Regarding the forgiveness of sins, two critical doctrines must be examined. First, all sins must be confessed to a priest:
"One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his
conscience." Pg. 374, #1493
"Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance:" Pg. 365, #1456
"It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. Pg. 357, #1424 (See also Pg. 374,
#1493).
Catholicism orders members to confess their sins to a man, but the Bible reveals that those who have been born into God's family can go straight to God's throne to receive forgiveness for their
sins:
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my
sin. " Psalm 32:5
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
David confessed his sins to God when he prayed:
"Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." Psalm 51:2-3
Here is why true Christians have access to God' s throne:
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus..." Hebrews 10:19
Because of the sinless blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross, we have the authority to go straight to the throne of God for forgiveness.
The "first pope's" example
In the book of Acts, a man named Simon came to the alleged first pope, Peter, wanting to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. How did Peter respond to this sin? Did he suggest that Simon make a
confession to him right there? No, Peter told him to repent and confess his sin
to God and ask God to forgive him. (See Acts 8:18-22).
Can priests forgive sins?
The second part of this doctrine suggests that Catholic priests have the power to forgive sins:
"Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ." Pg. 374, #1495 (See also Pg. 364
#1448)
Here, too, Catholic doctrine opposes God's Word:
"Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?"
Mark 2:7
Catholicism teaches that the priest is a mediator between God and man. (See Pg. 365, #1456). But the Bible recognizes only one mediator:
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus;" 1 Timothy 2:5
Once again, the Catechism admits that these are not instructions from God, but traditions of men:
"The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as the second plank [of
salvation]..." Pg. 363 #1446
More bondage
"According to the Church's command, 'after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least
once a year.'" Pg. 365, #1457 (Emphasis author's)
There is that word "bound" again. The Church Fathers created another tradition which keeps people in bondage to the Catholic church.
What a powerful weapon to use against Catholics around the world. In essence, this doctrine says that if you leave the Catholic church, you will not be able to obtain forgiveness for your sins, which
means you won't go to heaven.
Please remember, none of this came from God! These are all man-made threats. May God open your spiritual eyes and give you understanding, so that you may see the depth of the bondage this religion holds you in. May God show you that you don't have to be held captive to this
religion any longer. Jesus Christ wants to set you free.
Conclusion
Millions of faithful Catholics blindly file into confessional booths, believing that the priest has the power to forgive their sins.
What about you? Where will you go to have your sins forgiven? To a sinful priest, as the man-made traditions of the Catholic church demand?
Or will you go straight to God Almighty, as the Bible teaches?
"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, LORD, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee,
that thou mayest be feared." Psalm 130:1-4
2 comments:
You sure know how to mix things up! First, quoting the Old Testament proves nothing about the New Testament or how the church has developed over the years. If you want only to do what the Old Testament says, then you'd better stop doing most things in your life and start doing all of the perscriptions of the old testament the Jews have practices for centuries.
The Old Testament is a foundation Jesus based his life on and from which he grew and advanced. There was no 'formal' church during the Apostles' time and the 'sacraments' were not fully developed or defined. You misquote the New Testament Mark 2:7 by making what the Pharasees said as if it was something Christ said. Nice try but no cigar. If this is how you quote what trust can we have on your interpretations of anything?
Christ is the mediator between God and Man, correct, and the Apostles represented Jesus on earth, then the Fathers of the Church who were taught by and had contact with the apostles continued their understanding of Jesus' thought and they, the chrisitan community the leaders of the church, including the popes, shaped and fashoned structures which create rituals which bring us into the presence of Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Sacraments. These are special graces given thru the Church Jesus Christ founded that help heal our soul more than our just saying to God 'I confess, I'm sorry". The effects of forgiveness are not based on the power of God, but on our abilty to open ourselves up to the power of God and we take away more defensiveness and act more honest when we 'have to' talk to another person. Human nature shows that it's one thing to say to yourself that you are sorry for something, quite another thing to talk it over with a friend who was not involved, and quite another thing to talk to the person themselvs. Humans can work well when they have to face another human who can question them, assess their contrition and get them to realize a few things about the wrong, sinfulness, what might help patch things up and how to heal to become closer to God. Jesus became 'human' to help humans understand better what a relationship with God was like. Humans, priests, are not God or Jesus but represent or become a conduit for Jesus thru which the sacrament flows. You can get married in the court, but to get a Christian or Catholic marriage, you go thru the church's rites. As imperfect as humans are, God uses humans to help other humans.
Friend,
The apostles are NOT Christ's ONLY representatives on Earth; the Bible directs all those who have been born again into the New Covenant to be ambassadors of Christ while here on Earth. Yes friend, that means that I (having been raised a Catholic - now a practicing Born Again Bible-believing evangelical Christian) am an ambassador for Christ on Earth to preach the Good News!
Also, I am not aware of where in the Bible it speaks of Jesus outlining how the structure of the church was to be significantly different once He left Earth to reign in Heaven. He said to Peter, "On you I will build My church." But He also says, "I am the coner-stone that the builder's rejected." Don't cause Christ to become a stumling block to those who need forgiveness. Christ is easily accessible and no man on His Earth has His power; power enough to forgive sin. In essence what is being said is, "Yeah you sinned, but God messed up here. Your sin isn't that bad. Upon further investigation I over rule God's decision of punishment and although you may not have fellowship with Him, you can with us and we'll sneak you in the back-door to Heaven when He isn't looking." I may be mistaken, please correct me if I am wrong but He doesn't tell Peter to forgive people in His stead while He is with the Father. Nor can I find it anywhere that He directs the apostles to fashion the church 180deg. differently than when He was with us. That would be Hypocritical of the Word and of our Lord; He is Perfect and in no means would He want to leave us with the false impression that He was a hypocrite.
It IS as easy as confessing that you are a sinner, you need a savior, and then to repent. That is the New Covenant. It's about GRACE on Earth. Like Adam and Eve; they tried making fig leaves as clothing but it goes on to show that God had to do it for them even then (the first man-made religion!). Grace is NOW. Justice is after death. And it is as easy as Grace. Either you are covered in His blood and you are redeemed by Him alone, or you are not covered with His blood and you are doomed for all eternity.
Also, we are perfected by Christ. That is Sanctification. We only need be Justified once; by being born again as He commanded. We fall back into the Law if we institute rituals and ceremonies. God knows how we humans are; always looking into things 'deeper' and trying to be as smart as Him. He knows we are simple-minded in comparison to Him. That's why He had to do it ALL for us and that's also why he made it so easy to attain fellowship with Him. He HAS to do it all. OR else, "Professing to be wise, they became fools." We reject Christ when we institute the chain of command equalizing men/women to Christ or God especially with something as significant as sin ... which ruled us guilty and had us cast out of His presence to begin with! The sacraments ship our focus away from Christ and on to the church; man.
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