unfair for a person to make such a confession in a setting where listeners can't escape; where they must listen, no matter how uncomfortable they are, to the confession?

2. I have heard or read stories of married people who succumbed to adultery- but then realized their sin, felt horrible and very guilty about it, repented, and renewed their marital commitment. Some of those accounts are even related here on CF.

In cases where the spouse- or the family- did not know about the adultery, is it really necessary to risk breaking up the marriage, or worse, the family, by confessing such a sin to them? Again, a wife or child who hears such a confession is forced to listen, and will forever have that information imprinted in their minds- so I ask- is that really fair and necessary for healing to take place?

3. I was once present at a church service where people were encouraged to confess and seek the congregation's forgiveness of their sins. I am sure the intention of the Pastor was to have people make their confessions in a general way- but one woman got up and confessed to a former life of embezzlement and fraud, for which she had served time in jail. Trouble is, she now worked in the local bank- and although I have no doubt that her repentance was complete and real, I don't think it was appropriate or necessary for her to share her past sins in such a public way, even if it was in a church service.

Jesus never expected people to spell out in lurid detail what sins they had committed. His message was clear: the Father knows, so repent and sin no more, and go on with your life as best as you are able with God's guidance.

.

1. In James 5 it says do this and your sins will be healed, so, would that mean that if you do not do this your sins will not be healed? you said it does not seem mandatory, i think that it could go either way, it is not the strongest language possible but it is still a clear call to confess to others
2. the Gospels are rather short, they do not record everything that Jesus ever said, that is why the epistles are so helpful
3. ofcourse we should pray for Gods forgivness, it is not either or, confessing without prayer to God and being sorry for our sins does notheing

1,2,3 the early church had similar problems, that is where the practice of confessing to a priest came from, he represents the the church as a whole, like i said in my last post, we can not really tell who all we hurt with our sins
 
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I once had a good friend who I shared many an outdoor adventure with.

One day, it came out that he had robbed a bank when he was young. Imagine- he had robbed a bank and had served several years in jail for that!

Did it affect our friendship? Well, no- I rationalized that this was something that had been done in the distant past, he had served his time, and had no bearing on our friendship (we have since, for other reasons, lost contact with each other).

But I really didn't think it was necessary for him to tell me about his bank robbing days. Maybe if I was the manager of the local bank, and this person was an employee, I might think differently- unfortunately, that is the nature of human interactions.

But I ask myself: how might things have been differently if that person had admitted to robbing a bank- but had never been caught. Does that change everything and, no matter how far in the past the sin happened, such a confession must be reported to the authorities, and that person must be forced to stand trial and serve time in jail?

This question comes up quite often when people from distant lands where there was conflict come to the U.S. and seek refuge status. Even if they are totally repentant of crimes they committed, no matter how heinous, should they be automatically excluded from entering the country? If so, then is this consistent with the Bible's message that we must forgive each other, and move on?

.
 
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christian73

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To claim Jesus' forgiveness, all the Bible says you have to do is repent and sin no more.

So does repentance require telling others, especially the victims of your sin, about them, or is that something that can be dealt with just between you and God?

Bible references please!

.
If you wronged somebody you need to ask forgiveness of that person as well as ask God to forgive you in order to be right with God.
 
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If you wronged somebody you need to ask forgiveness of that person as well as ask God to forgive you in order to be right with God.

And when you say "ask forgiveness"- do you mean this literally, or do you also have to spell out what the sin was? And if you need to spell out what the sin was, then how much detail must you provide?

And if the sin involves something that was contrary to the law, and the person was never tried and convicted of the crime, do either of you then also have a responsibility to report this to the authorities and endure the consequences?

Please provide Bible references to support a position.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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Of course, this does bring up the subject of confessionals- what is the present position of the Catholic Church with regard to priests who hear a confession about something that is a criminal offence. Do they have an obligation to report this to the authorities?

Romans 13?
 
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Rhamiel

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Of course, this does bring up the subject of confessionals- what is the present position of the Catholic Church with regard to priests who hear a confession about something that is a criminal offence. Do they have an obligation to report this to the authorities?
they are ordered not to tell anyone what was said in confession

the idea that people are free to go to confession without fear of being turned over to the authorities

priests and Bishops have been killed by Kings and Dictators looking for information, everything from if the Queen is having an afair to if someone is a communist

the idea is that God forgives everything and when the priest hears confesions they are standing in for christ
now they would be encourages to turn themself in to the authorities
but the priest is not to tell anyone what was confessed

now if someone says they are going to commit a crime then it would not be a confession but saying that you are planning something, i do not know if that counts too
 
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ebia

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I was pointing out that ordained ministers were at the location they chose to go to in order to confess. And I don't think you will see a historically knowledgeable Catholic denying public confession in the ancient Church, but the setting of the sacrament is not considered something part of immutable teaching, but rather a pastoral norm which the Church has the guidance to bind and loose. And I think it would be unproductive to argue that the sacrament is faulty if the minister and penitent are alone, but not if they are in front of other people.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the sacrament is faulty if they are alone, but throughout scripture and the earliest church the confessions are in the context of community and leadership with the emphasis on the community, not on the leadership. A situation where it is almost exclusively only in the presence of the leadership seems to have drifted a long way from that - and is, I think, symptomatic of an unfortunate drift in the thinking of what the leadership is.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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God already knows everything you've done. youre not really confessing anything unless you tell it to someone who doesnt already know

Not necessarily,

how many times does God ask someone where they've been or what they've been doing and He already knows?
 
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Big Drew

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To claim Jesus' forgiveness, all the Bible says you have to do is repent and sin no more.

So does repentance require telling others, especially the victims of your sin, about them, or is that something that can be dealt with just between you and God?

Bible references please!

.

I don't really understand the concept of going to confession...but I do believe if our sin brought harm to another person we should go to that person and make it right.
 
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razeontherock

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To claim Jesus' forgiveness, all the Bible says you have to do is repent and sin no more.

Bible reference please?

[cricket-cricket]

We could all wait an eternity for you to find that. Might I suggest reading 1 John 1:9?

Question: when Jesus, on the cross, said "Father forgive them,"

who exactly had asked for forgiveness?
 
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jckstraw72

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Not necessarily,

how many times does God ask someone where they've been or what they've been doing and He already knows?

well i think God says that, to Adam for instance, to kinda give Adam a wakeup call -- like HEY! you screwed up!
 
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Christos Anesti

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Do we really "need" to do any of the things that the Bible tells us to do? As Christians I think the question should instead by "why wouldn't we confess our sins to one another?". Often people seem to look at things from the perspective of "what can I get away with and still go to heaven". I do it myself at times so please know that I'm not trying to be preachy. I just don't think that is the attitude that God wants of us.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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well i think God says that, to Adam for instance, to kinda give Adam a wakeup call -- like HEY! you screwed up!

Actually, if you read the discourse again in Genesis chapter 3 . God asked questions to see how Adam and Eve reacted . because by our words we are acquitted and our words we are condemned because Jesus is always the same yesterday, today, and forever . even when the voice of God walking around in the garden . their own minds infected with sin condemned them . and because they judged without mercy when blaming one another . a judgment without mercy is waiting for those who .. do not hear the voice of God, Jesus Christ and live . because at the time when Adam and Eve made those judgments they were still ruler over all creation . so in reality . the judgment is actually sin's idea speaking through Adam and Eve . and sin spoke correctly of itself . it will be judged .

So God doesn't do such things to make us guilty or even as an abusive parent say "why can't you get anything right?" God is Love . and the way we percieve His actions is painted with the sin that indwells our body parts . and as Paul said .. we still see through a glass darkly . but .. God is still love . love is patient .. love is kind . and love keeps no records of wrongs . and when He judges "he will not judge based on what he sees or hears but will judge according to what is right" as it is written .

so no . God does not do the guilt trip thing . sin does and we mistake it for the voice of God . because we still resemble Him .
 
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Christos Anesti

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I think a feeling of guilt can at times give us the motivation to repent and do what is right. If it can be helpful I would see no reason that God wouldn't make use of it. Sometimes the remedies and surgeries that bring us great benefit can be painful.
 
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