How does a Protestant deals with sin in their life.

[JonNC]

=billschild;6160926]A mainstream protestant deals with sin, if they recognize it as such, by asking God for forgiveness. The protestant believes that all your sins are forgiven, even the ones you aren’t really sorry for. Since a protestant does not have access to the sacrament of penance, there is no grace to help them defend against the attacks of temptation from the dark side, and/or, there is no assistance from grace to combat the concupiscence that arises out of original sin.

Lutherans do not have access to confession / Holy Absolution in the opinion of the Catholic Church. Of course, this a point of disagreement between us regarding the validity of ordination in a given communion. Our POV is clearly that our presbyter ordination is as valid as your ordination.

But a Catholic is sorry for sins and goes to confession, right? So, why do Catholics keep sinning? Sin, at a very basic level is a mystery. Many people return to confession again and again for the same sins. Isn’t confession working?

The answer is that graces received from confession do work, but there is a horrible battle taking place at the level of spirits. We human beings cannot see this battle, but we can see the effects of the battle every day in the tragic news stories we read and hear about. We must run the race to the finish and pray that protestants of sincere heart and firm resolve to repent will be saved by the mercy of God.

I generally agree with this.

Jon

 

[tweetymom]

Herein lies the misunderstanding. One needs not to be able to deal with sin when Christ becomes involved. The biggest thing I learned in the years since I left Catholicism is that when you truly begin to know Christ and walk with him, he begins to transform you from the inside out. Your fears being to transform into faith and your degree of belief escalates. It’s indescibable in terms of how it actually feels.

And what a wonderful transformation it is, it is indescribable and it is the greatest thing I have ever experienced:thumbsup:

 

[peary1]

A Christian will say he intends to do good, but will rationalize and then turns around and does wrong .Sin involves self deception, and when one has been kidding oneself, by what means does he arrive at the conclusion that self deception has stopped ?.Protestism does not seem to offer any helpful way for the sinner to cope with guilt and reform.Carlan

Most protestants I know just say they are sorry to God when they ‘catch’ themselves doing something they consider ‘sinful’. Believe me, there is a lot of self-deception going on, but I have also found that among Catholics.

Many of those protestants also believe that Jesus has already died for their sins, past, present and future, and so any guilt they may have on sinning is due to their own self-esteem issues (how do you like THAT one?).

Sounds like New Age horsepuckey to me.

 

[Carlan]

Most protestants I know just say they are sorry to God when they ‘catch’ themselves doing something they consider ‘sinful’. Believe me, there is a lot of self-deception going on, but I have also found that among Catholics.

Many of those protestants also believe that Jesus has already died for their sins, past, present and future, and so any guilt they may have on sinning is due to their own self-esteem issues (how do you like THAT one?).

Sounds like New Age horsepuckey to me.

Peary, all I have to say is that if you are a Catholic dealing with self-deception and the effects of sin and guilt get on your knees and thank God for the sanctifying grace of the Sacraments. What wonderful freedom and peace the grace and love of our Lord gives us. and all for free no need for pills or booze, The confessional will put your Psychiatrist to changing professions. God bless Carlan

 

[edrothacker]

My sin is not against a priest, but it is against God. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn top to bottom, showing we now have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, without the need of a high priest. This is why Jews no longer offer animal sacrifices. The Lamb of God. Jesus paid it all.

Ed Rothacker - author
“Keys to Glory – A Catholic’s Search for God”
tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60604-156-7

 

[Dancelittleewok]

My sin is not against a priest, but it is against God. When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn top to bottom, showing we now have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, without the need of a high priest. This is why Jews no longer offer animal sacrifices. The Lamb of God. Jesus paid it all.

Ed Rothacker - author
“Keys to Glory – A Catholic’s Search for God”
tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60604-156-7

Indeed, sins are against God. You will hear no one deny that. When we sin, we don’t exist in a vacuum: our sins have consequences and affect others, especially those whom we sinned against i.e. your aunt wouldn’t be happy that you lied and stole money from her wallet. As a part of the Body of Christ, we are the Church, and each mortal sin damages our witness and our unity within one another. Furthermore, we damage ourselves in mortal sin by losing sanctifying grace, God’s own divine nature (see 2nd Peter 1:4).

The Sacrament of Confession addresses all this. By confessing to a priest, whom is a persona Christi, we are confessing to God Himself. Also by confessing to a priest, we are amending the damage done to the Church by interacting with her representative, the clergy. In our confession, in which, we strive to confess all our mortal sins and numbers but we need not to have the exact number or if we accidentally forgot another mortal sin, God will still grant us mercy. The priest gives us a penance such as pay the money owed to your aunt that you’ve stolen or prayers or both. We say an act of contrition. God, acting through the priest, gives us his absolution and forgiveness. Post-confession, we are “right with God” and may now partake in the Most Holy Sacrament which is God Himself, giving us further graces.

Here are some benefits that the Sacrament, in my opinion, granted which others may not have:

1. Godly consul: we receive advice about how to avoid near occasions of sins (situations that lead to sins) and other mortal sins. Confessors, outside of this sacrament, may become our spiritual directors as well. In all, another gives us more points to holiness.
   2). It’s a lesson in humility.
   3). Penitents need not to guess if their sins are forgiven for we hear our absolution from the priest, acting in Christ.
   4). It recognizes that sin damages ourselves, our neighbors, and the Body of Christ as well as God and meets all the requirements to amending these relationships.

Catholics are going directly to God in Confession. This sacrament, and the others, are each an encounter with Christ!

My question for you: If Christ paid for past, present and future sins, then why do Christians need to confess (mentally I guess from your view) them to God if all sins are redeemed (i.e. paid) on the Cross?

 

[Reuben_J]

Indeed, sins are against God. You will hear no one deny that. When we sin, we don’t exist in a vacuum: our sins have consequences and affect others, especially those whom we sinned against i.e. your aunt wouldn’t be happy that you lied and stole money from her wallet. As a part of the Body of Christ, we are the Church, and each mortal sin damages our witness and our unity within one another. Furthermore, we damage ourselves in mortal sin by losing sanctifying grace, God’s own divine nature (see 2nd Peter 1:4).

The Sacrament of Confession addresses all this. By confessing to a priest, whom is a persona Christi, we are confessing to God Himself. Also by confessing to a priest, we are amending the damage done to the Church by interacting with her representative, the clergy. In our confession, in which, we strive to confess all our mortal sins and numbers but we need not to have the exact number or if we accidentally forgot another mortal sin, God will still grant us mercy. The priest gives us a penance such as pay the money owed to your aunt that you’ve stolen or prayers or both. We say an act of contrition. God, acting through the priest, gives us his absolution and forgiveness. Post-confession, we are “right with God” and may now partake in the Most Holy Sacrament which is God Himself, giving us further graces.

Here are some benefits that the Sacrament, in my opinion, granted which others may not have:

1. Godly consul: we receive advice about how to avoid near occasions of sins (situations that lead to sins) and other mortal sins. Confessors, outside of this sacrament, may become our spiritual directors as well. In all, another gives us more points to holiness.
   2). It’s a lesson in humility.
   3). Penitents need not to guess if their sins are forgiven for we hear our absolution from the priest, acting in Christ.
   4). It recognizes that sin damages ourselves, our neighbors, and the Body of Christ as well as God and meets all the requirements to amending these relationships.

Catholics are going directly to God in Confession. This sacrament, and the others, are each an encounter with Christ!

My question for you:** If Christ paid for past, present and future sins, then why do Christians need to confess (mentally I guess from your view) them to God if all sins are redeemed (i.e. paid) on the Cross?**

Great post, clear explanation. This should do it for the thread.

 

[Dancelittleewok]

Great post, clear explanation. This should do it for the thread.

Thank you. A book that taught me about Confession is “Pardon and Peace” by Alfred Wilson, C.P.

 

[Carlan]

Thank you. A book that taught me about Confession is “Pardon and Peace” by Alfred Wilson, C.P.

Thank you Dance for an excellent post you covered it all so well.Carlan

 

[joanofarc143130]

A Christian will say he intends to do good, but will rationalize and then turns around and does wrong .Sin involves self deception, and when one has been kidding oneself, by what means does he arrive at the conclusion that self deception has stopped ?.Protestism does not seem to offer any helpful way for the sinner to cope with guilt and reform.Carlan

They don’t. That’s the problem. I have never, ever felt as much peace after repentance as I have going to confession. The sacraments are the only truly effective way!

 

[Reuben_J]

Citations please?

Right. Because the first thing Jesus did after His resurrection was go to Rome, establish the Vatican as the capitol of Christianity, and ordain a priesthood that was responsible for hearing everyone’s confessions.

You do realize Christianity was illegal in Rome until the fourth century and that until then, sacerdotalism was something that did not exist within Christianity. Right?

I don’t do sacraments and we definitely don’t see eye to eye on the nature of grace. That said…actually, why bother. philosophy.lander.edu/logic/complex.html I have to hand it to you, though- that’s a very economical example of this type of question. It makes me wonder if you really came up with it or if you got it from somewhere else.

If we did spend an inordinate amount of time chasing the “graces” and “sacraments” rabbit trails, I would probably wind up citing the Holy Spirit as the source of a number of things.

What were those words? Careful, though- you’re about to cite one of the most popular passages in all of Catholic prooftexting, and it is also the single most difficult passage of Scripture to translate correctly. Make sure you get it right; if you don’t, I will be sure to let you know.

Those who don’t believe in confession do not appreciate nor have any understanding of the history of Christianity. Of course we wish forgiveness can be very simple but it simply was not done that way - because sin involves both God and man. The Prodigal Son said he had sinned against his father and against God. It was not against the father only though when we read the story it can appear like that. We like to think of it as a private affair – between me and God, but it really never was done that way.

How easy it would be to say in our heart, “God, please forgive me because I have stolen from Aunt Matilda” and that’s it. And most probably will not do anything to make restitution to poor Aunt Matilda later because God forgives if we confess to him. Don’t have to be accountable to anybody. Unfortunately it is not like that.

Anyway, what’s wrong with confessing our sin to a priest if we are really repenting of it? Even King David had to be told by Nathan the high priest that he committed a sin. And on being told, he did not retreated to his chamber and kept to himself. He went public – put on sack clothes and fasted. The people of Nineveh also did that too. And Sidon and Tyre.

Forgiveness of sins and repentance never was entirely private because the people of God are one body. Sin committed by one affects the body directly or indirectly. We see that in the OT. Jesus spoke about bringing a brother who sinned to the church. St. Paul too spoke about the body; even a small part of the body can affect the other organs. But how easy it is to justify that it was not so - by reading the Bible legalistically.

Confession had been part of Christianity from the very beginning. Churches who have history on their side testify to this. The Catholics, the Orthodox and even mainstream Protestants do it. Granted they do not do it exactly like the Catholics but they feel it is important enough to retain this practice even though they protested and wanted to reform the Church. So this is a proof that Confession has been with the church from the very beginning. Modern day Christians speak of Confession in the Catholic Church as if it is being introduced recently perhaps mindful of the fact that their own churches are very much recent innovations that happened a couple of hundred years ago or even later.

But who told you that you can do without confession? It is not like as if Jesus comes back again and relives his human life and tell us differently. You omit the Sacraments because you rebel and protest against the Church; because they do all these and therefore you should not do them.

 

[SteveVH]

Herein lies the misunderstanding. One needs not to be able to deal with sin when Christ becomes involved. The biggest thing I learned in the years since I left Catholicism is that when you truly begin to know Christ and walk with him, he begins to transform you from the inside out. Your fears being to transform into faith and your degree of belief escalates. It’s indescibable in terms of how it actually feels.

Your statement implies that Catholics have never had this experience, that they “truly” don’t know Christ nor do they walk with him. I am very happy to hear that you have met the Lord and I have no doubt that you have. I had the same experience in my college years and found it outside of the Catholic Church. Since I have returned to the Church I have found an even deeper relationship. When you finally experience Christ in the Eucharist, when you are properly disposed and open to the infinite graces awaiting you in this most blessed and beautiful sacrament, then you will know true intimacy with Jesus Christ. The problem with a lot of Catholics (including myself) is that we are not always open to the graces abundantly present in the sacrament and therefore only receive what we are able. Communion is a marriage feast of sorts. Christ has already given everything to us. When we approach Him with the same disposition of giving ourselves completely to Him, miracles happen and lives are transformed. It is a matter of mutual self giving and the degree with which you give yourself is the degree to which grace is given. When we approach the Eucharist in a disinterested manner, we may receive nothing.

It is a shame that some Catholics leave the faith without ever experiencing the true wonder of the sacraments and therefore have no idea what they have left behind.

I am happy that you have the relationship with the Lord that you now have, but you might want to take a second look.

God bless you.

 

[Reuben_J]

Your statement implies that Catholics have never had this experience, that they “truly” don’t know Christ nor do they walk with him. I am very happy to hear that you have met the Lord and I have no doubt that you have. I had the same experience in my college years and found it outside of the Catholic Church. Since I have returned to the Church I have found an even deeper relationship. When you finally experience Christ in the Eucharist, when you are properly disposed and open to the infinite graces awaiting you in this most blessed and beautiful sacrament, then you will know true intimacy with Jesus Christ. The problem with a lot of Catholics (including myself) is that we are not always open to the graces abundantly present in the sacrament and therefore only receive what we are able. Communion is a marriage feast of sorts. Christ has already given everything to us. When we approach Him with the same disposition of giving ourselves completely to Him, miracles happen and lives are transformed. It is a matter of mutual self giving and the degree with which you give yourself is the degree to which grace is given. When we approach the Eucharist in a disinterested manner, we may receive nothing.

It is a shame that some Catholics leave the faith without ever experiencing the true wonder of the sacraments and therefore have no idea what they have left behind.

I am happy that you have the relationship with the Lord that you now have, but you might want to take a second look.

God bless you.

It is true that many ordinary Catholics do not truly open to the fullest potential of grace in the Sacrament. There are many reasons to that – ranging from not sufficiently catechized, taking the Sacraments for granted as something routine and therefore the focus is more to fulfill their obligation to just being indifferent. But no matter what the Sacrament, especially the Holy Eucharist is always healing when it is celebrated in the land simply because it is the celebration of the sacrifice of Christ. It is so sad that some countries like Saudi Arabia prohibit the celebration of the Eucharist in their land. But when it is done even covertly, the land is cleansed and graces flow somehow.

In Catholicism, the Eucharist sanctifies. You are forgiven your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and where do you go from there? You would meet Jesus, in communion with him in body, mind and spirit. The Eucharist is not just about feeling nice, not about saying, Oh I am in communion with Jesus but it literally and physically has to take his body, ingest it and it becomes part of us so that we can truly be like him. It is like eating steak, though when comparing it thus it feels like blaspheming, that the entire nutrient from it assimilates into our body and it becomes part of us.

Thus one can imagine after the grace of truly knowing Christ, that when we receive him in the Holy Communion, it is simply awesome.

I can understand when Protestants mentioned about being born again and truly knowing Christ. I have been there done that. But the apex of it all is when in that state you would regularly receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I spent hours in quiet time and personal prayer but all these are still being capped and complimented when I go to receive the Sacrament. One does not know what it is until one experiences it. It is understandable for Protestants to dismiss the Sacraments but that because they have not experienced it. There is much, very much more that God wants to give us.

God bless.

 

[Justy90]

Please excuse me Justy, I fall so short when it comes to communicating in these forums, I had over looked your Christian affiliation,sorry, I do understand that Anglicans and Lutherans hold some of the same beliefs handed on down from the Apostles through Christ’s church, I do not deliberately aim to offend.
I don’t hold todays separated brethren responsible for the protesting revolution of 500 years ago. That isn’t what this thread is about anyway.
My deepest hurt concerns mostly the fallen away Catholics and my hope for them. Jesus longs for the unity of his Flock, and in the case of the Orthodox and the Anglicans there is much hope. God bless! Carlan

Thank you for your concern but I must tell you; I am not a fallen away Catholic, I got up and walked away.

 

[PJM]

=tweetymom;6144690]I for one go directly to the Father thru Jesus and ask forgivness. Sometimes I am convicted as soon as I sin and other times when I am praying and am alone with God.

***Friend, two key and essential points pertaining to one’s possible salvation.

Please READ 1 John 1: v. 8-10, 1 John 5: v. 16-17 and John 20: 19-23. these are esceedingly clear and frightning in there clarity

Then READ Mt.16:v 19 and Mt. 18: v.18***

It is an actual reality that NO Protestant can know with ceritude, that there sins have been forgiven, especially in the light of the singular FACT that your position is actually “anti-biblical” which menas not ONLY NOT IN THE BIBLE, But worse; actually holding a view that is against what the bible cleary teaches. [and any 5th. grader can understand it to say and mean.]

***2 Tim. 3:16 "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ***

Love and prayers friend;

What are you going to do now that you KNOW The TRUTH?

 

[tweetymom]

***Friend, two key and essential points pertaining to one’s possible salvation.

Please READ 1 John 1: v. 8-10, 1 John 5: v. 16-17 and John 20: 19-23. these are esceedingly clear and frightning in there clarity

Then READ Mt.16:v 19 and Mt. 18: v.18***

It is an actual reality that NO Protestant can know with ceritude, that there sins have been forgiven, especially in the light of the singular FACT that your position is actually “anti-biblical” which menas not ONLY NOT IN THE BIBLE, But worse; actually holding a view that is against what the bible cleary teaches. [and any 5th. grader can understand it to say and mean.]

***2 Tim. 3:16 "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ***

Love and prayers friend;

What are you going to do now that you KNOW The TRUTH?

I Already have known the truth and I am going to continue as I have34 years going directly to God. If it doesn’t work for you sorry.

 

[Carlan]

I Already have known the truth and I am going to continue as I have34 years going directly to God. If it doesn’t work for you sorry.

A practicing Catholic is required to receive the sacrament of confession( in the case of mortal sin) before receiving the Holy Eucharist. Did you not know that as an RCIA instructor?:shrug:Carlan

 

[tweetymom]

A practicing Catholic is required to receive the sacrament of confession( in the case of mortal sin) before receiving the Holy Eucharist. Did you not know that as an RCIA instructor?:shrug:Carlan

Of course I know this do you think I am stupid? I just told you what I do.

 

[Carlan]

I Already have known the truth and I am going to continue as I have34 years going directly to God. If it doesn’t work for you sorry.

Of course I know this do you think I am stupid? I just told you what I do.

Sorry for misunderstanding your post,Tweety. However,you did not mention the sacrament of reconcilliation(confession, penance,) in your post.
Protestants reading your post could possibly think you, as a Catholic, are following their formula for simply lifting up in prayer their repentance for sinning.Carlan

 

[PJM]

=tweetymom;6174333]I Already have known the truth and I am going to continue as I have34 years going directly to God. If it doesn’t work for you sorry.

THANKS

So either the bible is in eror, :nope:God either didn’t know what He was talking about, or lied… What might be the other possibility?

You not nearly as sorry as your very likely to be. God can’t lie.

Love and prayers friend,