Confused about Confession

[LCMS_No_More]

In another thread, I got into a discussion about whether or not God forgets those sins confessed and absolved in sacramental confession. My understanding has always been that God does forget the sins we confess. I’ve heard from a couple of different sources, however, that God does remember them and will remind us of them during our particular judgement.

I’ve seen it put in a way that makes it seem as though Christ will bring up our confessed and absolved again and thrown them in our faces saying, “see what you did!? Well, you went to confession and did penance and suffered purgatory, so I guess I’ll have to let you in.”

The very thought of this terrifies me because it seems to be based on the notion that God is not truly merciful. It seems to say that God will only begrudgingly let us into heaven in spite of the fact that we are verminous scum who He is letting in on a technicality (we went to confession) but He really doesn’t want to do so.

This has been bothering me, so I decided to look into what Scripture and the Church have to say about the subject. Here’s what I have come up with:

“I, I am He who blots our your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

"For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us."

"Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger for ever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion upon us and He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

Romans 4:7-8 (Ps. 32:1-2):

"Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."

"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

“This is the covenenat I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law on their hearts and write them on their minds.” then He adds, “I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more.”

Now, this seems pretty clear cut to me, but people then bring this up:
CCC 682:

When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.

To which I would respond, “AMEN!” Of course, I’ve seen it so that “Christ will reveal the secret” (so that secret is a noun instead of the adjective is is meant to be in that sentence) in order to mean that Christ will reveal our absolved sins. The text reads that Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts. Were we living our lives for God or for something else? Only God and the individual know those things. As to our works, yes, we will be judged based on what we have done. Did we make the best use of what we were given? The scenes Christ speaks of has more to do with that than throwing our absolved sins in our faces to remind us of them so He can begrudgingly let us in to heaven even though He doesn’t really want to. Finally, that He will judge us based upon our response to His grace…did we reject that graces offered or did we accept them?

==continued==]

 

[LCMS_No_More]

===continued from previous===]
So, what about penance and purgatory. The Catechism, I think explains it pretty well:

1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is also called “penance.”

Hmm…undoing the harm done by our sins. Makes sense to me. Certainly not punishment for its own sake.

1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

Now this does makes sense! Penance and purgatory are about removing the “unhealthy attachment to creatures” engendered by sin itself, not God wrathfully inflicting pain on us. They’re acts of mercy and grace on God’s part, not vengeful punishments as the other notion seems to teach.

Am I totally off base here?

 

[baltobetsy]

LCMS No More, you’ve earned an “A” for your homework! I think you’ve come to a very good understanding.

This book may help you expand your understanding of God’s love and forgiveness.

What I think of when I read that God forgets our sins is not that he is incapable of remembering them; that would indicate some kind of lack in His omniscience (all-knowingness). As God, He has no imperfections. Rather, I see it as a willful, conscious act of His to put aside the sins and no longer consider them, despite the fact that He will always be aware of them.

Everything in the universe is ordered to the praise of God, so when the Judgement comes and our sins are revealed, it will be another manifestation of the love and mercy of God. And although our faults and sins will be revealed, it will be ordered to the praise of God, not to the denigration of ourselves. The love of God raises us up, especially through Confession, and that’s what will be shown at the Judgement. He doesn’t let us in on a technicality, in spite of Himself. He lets us in because He created us for Himself in love and desires us to be with him forever in heaven.

Betsy

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I’ve seen it put in a way that makes it seem as though Christ will bring up our confessed and absolved again and thrown them in our faces saying, “see what you did!? Well, you went to confession and did penance and suffered purgatory, so I guess I’ll have to let you in.”

The very thought of this terrifies me because it seems to be based on the notion that God is not truly merciful.

As I understand it, when God reveals our confessed sins at the last judgment, it will not be to “throw them in our faces,” but rather it will make us exceedingly grateful for His mercy.