Confession

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santaro75

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Is it the case that Forgiveness of sins only comes through God. But Jesus initiated the human component of it for our benefit. Just like God did not need to come down to earth to save it, but he did out of sincere humility, love and understanding that we needed a human example, teacher and God.
 
Is it the case that Forgiveness of sins only comes through God.
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Maybe you are asking who it is who forgives in the sacrament of confession? It would be fine to say the Jesus is doing the absolving from sin, because he is the primary minister of the sacrament. The power of God is what makes the sacraments do their thing. Jesus acts in the sacraments, so it is like He is the one who is baptizing you or whatever.

Since Jesus left us the sacraments, they were designed for us, the way we are. For example, they are not designed for angels or anything. We are not just spirit, but we have a body. So the sacraments are suitable for what we are.
 
Yes, I agree. Though i am confident in my confessions to God, there is a human side of me that really feels cleansed after confessing my sin and being assured forgiveness from a another person.
 
Though it is truly God who knows what is in our hearts and grants us mercy and forgiveness, I think it is important to look at the words used in confession. The priest says “…through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus gave the apostles the power to retain or forgive sins, or however that is worded it means that a human being gets to make the call on whether to forgive sins. It could happen in confession that the priest senses that I am not one bit sorry for what I have done and perhaps refuse to grant absolution. He has been given the power to act in the person of Jesus, so if the priest says, “I don’t think that you are sorry about this act”, then our sins are not forgiven. Jesus, of course, could over ride it, but I wouldn’t count on it.
 
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