Is Confessing Your Sins To A Priest Blasphemy?

[Anthony]

[quote name='GodChaser' post='1270277' date='May 10 2007, 05:09 PM']ets talk about Confession, shall we.
The big thing about Orthodox and Catholic Religions, at least when I was a Catholic, was confession. You go into a small cubicle, and you confessed your sins to a priest, and he would tell you what prayers to say in penance.

For the longest time, I have felt that was blasphamey, since I started my life for Christ. I thought, shouldn't you just confess your sins to God, and he forgives you. I'm glad I gave my life to Christ at a United Pentecostal Church, who stands steadfast on praying to God for forgiveness. Though I am not a member of that church anymore, I am glad I started my walk there, because they spoke the truth on a great many subjects.

Today, as I read Psalm 32, I realized that feeling was the Holy Ghost telling me to keep myself clean.
If God never changes, then if he forgives David because David prayed for forgiveness, than God stills forgives us if we pray to him for forgiveness. We do not have to go to a priest to ask God to forgive our sins, because God is the Lord and he doesn't change!

Can this be found in the New Testament.
The Orthodox and Catholic Religions are no longer practicing Christianity. Even the New Testament says we need to confess our sins to God alone, and God alone cleanses us from all unrighteousness!

So someone, along the way, decided to turn everything around, and make people blasphme God.

Why do I say it is Blasphemy?

Blasphemy
impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things
Judaism.
an act of cursing or reviling God.
pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) in the original, now forbidden manner instead of using a substitute pronunciation such as Adonai.
[b]Theology. the crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.[/b]
irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc.: He uttered blasphemies against life itself.

When a priest of the Roman Catholic Faith assumes he can listen to and forgive the sins of another person, than he is commiting Blasphemy. There is no way around it.

And the people who assume they are forgiven by confessing their sins to a priest, which they should only be confessing their sins to God, they are giving a human being things only God has a right too!

No priest can cleanse you from your sins, because only God can do that![/quote]


You ask, Why do Catholics confess to priests? Because the Bible said so. If you are so sola scriptura, why don't you believe this? Read John 21:19-23. Also, read it within its context. Notice the headings that precede it: The Crucifixion of Jesus, the Blood and Water, the Burial of Jesus, the Empty Tomb, the Appearance to Mary of Magdala, the Appearance to the Disciples. Jesus had already died, so why would he appear to His disciples, breathe on them and say, "Recieve the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained"? Christ clearly gave to His disciples the duty to forgive and retain sins after he was no longer with them in the flesh. A lot of protestants claim that Christ's death was sufficient enough for the forgiveness of our sins and we don't need to confess our sins. Other protestants (claiming sola scriptura) believe that all they have to do is ask God directly for forgiveness. I don't know anywhere in the Bible that is says either of these things, but clearly it says to confess to the priest. I urge you to read John 21:19-23, GodChaser. That will tell you why we confess to priests. God Bless,

Anthony

[Chad Crouch]

I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity. As the apostles had the blessing of Jesus to hear confessions and forgive sinners for transgressions. They were the absolute righteous of Gods disciples. To say that a catholic priest is in the same category as Jesus's closest beloved friends and followers of him personally, its just not the same at all. These men from the time of Jesus were almost the equivalent of his human form and they were all the first to hold God's word and his testimony before any other entity or belief that Jesus was without sin and he saw into these mens hearts that they were true to him and his father our Lord. They are so much more than just followers. They were all as equals to each other and Jesus was the leader of them and loved them. They loved him. Catholic priests are not even close to the level of the 12 apostles. Judas strayed from Jesus because he was greedy and was weak for earthly possessions and the rest is history. Catholic priest may most likely be righteous by the churches views. I think the difference is how many people they forgive they do not love each and every single person who comes to confess to them. They have to love unconditional to be able to have the compassion that Jesus and his apostles were able to show God that they were absolutely blessed by Jesus who knew the hearts of his friends. Maybe im out of my league in this opinion. But I know that some priests are true to the title and hold every person in their hearts to be able to take a personal plea of a injured soul and give them God's promise and forgiveness. Maybe it helps. But I will be talking with God personally and to be sure that he accepts my true love and my apology for my indiscretion. Thank you and God bless 

[Peace]

On 6/15/2021 at 5:41 AM, Chad Crouch said:

I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity. As the apostles had the blessing of Jesus to hear confessions and forgive sinners for transgressions. They were the absolute righteous of Gods disciples. To say that a catholic priest is in the same category as Jesus's closest beloved friends and followers of him personally, its just not the same at all. These men from the time of Jesus were almost the equivalent of his human form and they were all the first to hold God's word and his testimony before any other entity or belief that Jesus was without sin and he saw into these mens hearts that they were true to him and his father our Lord. They are so much more than just followers. They were all as equals to each other and Jesus was the leader of them and loved them. They loved him. Catholic priests are not even close to the level of the 12 apostles. Judas strayed from Jesus because he was greedy and was weak for earthly possessions and the rest is history. Catholic priest may most likely be righteous by the churches views. I think the difference is how many people they forgive they do not love each and every single person who comes to confess to them. They have to love unconditional to be able to have the compassion that Jesus and his apostles were able to show God that they were absolutely blessed by Jesus who knew the hearts of his friends. Maybe im out of my league in this opinion. But I know that some priests are true to the title and hold every person in their hearts to be able to take a personal plea of a injured soul and give them God's promise and forgiveness. Maybe it helps. But I will be talking with God personally and to be sure that he accepts my true love and my apology for my indiscretion. Thank you and God bless 

How is anyone supposed to respond to this ramble of random thoughts?