Must Confession be Catholic?

FireDragon76

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The early church did confess sins openly but as the church grew, it became unwise so the practice was ended. I could see situations where openly telling somebody you slept with their wife could lead to some hard feelings, and that's an understatement. Few of us are that forgiving now days.

The actual modern practice we recognize as "confession" traces its origins to Celtic monasticism. It gradually spread throughout the Roman empire. However, Christians have always had the duty to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, even if it involved hearing a private confession.
 
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Rick Otto

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Don't you think that every believer is, in some sense, a priest?
I do, in the sense I interpret scripture to have meant it.


Revelation 1:6King James Version (KJV)

6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev.5
  1. [10] And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
 
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Tom 1

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Thanks for the info
 
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Hank77

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Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The idea of confession in the 17 and 1800s in many Protestant churches was not so private or secret. Confession was often a public confession before the congregation. Adam Clarke, Methodist preacher, theologian, and Bible scholar wrote this about this verse.

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Confess your faults one to another - This is a good general direction to Christians who endeavor to maintain among themselves the communion of saints. This social confession tends much to humble the soul, and to make it watchful. We naturally wish that our friends in general, and our religious friends in particular, should think well of us; and when we confess to them offenses which, without this confession, they could never have known, we feel humbled, are kept from self-applause, and induced to watch unto prayer, that we may not increase our offenses before God, or be obliged any more to undergo the painful humiliation of acknowledging our weakness, fickleness, or infidelity to our religious brethren.
James 5 Clarke's Commentary
 
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Phil 1:21

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I think there is a certain benefit to having a fellow Christ follower to keep oneself accountable. But the dogma that sins can only be forgiven by a priest following confession to a priest flies in the face of scripture, in the very face of Jesus' teaching.
 
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FireDragon76

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To confess to a priest, is to confess to God. It is an amazing experience

I'll have to take your word for it, not being Catholic. I've only confessed to Episcopalian priests. It was mostly positive as an experience. "All can, some should, none must" is what they tend to say. I was at a stage of my spiritual growth where it seemed appropriate, and I had lived apart from the Church for a while. But now days I feel a little more confident in my faith.

I think the most moving spiritual experience I had, in a religious rite, occurred years ago at a Pedilavium (foot washing) the Episcopal cathedral had. I wish more churches did that. That was alot more profound than any confession I have done. We took turns washing a stranger's feet, then they washed our feet. And all the while the choir sang Ubi Caritas. Folks at our Lutheran church won't do that because they are so prudish in their attitudes and afraid of any hint of sensuality, whereas I guess the Episcopalians were more willing to throw themselves into things.
 
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Tree of Life

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I agree but I think that confession is more than about accountability.

A problem with the protestant idea of the "accountability partner" is that the grace of confession is turned into a "lets fix each other" kind of situation. In other words, when we get together and confess, it's not about the act of confession itself, but about forming subsequent action plans or other means of fixing ourselves and our sin. I have no problem with taking sin seriously or forming an action plan to help us avoid sin in the future. But I think this tends to cheapen the power of confession alone. Confession of sins alone is valuable and brings healing. It is a means of grace.
 
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Joe 73

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I don't see why confession to an individual would be necessary in order to rightly partake of communion. But I see why it would be very useful.

Because you want to be sure you are not in mortal sin. if you go the sacrament of reconcilation properly, you can quite confident you are forgiven, If you don't, its impossible to be sure if you are pefectly contrite. If you are willing to confess your guilt, you probably are. This isn't a total argument, but one practical one.
Another thing, we believe priests have special authority they are able to excercise on behalf of god they recieve through Holy Orders. Lay people do not have the same authority, so they cannot authoritatively absolve sins.
I'm not saying that people can't/shouldn't confess their sins to lay people, or in solo prayer, or that they cannot be forgiven by them, just that is important to go to to a priest to recieve authoritative absolution from God's church.
That's my two cents. There is probably bit more to the question, but I understand this much.
 
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FireDragon76

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ToL, The Scorsese film Silence has some powerful moments about confession and absolution. The point you made reminds me of that film. Sometimes there is no "fixing" things, but that doesn't change what the sacrament offers.

My pastor and I both agree that film is really a Lutheran story in disguise: it seemed many Catholic priests and bishops in the US were puzzled by it, but we both understood the story's themes, and I loaned my pastor the book to read. It's really like The Ragamuffin Gospel, it's a meditation on failure and inability, and where you find God in that.
 
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dqhall

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Once it was suggested to me that I make a list of my sins and admit to myself and another what I had done wrong. I was supposed to show the list to someone. I had forgotten to add something to the list after I confessed it. I am not Catholic, but went to a Catholic Church in the big city where I was staying and found a confession booth. I can't remember the face of the man I confessed to, but was glad to have completed my confession. It took years of study and work to gain greater blessings than what I had that day. Some people wrote that you are not saved by works. I know you are not saved by being idle. Even if my body aches, I might go to my chair and pick up a book or tablet computer to study again.
 
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Don't you think that every believer is, in some sense, a priest?

(1Pet 2:9 [ESV]) "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

In a sense, yes. I think it's a truth that is extremely easy to forget for the war that continually wages inside of us.
 
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Tayla

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the Catholic practice of confession.
Four problems with Catholic confession:
  1. The priests divulge the contents of people's confessions during the homilies and on the radio; sometimes telling stories of individual people or mentioning their sins, and sometimes providing statistics of the percentages of various kinds of sins.
  2. The liberal priests (there are many where I'm from) don't know what sin is; don't believe confession is necessary; try to convince you such and such is not a sin; mock you for trying to follow the protocol.
  3. Standing in line waiting with sick people coughing and sneezing is bad for the health.
  4. You can hear what people in the confessional are saying.
 
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Confessing to a priest is confessing to God

In my experiences with other Christians, your comment above is always a chief point of contention concerning RC.

(1Tim 2:5 [ESV]) "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"

(Heb 7:25 [ESV]) "Consequently, he [Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

In my mind, the practice is akin to confession in the Old Testament, where figures like Moses were representative of God, to such an extent that petitions to him were, at least symbolically, as petitions to God.
 
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Goatee

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Wrong, as Jesus sent out the Apostles to forgive thosevthst sinned.
 
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