confession's forgiveness vs. christ's forgiveness

[ReinnieR]

[quote name='ChrisZewe' post='986353' date='May 21 2006, 08:35 AM']
If you honestly think that anyone is going to read all that...
[/quote]
that's why you're still ignorant and have these misconception about the church because you don't take the time to look at the evidence we present you.

[Jesuspaidtheprice]

[quote name='ReinnieR' post='986778' date='May 21 2006, 10:55 PM']
that's why you're still ignorant and have these misconception about the church because you don't take the time to look at the evidence we present you.
[/quote]

I think the length of the previous post has less to do with anyone refusing to read evidence and more to the fact that I, if I were Catholic, would hope that someone would read the Catechism, rather than a post, to learn about what Roman Catholics believe.

The Catholic Answer forum founder instituted this rule on his forums:

[quote]Messages should be short. Do not post lengthy replies (including replies that consist largely of quotes from an earlier message). [/quote]

Something such as that previous post would be much better as a link and that the poster would tell us about those quotes in summary.

Just my humble opinion though. If you made a poll I think you would find most people do not read posts in full that take longer than a few minutes to read.

[Franimus]

[quote name='cappie' post='978106' date='May 11 2006, 06:01 AM']
First, let’s look at the Sacrament of Reconciliation from a Biblical standpoint:

• Jesus commanded it! John 20:21-23 reads:
”Jesus said to them again ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sends me I send you.’ And he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’

This was Pentecost, the birth of our Church. Over 2000 years, Jesus’ command has been passed and obeyed; our Bishops are the inheritors of their authority. At Ordination, priests get their ability to perform the Sacraments from their Bishop. Therefore we must forgive sin.

• There is no such thing as a private sin. Whether we have committed the sin by ourselves or with other people, a sin always has effects throughout the entire community of the faith. Let me explain it on two levels:

1. If one of us sins it changes the way we interact with other people... maybe because of the shame or guilt of the sin or maybe because of fear of being found, but no matter what, sin affects our behavior.

2. St. Paul's analogy of the Body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8) states that all believers in Christ are united. This means that if one of us sins we damage the Body that all of us belong to. Therefore, reconciliation must be done through a representative of the Body, and for us as Catholics that representative is a priest.
Now let’s look at the Sacrament of Reconciliation from a more personal and practical perspective: that whole "I can just have a personal relationship with God and He will forgive my sins." I just don't think it works real well. Let me explain...

• There's just too many "saved" people walking around feeling guilty all the time. I also think that there are people who don't want to be humbled before God by telling Him that we are so sorry for our sins and that we will do anything to get right Him again...including telling another person the sins we have committed (look at James 5:16). Telling others our sin makes us vulnerable because it shows that we are not perfect.

• A popular trend with our Protestant brothers and sisters is having an accountability partner. Your accountability partner is a friend that you can trust and confide in, sharing those times when sinned and then giving advice and support. If nothing else, having an accountability partner is convicting because you know that you'll have to tell a friend when you've sinned, and thus you try to avoid sin to save the embarrassment. Having an "accountability partner" sounds a lot like going to Reconciliation to me.

• Priests hear Confessions all the time, and are trained in counseling and resolving those who struggle with sin. A priest can give insightful advice that a peer accountability partner may not be able to.

• We long for human interaction, especially when it comes to forgiveness. For example, if your friends talk behind your back, and you forgive them, isn't so much more meaningful and authentic to tell them you forgive them? Or if you done something bad to others: doesn't it feel so much better to go up to them and ask for forgiveness...to look in their eyes and tell them you’ve done wrong? There is real closure in asking and giving forgiveness. That human intimacy in forgiveness is such a beautiful gift from God. Why would we rob ourselves of that feeling when asking God for forgiveness?
[/quote]
I just wanted to highlight what cappie said since basically anything and everything that I'd have to say in this thread is in this post. Also don't forget that the priest is bound by the sacrament to keep anything and everything you tell him in confession, in confession (side note: I found out that if you ask a priest to remind you later to see him for confession, he can't since it would be pressurring you to go to confession (plus you might've gone to another priest since then, without telling him)). Unless, of course, you don't do your penance, in which case the sacrament was invalid (Either way, he's more tightly bound to secrecy than anybody else).

Setsuna - if the priest is like a total stranger to you, that's your fault. Typically, a Catholic chooses a "confession priest" to whom the Catholic regularly goes to for confession. This enables the priest to help you even more (with better advice and penance and such) since the priest will be familiar with you and your situation.

[Desert Walker]

[quote name='ChrisZewe' post='986353' date='May 21 2006, 07:35 AM']
If you honestly think that anyone is going to read all that...
[/quote]

One of the more annoying aspects of "boarding." But I'm guilty of it too.

But I'm trying harder not to write posts on which one could walk accross the Atlantic.