Confession to a priest

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Peter_J

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Ginger2 said:
I was recently on another thread discussing priests forgiving sins.

Someone said the priest doesn’t need to see into a person’s heart to absolve them for their sins, because Christ is right there and Christ knows the condition of their heart - if they are truly repentant.

So I am wondering why the priest would be required to read the sins for it to be a valid confession, since God knows what was written on those pieces of paper.
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Ginger, I believe this is an area of church discipline. In other words, the Church could (although it would be a very bad idea, in my opinion) decide to allow penitents to say “I’ve committed sins” and then receive absolution.
 
This is somewhat correct. It is a rather “murky” area of discipline. I know the Church has declared in times of immediate danger such as would not allow for individual confessions (i.e. a crashing plane), “general absolution” is considered valid.
 
The closest explanation for Sacraments is ‘outward sign of inward grace’.

The question is misplaced because it is not a matter whether priests know what’s in the hearts or about God knowing what’s in them.

It is simply an outward sign of God’s grace, which we cannot see. To me all argument for and against the Sacrament of Confession is invalid simply because this Sacrament does not stand on those argument for it to be true.

Christians need to be realistic to the fact that outward signs are reality of the Bible / Gospels. When Jesus healed the blind man, he rubbed spittle on his eyes. That was a sign, which is totally unnecessary for Jesus since he could just say the word, and the blind man would be healed. But that was what he did.

The question would rather, especially for Protestants, whether outward signs of grace is required or not. The Catholic Church believes that it is required. Therefore we have the seven Sacraments as the more visible ones as the outward signs of God grace.
 
Because the church, in the person of her ministers is the properly appointed agent of grace.

Holy Absolution is irrevocably tied to the Holy Gospel and the Gospel is in the custodianship of the Church.

For the sake of order therefore, God administers grace and pardon in the Gospel through the church because this is how He wants to do it.

A Christian alone is in bad company.
 
Ginger2 said:
So I am wondering why the priest would be required to read the sins for it to be a valid confession, since God knows what was written on those pieces of paper.
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BTW, in the very early Church, confession was public. (I realize that isn’t what you asked, but I just wanted to throw that in, in case you weren’t aware of it.)
 
Peter_J said:
BTW, in the very early Church, confession was public. (I realize that isn’t what you asked, but I just wanted to throw that in, in case you weren’t aware of it.)
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Not only was it public, but penances were generally long, and it is contended that often, a penitent was only allowed reconciliation once in their lifetime.
 
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Salaam/peace

If a killer comes to confess , then what a Priest should do ? He will call Police or let the killer go away ?
 
Muslim_Woman said:
http://theislampath.com/smf/Smileys/default/salam.gif

Salaam/peace

If a killer comes to confess , then what a Priest should do ? He will call Police or let the killer go away ?
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Under no circumstances is a priest to ever divulge the identity of a confessor or divulge any details of a penitents confession. This is termed the “sacred seal” of confession; and stands as witness to the fact that what is said in the confessional is offered directly to God. This sacred seal has never been known to have been violated; and there are documented historical cases of priests submitting themselves to execution rather than divulge any details of an individuals confession.
 
Muslim_Woman said:
http://theislampath.com/smf/Smileys/default/salam.gif

Salaam/peace

If a killer comes to confess , then what a Priest should do ? He will call Police or let the killer go away ?
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While I agree with the previous post that the confession is confidential, any priest hearing the confession of a murderer would no doubt counsel the individual to surrender themselves to the authorities. If the person was truly penitent, that is no doubt what they would do.
 
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Salaam/peace
joshua_b said:
Under no circumstances is a priest to ever divulge the identity of a confessor …
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what if the confessor says that I killed one & will kill another ?
 
Muslim_Woman said:
http://theislampath.com/smf/Smileys/default/salam.gif

Salaam/peace

what if the confessor says that I killed one & will kill another ?
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The requirements for absolution are contrition (sorrow), a firm resolve to make amends, and the intention to not commit sin again. If any of these is absent, then even if a priest were to give absolution, it would not be valid. If a confessor states that they intend to commit the same confessed sin again, then they have clearly no intention of repentance, and a priest would not give absolution.
 
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