Baptism superior to Confession?

[steve975]

Just thinking about the basics of baptism and confession, I’ve had this recent thought that baptism is far superior. Both sacraments absolve you of sin. But baptism has many advantages over confession in this regard. For one, baptism requires no confession. Your sins are absolved without you even having to admit what you’ve done. Confession requires for you to know what you did was wrong, to admit that it was wrong, and to have a firm purpose of amendment to do better. Baptism apparently requires none of this. Confession can be very difficult, with evaluating your conscience to account for every single one of your sins (or at least mortal sins), the need to go to the priest and experience the anxiety of explaining everything, ensuring you explain everything correctly and fully, ensuring you don’t willingly omit anything, and then going back again if you remember a sin that you forgot the last time. Baptism doesn’t apparently require this great difficulty. And confession requires you to have a firm purpose of amendment, so that if you don’t plan to never commit the same sin again, the confession is invalid. With baptism, it seems that you could in fact fully intend to continue sinning, and the prior sins would still be absolved. So you could theoretically be in a premarital sexual relationship, fully intend to continue, and baptism would still absolve all your prior sins as opposed to confession.

Given all this, it almost seems like it would be better to wait to get baptized until adulthood, once you have finally grown enough in the Faith and are on the right track. Then you could have all your past sins absolved and start over before you ever have to make your first confession. Then confessions would be a cake walk for the rest of your life as long as you stay on track. The only downside to this, and it is of course a big one, is if you were to die before getting baptized. But as far as confession is concerned, if everyone waited until they were older and on the right track to get baptized, confession would be much, much easier.

You could have two men, Bob and John, both who have committed roughly the same past sins, and both who have lived a horribly sinful life with all kinds of extremely embarrassing and terrible sins. Bob gets baptized as an infant, so he has to go to confession and confess everything. He has to scrutinize his conscience to account for all of his sins, ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment when confessing, and ensure that he goes back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot to confess. If he doesn’t have a true firm purpose of amendment or intentionally withholds anything, then his confessions are invalid and he has to reconfess everything again. John, on the other hand, finally sees the light when he is 30 years old. John then ends up getting baptized, and never has to confess a single thing from his past, even if he intended to continue his sinful behavior at the time he was baptized. Now both are 30 years old, and both are apparently on the same track. But whereas Bob has to continue going back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot, John does not. Whereas Bob needs to reconcile his life so as to ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment for his confessions to be valid, John is free and clear upon getting baptized and only has to worry about that point onward. Whereas Bob needs to reconfess anything from a confession in which he may have intentionally withheld sins, John doesn’t have to worry about this. So it seems as if Bob has to spend his life accounting for all of his sins from infancy to death, including all those during his years of horrible sinfulness. But John only has to worry about accounting for his sins from his baptism at 30 years old onward, and can wipe the slate clean with all his past years of sinfulness.

It almost seems like it would have been better to have been raised outside of the Catholic Faith, and then convert and get baptized later in life and get a “free ticket” from all of these difficulties about getting sins absolved through confession. I know this can’t be true, but it irks me nonetheless.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Just thinking about the basics of baptism and confession, I’ve had this recent thought that baptism is far superior. Both sacraments absolve you of sin. But baptism has many advantages over confession in this regard. For one, baptism requires no confession. Your sins are absolved without you even having to admit what you’ve done. Confession requires for you to know what you did was wrong, to admit that it was wrong, and to have a firm purpose of amendment to do better. Baptism apparently requires none of this. Confession can be very difficult, with evaluating your conscience to account for every single one of your sins (or at least mortal sins), the need to go to the priest and experience the anxiety of explaining everything, ensuring you explain everything correctly and fully, ensuring you don’t willingly omit anything, and then going back again if you remember a sin that you forgot the last time. Baptism doesn’t apparently require this great difficulty. And confession requires you to have a firm purpose of amendment, so that if you don’t plan to never commit the same sin again, the confession is invalid. With baptism, it seems that you could in fact fully intend to continue sinning, and the prior sins would still be absolved. So you could theoretically be in a premarital sexual relationship, fully intend to continue, and baptism would still absolve all your prior sins as opposed to confession.

Given all this, it almost seems like it would be better to wait to get baptized until adulthood, once you have finally grown enough in the Faith and are on the right track. Then you could have all your past sins absolved and start over before you ever have to make your first confession. Then confessions would be a cake walk for the rest of your life as long as you stay on track. The only downside to this, and it is of course a big one, is if you were to die before getting baptized. But as far as confession is concerned, if everyone waited until they were older and on the right track to get baptized, confession would be much, much easier.

You could have two men, Bob and John, both who have committed roughly the same past sins, and both who have lived a horribly sinful life with all kinds of extremely embarrassing and terrible sins. Bob gets baptized as an infant, so he has to go to confession and confess everything. He has to scrutinize his conscience to account for all of his sins, ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment when confessing, and ensure that he goes back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot to confess. If he doesn’t have a true firm purpose of amendment or intentionally withholds anything, then his confessions are invalid and he has to reconfess everything again. John, on the other hand, finally sees the light when he is 30 years old. John then ends up getting baptized, and never has to confess a single thing from his past, even if he intended to continue his sinful behavior at the time he was baptized. Now both are 30 years old, and both are apparently on the same track. But whereas Bob has to continue going back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot, John does not. Whereas Bob needs to reconcile his life so as to ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment for his confessions to be valid, John is free and clear upon getting baptized and only has to worry about that point onward. Whereas Bob needs to reconfess anything from a confession in which he may have intentionally withheld sins, John doesn’t have to worry about this. So it seems as if Bob has to spend his life accounting for all of his sins from infancy to death, including all those during his years of horrible sinfulness. But John only has to worry about accounting for his sins from his baptism at 30 years old onward, and can wipe the slate clean with all his past years of sinfulness.

It almost seems like it would have been better to have been raised outside of the Catholic Faith, and then convert and get baptized later in life and get a “free ticket” from all of these difficulties about getting sins absolved through confession. I know this can’t be true, but it irks me nonetheless.

Baptism is necessary for Salvation! It is the gateway to the other Sacraments. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is also a gift from God, because we are all sinners and have a tendency toward sin.
You are incorrect in your assumptions about Baptism.
However for an adult, there is the requirement of accepting the Gospel and Repentance for past sins with a firm purpose to amend one’s life to avoid them in the future.

 

[kristie_m]

Seems to me that the guy in your story, the one who was baptized as an infant has bigger problems…he should have been going to confession from the age of reason (usually around 7 or so) to help keep him on the right track so that he didn’t commit all of those sins as an adult. Reconciliation does have that effect on us, after all. Regular confession does wonders to keep us on the straight and narrow. Without it, we end up with many, many regrets.

As for the guy who wasn’t baptized…does he have his own ignorance to fall back on? Someone who deliberately turns his back on Jesus, having been given the opportunity to know Him (with or without baptism) will have much to account for.

that said, I’ve thought about the whole 11th hour conversions thing, and what I’ve concluded is that the sooner and more closely we follow Christ, the better off we’ll be.

 

[Orchanian]

Your view of Confession is incomplete. One of the great gifts of confession is the humility that comes from acknowledging your sins out loud to another person. We all know that humility is very important for a Christian. We must humble ourselves not just before God (which should be easy for any Christian) but before other men/women as well. We can grow so much from the Act of Confession. Instead of seeing it as a chore or an obligation, try looking at it as a gift that will help one grow in holiness.

 

[LilyM]

Ever hear the saying ‘confession is good for the soul’? There’s something to be said for putting a name to your sins, as there is to putting a name to other problems in your life. It’s an important step towards effectively dealing with them.

It often helps me, as well, to know, by the priest’s reaction, that what I’ve confessed aren’t things that are unique to me (ie I’m not the only one facing the sorts of problems and issues with sin that I do) and that others are, it seems, going through the same struggles.

 

[stuart12]

For the Sacrament of Penance, you are not required to confess every single sin of your life.You must confess mortal sins by kind and number, venial sins are very useful if you wish to confess regularly, but they are not necessary for validity.

 

[acadian]

Well, without baptism, the Eucharist wouldn’t be available, either. How difficult would it be to raise children in a faith without the sacraments?

The sacrament of reconciliation is one of God’s merciful gifts to us. We would do better to see it as such, rather than as something to be dreaded and stressed over. God is not sitting there playing “gotcha” in the case of forgotten sins and the like. Confessing those sins is an expression of our love for Him.

Instead of NEEDING to go to confession, we should WANT to go to confession. Instead of looking at it as a distasteful chore, we should look at it as an opportunity to express our sorrow to the One who gave His all for us; an opportunity for us to receive the healing mercy and love He so freely pours out.

 

[Brendan]

I dunno.

It would be kind of like saying a OB is superior to a Cardiologist.

An OB brings forth new life, a Cardiologist restores fatal damage to health again.

They serve different needs in different ways, but to the same end, New Life in the Lord.

 

[bmadamsberry]

The practice of waiting until you are older before being baptized is an ancient custom of the Catholic Church which died out long ago (thank goodness). The reason that it died out was because you can never be sure when you are going to die, and so you might never get baptized if you wait. That is why Emperor Constantine waited until he was on his death bed before he was baptized, because he knew as Emperor there were many things that he may have to do that were sinful and so he wanted to wait until before death to be baptized (unlike in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Doe where Emperor Constantine was baptized on his death bed because he didn’t truely believe… I really dislike Dan Brown).
So, anyway, it used to be a common practice to wait to be baptized until later in life, but it wisely died out.

 

[otjm]

Just thinking about the basics of baptism and confession, I’ve had this recent thought that baptism is far superior. Both sacraments absolve you of sin. But baptism has many advantages over confession in this regard. For one, baptism requires no confession. Your sins are absolved without you even having to admit what you’ve done. Confession requires for you to know what you did was wrong, to admit that it was wrong, and to have a firm purpose of amendment to do better. Baptism apparently requires none of this. Confession can be very difficult, with evaluating your conscience to account for every single one of your sins (or at least mortal sins), the need to go to the priest and experience the anxiety of explaining everything, ensuring you explain everything correctly and fully, ensuring you don’t willingly omit anything, and then going back again if you remember a sin that you forgot the last time. Baptism doesn’t apparently require this great difficulty. And confession requires you to have a firm purpose of amendment, so that if you don’t plan to never commit the same sin again, the confession is invalid. With baptism, it seems that you could in fact fully intend to continue sinning, and the prior sins would still be absolved. So you could theoretically be in a premarital sexual relationship, fully intend to continue, and baptism would still absolve all your prior sins as opposed to confession.

Given all this, it almost seems like it would be better to wait to get baptized until adulthood, once you have finally grown enough in the Faith and are on the right track. Then you could have all your past sins absolved and start over before you ever have to make your first confession. Then confessions would be a cake walk for the rest of your life as long as you stay on track. The only downside to this, and it is of course a big one, is if you were to die before getting baptized. But as far as confession is concerned, if everyone waited until they were older and on the right track to get baptized, confession would be much, much easier.

You could have two men, Bob and John, both who have committed roughly the same past sins, and both who have lived a horribly sinful life with all kinds of extremely embarrassing and terrible sins. Bob gets baptized as an infant, so he has to go to confession and confess everything. He has to scrutinize his conscience to account for all of his sins, ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment when confessing, and ensure that he goes back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot to confess. If he doesn’t have a true firm purpose of amendment or intentionally withholds anything, then his confessions are invalid and he has to reconfess everything again. John, on the other hand, finally sees the light when he is 30 years old. John then ends up getting baptized, and never has to confess a single thing from his past, even if he intended to continue his sinful behavior at the time he was baptized. Now both are 30 years old, and both are apparently on the same track. But whereas Bob has to continue going back to confession every time he remembers a sin he forgot, John does not. Whereas Bob needs to reconcile his life so as to ensure he has a firm purpose of amendment for his confessions to be valid, John is free and clear upon getting baptized and only has to worry about that point onward. Whereas Bob needs to reconfess anything from a confession in which he may have intentionally withheld sins, John doesn’t have to worry about this. So it seems as if Bob has to spend his life accounting for all of his sins from infancy to death, including all those during his years of horrible sinfulness. But John only has to worry about accounting for his sins from his baptism at 30 years old onward, and can wipe the slate clean with all his past years of sinfulness.

It almost seems like it would have been better to have been raised outside of the Catholic Faith, and then convert and get baptized later in life and get a “free ticket” from all of these difficulties about getting sins absolved through confession. I know this can’t be true, but it irks me nonetheless.

You are thinking too hard. As Harry Nilsson sang “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning!”

One who has committed a mortal sin (that is, is above the age of reason) needs to have sorrow for sins and the firm intention of amendment. Baptism is not a “get out of jail free” card; it is not magic or automatic simply by the pouring of water and some words. One needs intent; with children the intent is supplied by the parent.

 

[yablabo]

Just thinking about the basics of baptism and confession, I’ve had this recent thought that baptism is far superior.

It almost seems like it would have been better to have been raised outside of the Catholic Faith, and then convert and get baptized later in life and get a “free ticket” from all of these difficulties about getting sins absolved through confession. I know this can’t be true, but it irks me nonetheless.

You should check out the Council of Trent’s teaching on Justification (Session VI):

Chapter V.

On the necessity, in adults, of preparation for Justification, and whence it proceeds.

The Synod furthermore declares, that in adults, the beginning of the said Justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it; yet is he not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. Whence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are admonished of our liberty; and when we answer; Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted, we confess that we are prevented by the grace of God.

Chapter VI.

The manner of Preparation.

Now they (adults) are disposed unto the said justice, when, excited and assisted by divine grace, conceiving faith by hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing those things to be true which God has revealed and promised, - and this especially, that God justifies the impious by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; and when, understanding themselves to be sinners, they, by turning themselves, from the fear of divine justice whereby they are profitably agitated, to consider the mercy of God, are raised unto hope, confiding that God will be propitious to them for Christ’s sake; and they begin to love Him as the fountain of all justice; and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation, to wit, by that penitence which must be performed before Baptism: lastly, when they propose to receive Baptism, to begin a new life, and to keep the commandments of God. Concerning this disposition it is written; “He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a Rewarder to them that seek Him;” and, “Be of good faith, son, thy sins are forgiven thee;” and, “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin;” and, “Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;” and, “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” finally, “Prepare your hearts unto the Lord.”

This outlines that there is preparation necessary for an adult (of mature mind) and what is necessary for an adult to be justified by his valid Baptism…so, the justification cannot come without the penitence having been performed before valid Baptism…although the valid Baptism still imparts the indelible character on the man’s soul.

So…I think the “free ticket” notion you have is false.

– Nicole