Confession
What about
confession, what does the Bible have to say about
that? Confession is another one of those trouble
spots for a lot of Catholics. They feel that they
shouldn't have to go to a priest for confession,
God is all knowing, he already knows our sins,
why should we have to tell them to a priest?
Well, God knew Adam and Eve's sin
yet he still asked them what they did. He wanted
them to confess. Of course we know the rest of
the story, everyone passed the buck, Adam blamed
Eve, Eve blamed the snake.
Sin as a whole hurts the entire
community, the whole body of Christ, which
contains all of us. Even our most private sins
that we may say only effects us have a ripple
effect on the entire christian community. There
are many stories of this in the bible, Sodom,
Gomorrah, Noah and the Flood and many others. Sin
is not a private thing between ourselves and God.
Thus we need to make sure that our confession of
sins is not a private thing either. We need to
make sure we confess not only our sins to God but
also to the community. The priest not only is a
representative of God/Jesus (Matthew 18:18), he is also a representative of
the Community of believers.
We
are not guarenteed entrance into heaven based on
simply accepting Jesus into our hearts as our
Savior. It sounds great and that would be awesome
if it were indeed true but that's contrary to
what the Bible tells us:
2 Timothy 2:11-12 This
saying is trustworthy: If we have died with
him we shall also live with him; if we
persevere we shall also reign with him. But
if we deny him he will deny us. If we are
unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot
deny himself.
"if we
persevere we shall also reign", if all
we needed to do was profess that Jesus is indeed
the Savior for what reason would we need
perseverance?
Romans 11:22-23 See, then,
the kindness and severity of God: severity
toward those who fell, but God's kindness to
you, provided you remain in his kindness;
otherwise you too will be cut off. And they
also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will
be grafted in, for God is able to graft them
in again.
Again Scripture uses
terminology that warns us that we must "remain
in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut
off".
Philippians 2:12 So then,
my beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more
now when I am absent, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling.
There is no "fear
and trembling" in
simply professing Jesus as ourSavior and being
all set. If we sin we must get back into kindness
with God. That is done through confession, plain
and simple.
Confession
John 20:22-23 And with that he breathed on them
and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if
you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Matthew 18:18 I tell you the truth, whatever
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.
2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all these things are from God,
who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation
James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Then he
must call for the elders of the church and they
are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in
the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in
faith will restore the one who is sick, and the
Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed
sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore,
confess your sins to one another, and pray for
one another so that you may be healed The
effective prayer of a righteous man can
accomplish much.
For Further
reading:
The
Sacrament of Pennance - From the Catechism of
the Catholic Church
Pillars
We are all like pillars holding up
God's kingdom. Our sins weaken and
sometimes break us as a pillar, and the
weaker we get the less we can hold up.
When we are damaged all the other pillars
have to work harder to hold up God's
kingdom. When we go to confession that's
when our pillar gets a new coat of cement
and we are strong once again holding our
own weight as we should. Ian - Age 11
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