Fear Of Catholic Teaching

[Mark of the Cross]

Was just reading the answer to Question about confession on the scholar forum. I must admit that I was surprised at the response of the suggestion that we need to recall as many of our specific mortal sins as we can that we committed prior to our spiritual evolution. eg. I notice in my own life that it has been a slow progression away from the darkness toward the light. Do I really need to fear those sins that I committed that I never even thought much about and had a meh attitude toward possibly because of my depression? Is not my calling a sign that the past is the past. [i]No sin of mine is greater than your love for me, I can always start anew. [/i]Sure there is scriptural evidence that priests can absolve transgressions that I confess to him. But where does it say that I cannot do the same thing in my heart generally? Isn't "Lord I'm sorry for all my sins (remembered and forgotten) some I will do again because I am weak and I'm human, but I promise to always do my best to love you." Is this not enough for forgiveness?
On the open mic I posted an interesting story. One for the atheists to think about since it is evidenced by people who are neutral about religion.
[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/123843-interesting-nurse-story-on-death/"]interesting-nurse-story-on-death[/url]
Here's some snips
[quote]my Dad was scared to death to die. He was a hard core, long term Catholic and he was afraid he hadn't been a good enough Catholic. He was afraid of spending eternity in hell.

When he died he strained to turn and look at me, had an absolute look of horror on his face, closed his eyes and died. That look has haunted me from that day. I'm not afraid he really is in hell, my heart just goes out to him that he thought it could happen.

he was afraid of what his religion taught him. He was verrry afraid, but not of what came to help him cross. He was afraid of his religious teachings.
[/quote]
The thought of that mans fear makes me tearful! His death was horrible enough without adding the fear of what he thought was to come. I've seen this before. A man hated God because he thought his son who had not been terribly good and had been tragically killed was in hell suffering literal burning agony for eternity. I even experienced fear myself at times when ill and wondering if the end was near. Have I been good enough? Will my weaknesses in sins I cannot control result in my condemnation? When a religion does this to people it has failed. Jesus came to save us by his love not by fear of the alternative. I think it may have been said by St Paul that Judaism with its 1000 odd laws and prohibitions was the impossible religion. Catholicism with its teachings most of which are right but many also could be wrong (not on faith and morals) is well on the way to being an impossible religion too unless you are blessed with saint like stature and I'm not! I have too many doubts about traditions, ceremonies and funny clothing that makes children laugh. Yes I've seen some children break into uncontrollable laughter at the antics of a priest during an anointing ceremony and the priest being horribly embarrassed at the thought that innocent children equated him to a clown. And then there's the scriptural interpretations which may well be right but must require a vivid imagination to arrive at them since the connection is often so vague. Jesus said unless you are as one of these little ones (children) you will not enter heaven. So really too much theology can be detrimental. Slappo said that he favors traditional Mass, not because there is anything wrong with the OF but because that's what he likes. I give infinite props for that attitude. Trouble is there are too many who teach or infer that unless you're a strict traditional Catholic you are lost. How many times have I heard people say "I believe in God but I don't like organised religion!" Why? Because it is often very vaguely related to Christianity. We often hear of abuses in the Mass. Why? did someone cheat the count on their rosary beads? The only things I have seen that I would consider an abuse is when someone says something hurtful to another because they got something wrong, or otherwise makes a judgement while doing things themselves! I love the Mass because I'm with people I love offering a common love to God. We can't just stand there and look bored at each other, so there has to be a common procedure of things we do. But as long as it is loving God and his people what really constitutes an abuse so terrifying that many people think that if they didn't do it right they would be terrified of the consequences? As an aside another one I found amusing is. There's another question about pirate software. Jaime gave a perfectly correct answer. But I smile at the thought that the Catholic Church in third world countries operates it's computer systems entirely on pirated software and must know. I know this to be a fact in East Timor because I helped with some. And in case you're interested I did take it to confession and the priest just said what Jaime said. I refrained from asking. "Then so we should wind down Catholic missions because we can't afford to buy legit software. The alternate free SW would get around that except that we don't have the required training resources which is the reason for the pirate SW. I'm pretty much part of the furniture now at our CC. I think they will promote me to church mouse soon and there are many very spiritual people whom I love, so I will not leave Catholicism, but I'm afraid I'll never consider myself a true Catholic and I'm not going to fear death because of it. Jesus has already told me that he knows how much I love him.

Edited September 13, 2012 by Mark of the Cross

[Not The Philosopher]

If I offend my friend in a serious matter, he might be perfectly willing to let bygones be bygones, and I might feel sorry for what I have done. But given that we are flesh and blood humans, and not immaterial beings who can just commune with each other in some abstract fashion, we can't exactly fix the damage just by changing our attitudes; we both need to visibly convey contrition and forgiveness to each other.

Jesus is a flesh and blood human as well; so when we grievously offend Him, in this case we do have to express our sorrow in a outward, visible, manner, and He forgives us in a similar manner. Hence the need for confessing our mortal sins to the priest who acts in the person of Christ. But think about it this way: rather than have to constantly worry about whether in our hearts we were completely, 100% repentant, and whether God has accepted it, with Confession we can have the certainty that if we're sorry enough to confess, it's good enough for God.

Yes, hell is real. But we shouldn't dwell on it in such a fashion that leads us to lose hope and despair. If we cooperate with divine grace all the way to the end, we will infallibly be saints in heaven. God is not going to set a goal for us that we can't reach with His help.

Didn't touch on everything you said here, but I hope this helps.

[Mark of the Cross]

I like that about Jesus being human and the need for a human to human confession. As I said I have nothing against the confessional and I don't doubt what Jesus said and i whole heartedly agree with you. What I was driving at is exactly what you said. If we miss something then God knows our heart and there is no need to fear some sin of the past that we have never bothered to confess.
[quote]Yes. It is necessary to confess all mortal sins in kind and[b] [/b]number. [/quote]
Sorry to the author of the answer on the scholar questions forum, but i just don't agree. I think answers like that reinforce those fears and I just think it sad that that man could have been left with such a terrifying thought and I share it with him even though admittedly all our priests sing my praises. But unfortunately I suppose we tend to dismiss that as a case of that's what priests do as they don't know my failings. Undoubtedly it is evil that implants these thoughts hopefully we can do more to alleviate that by improving our answers. Thanks for your input, it is very encouraging. Actually I found the nurse story encouraging because of agnostic people having and frequently seeing existence beyond death. My daughter is one of those people and I can see by her interest that God is calling her to himself where she belongs. Hopefully she'll lose the attitude of "I like the idea of Jesus, but I don't like the idea of organised religion".

[carmenchristi]

[quote name='Mark of the Cross' timestamp='1347575948' post='2482134']
I like that about Jesus being human and the need for a human to human confession. As I said I have nothing against the confessional and I don't doubt what Jesus said and i whole heartedly agree with you. What I was driving at is exactly what you said. If we miss something then God knows our heart and there is no need to fear some sin of the past that we have never bothered to confess.

Sorry to the author of the answer on the scholar questions forum, but i just don't agree. I think answers like that reinforce those fears and I just think it sad that that man could have been left with such a terrifying thought and I share it with him even though admittedly all our priests sing my praises. But unfortunately I suppose we tend to dismiss that as a case of that's what priests do as they don't know my failings. Undoubtedly it is evil that implants these thoughts hopefully we can do more to alleviate that by improving our answers. Thanks for your input, it is very encouraging. Actually I found the nurse story encouraging because of agnostic people having and frequently seeing existence beyond death. My daughter is one of those people and I can see by her interest that God is calling her to himself where she belongs. Hopefully she'll lose the attitude of "I like the idea of Jesus, but I don't like the idea of organised religion".
[/quote]

I just wanted to remind you that if you forget to confess a sin that sin IS forgiven. If you remember that sin it does not suddenly become un-forgiven, but you are still obliged to confess it for the same reason that you are obliged to confess the sins that you have not forgotten about. Even if you willfully do not confess that sin after you remember it, it will not be un-forgiven, but you will be committing the sin of sacralige in not doing so.

I would encourage you to pray for the strength to confess... I'm going to PM you with a personal story.

[carmenchristi]

[quote]CCC 1493 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....[/quote]


This is pretty clear. It says[b] all unconfessed grave sins[/b]. It doesn't specify a time period and doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation. The answer on the Ask a Scholar thread is a standard teaching of the Church. It isn't something that can be disputed. While I [b]do[/b] understand your difficulty, and I honestly know how hard it is (as you will see by the PM that I sent you), there is just no way around this one. God's grace is great enough to carry you through it though!


[quote]

CCC 1456 ... When Christ's faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know."
[/quote]

You are very much in my prayers... go and do the right thing.

[Mark of the Cross]

[quote name='carmenchristi' timestamp='1347578528' post='2482149']
You are very much in my prayers... go and do the right thing.
[/quote]
Thanks! You're a rare addition to PM. Bless you!


One little after thought. Didn't the thief do a [u]general confession to Jesus[/u] on the cross.?

Edited September 14, 2012 by Mark of the Cross