Is contrition all that is needed for forgiveness of sins?

alucardr said:

I came across a Catholic on another forum recently that claimed contrition for your sins was all that was needed for forgiveness of sins and that the sacrament of confession was more of a formality/formal rite. Is this correct? It would make sense since protestant Christians don't have the sacrament of confession, they simply express contrition for their sins and repent. They receive forgiveness for their sins because of this, right?

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they do not. they have separated themselves from the body of Christ, and from the True Vine.

Because of that separation, the living apostolic succession that was passed down from Jesus Himself died with those priests who separated themselves in the same way that a branch if separated from the parent plant will wither and die, because the living sap from the parent plant cannot be transfered across a broken connection to sustain the branch.
and thus those original separated priests cannot pass down the Apostolic Succession to other priests/pastors because they no longer abide in the unbroken connection. nor can any other separated priests/pastors be rightly commissioned unless/untill they are grafted into the True Vine.

As such their priests/pastors (if not grafted in) do not have the right to bind on Earth that which is bound in heaven, and to forgive on earth what is forgiven in heaven.
that missing apostolic succesion is also part of what makes their communion services only a memorial of the real thing,
and thus not legit.

the one thing they are able to do is to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

alucardr said:

That doesn't seem right though. They've accepted Jesus as their lord and savior. They live holy lives. I don't believe God's mercy is just limited to Catholics. It's what's in the person's heart that really matters.

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that's not what was said.
It's God's mercy, and as such it's His to extend or not to extend to whomsoever He wishes.
in the same way mercy is something that must be requested, believed in, and accepted.
forgiveness on the other hand is something that is specific to God and to the person who was sinned against.

Mercy deals with the consequences of sin.
forgiveness deals with the sin itself.

pdudgeon said:

that's not what was said.
It's God's mercy, and as such it's His to extend or not to extend to whomsoever He wishes.

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We know where Gd is, not where he isn't.

Stabat Mater said:

We know where Gd is, not where he isn't.

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we know one place that He isn't....in hell.

True.
Its just an Orthodox quote.

if you look past the hell thing I find it very gracefilled and to me it reeks of wisdom.

alucardr said:

That doesn't seem right though. They've accepted Jesus as their lord and savior. They live holy lives. I don't believe God's mercy is just limited to Catholics. It's what's in the person's heart that really matters.

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but does He recognize and claim them as sheep of His flock? that is the pertinant question.

If they are sheep of His flock, then he has the obligations of an owner/master to them.
But if they are sheep but not of His flock, thus belonging to another, then He has no obligation to them.