My problems with Catholicism

[ljubim]

Just to clarify, there’s 2 paths when you die. Heaven or hell. Purgatory isn’t some separate place, but it’s a little precursor to heaven. Because if (from a protestant perspective) I’ve asked God for forgiveness for say, being really cruel to a family member. But then I still say harsh things to them sometimes, my excuse being, oh it’s habit, or oh it’s just part of our relationship, or oh I’m just teasing. But it really hurts them, regardless of whether I know so or not. And something inside sort of enjoys it, or finds it funny.

Say this is my only fault. All my other sins have been made right. I’ve lived a wonderful Christian life, following every one of God’s commandments Obviously hell is not an option. I am meant for heaven, but this terrible fault is still on my soul, and to be in God’s all-seeing prescence would fill me with shame and regret. Purgatory is just the cleansing of your minor attatchments to sin so that you’re fit to be in God’s prescence.

About Lent the whole thing is to make sacrifices and offer them up to God, and become closer to Him through rejection of some wordly things. (Most protestants do this too, I thought…) What have you heard it is?

The bible does say confess your sins to each other. Also it’s not through the priest’s power, but through God’s, that our sins are forgiven. You may think you’re sorry, but to admit it to another is unimaginably hard. It’s going that one extra step, as God told us to, in asking for forgiveness. Like for me, when I’ve done something terrible, I cry and ask God to forgive me, and the message is: Well, what are you waiting for? Apologize, then go to confession already!

And as for celibacy… best explanation I heard was from a priest who spoke to my youth group. He explained it this way: had I married and had a family, I would not be here right now. [youth leader] would have asked me to come, and I’d say, sorry, my son has a soccer game. Jesus was celibate, and asked His apostles to drop everything and follow Him as well. With such important work to do, you must be willing to dedicate your life and effort to do it, not waver between two different vocations. (Side note: many of the churches of Eastern tradition, in union with the Church, allow married priests. And the Orthodox - aka Catholicism’s sister church - do as well.) In the roman rite of the catholic church, it’s not so much a requirement as a very very important tradition, handed down from Jesus and mentioned in the bible.

Here’s a few bible verses…(I got this from a paper I have so forgive the lack of links… here’s the bible in case you don’t have yours on you, it loads pretty quickly and no pop-ups like some internet bibles New American Bible)
CONFESSION
Mt 9:2-8
Jn 22-23
2 Cor 5:17-20
James 5:13-15
Jam 5:16
Mt 18:18
1 Jn 5:16

PURGATORY
Mt 5:48
Heb 12:14
Jam 3:2
Rev 21:27
1 Jn 5:16-17
Jam 1:14-15
2 Sam 12:13-14
Mt 5:26
Mt 12:32 and 36
2 Macc 12:44-46
1 Cor 3:15
1 Pet 3:18-20 and 4:6
2 Tim 1:16-18
1 Cor 15:29-30

FASTING: read 1 Tim 4:3, then read
Mk 7:19
1 Tim 4:4-5
Dan 10:3
Mt 9:15
Mt 6:16-18

CELIBACY
compare 1 Tim 4:1-3 and 3:2 with:
Eph 5:21-33
Mt 19:12
Jer 16:1-4
1 Cor 7:8 and 32-35
2 Tim 2:3-4
1 Tim 5:9-12

And then also keep in mind that all Catholic teaching is scriptute + tradition, and our english language doesn’t differentiate between selfish human traditions and Godly, Jesus established traditions. I really wish I could give you this paper somehow! It has bible quotes for every single Catholic teaching.catholicdestination.com/product_info.php?products_id=14196

 

[ljubim]

You only need to confess mortal sins to a priest, not venial sins. We need confession for the same reason we need other sacraments, to have the visible sign of the invisible grace. Human beings need to hear, see, smell, and touch things. God instituted the sacraments so that we could have some tangible sign of the invisible grace that is doing the work in our souls. Not to mention confession has an obvious therapeutic role.

No, it’s all sins where did you hear it’s only mortal sins?

 

[jfoges]

No, it’s all sins where did you hear it’s only mortal sins?

I said you only have to confess mortal sins, venial sins can be forgiven without the sacrament of confession. It is still good to confess venial sins but you don’t have to do it.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Hello everyone,

These are some of the questions I have:

Why does there need to be a Purgatory? What motivation would that give anyone to do anything God says if they can be avoid Hell completely even though that person did terrible things in their life?

There is Purgatory, because God wills it. The reason He wills it is because nothing unclean shall enter heaven. We here on earth are given our robe of righteousness when we are reborn of water and Spirit at our baptism. But sadly we continue to sin and indeed have attachment to sin after we have been baptized. We are forgiven for those sins, but if we are still attached to them at the time of our death, we must be fully purified before entering heaven. This is what happens in the condition of “Purgatory”. Purgatory is not a get out of jail free card. It is for those who are saved that have the stain of sin in their soul. It is not “avoiding hell”. Those who are not saved go to hell. Period. Those who are saved go to heaven but must be completely pure before they enter. By the way, Purgatory is not necessarily a place, it is a process.

How does observing Lent not go against God’s teachings? I thought that the Bible said that sacrifices were to be made only for God.

It’s not a sacrifice, it is a fast, though some people refer to it as Lenten sacrifice. Anyway, we follow Jesus when we observe Lent. He went to the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. We do the same. There is only one Sacrifice that is pleasing and acceptable to God. We Catholics know this, but are offering up a fast to the God just as Jesus did, and thus we unite ourselves to the mystery of Christ in the desert who vanquished our tempter. The key to understanding Lent is understanding more about baptism, more about penance and more about the three eminent good works of holy living- prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are discussed by Jesus in Mt. 6. In fact, in Mt 6:16 Jesus says "WHEN you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites do. He doesn’t say if you fast, He says “when”-- which is more than a hint that this should be part of our lives. In addition, when Jesus was asked why his disciples weren’t fasting (Mt 9:15) He said that they could not fast because the Bridegroom was among them, but that when He was taken away then they would fast.

Why do you need to confess your sins if God already knows what you have done? If you feel the need to confess your sins, wouldn’t it be more pleasing to God to pray to Him about the sins you have committed and asking Him for forgiveness?

We need to do it because God wills it and has told us so in Scripture. Take a look at James 5:15-16. “If someone is sick the presbyters should be called (that is where we get the word priest) and if he has sinned, his sins will be forgiven. So, confess your sins to one another…” God wants us to humble ourselves and turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness. We believe that God is present in the confessional, so when we confess to His annointed priest, we know we are confessing in the presence of God. God uses the priest then to absolve us of our sins. He gave the Church, through His Apostles, the power to bind in heaven and on earth. If you have not gone through the Church, how do you know if your sin is loosed or bound in heaven? That authority was given to the Church-- it isn’t that you can’t confess straight to God; we Catholic do that all the time. But out of obedience, we also confess to one another and then through the Sacrament of Reconcilliation we are absolved of our sins. God has given this great gift and authority to His Church and if the Church (via the priest) looses a sin, then God looses it in heaven. As the Father sent Christ (to forgive) so He sent His Apostles (predecessors to our priests) ( John 20:21)

Why must Popes, Priests and Nuns remain celibate? Would being married make them any less qualified to fulfill their role as a Pope, Priest or Nun? It seems pretty clear to me that 1 Timothy:3 condemns remaining celibate.

Please cite the specific verse that condemns celibacy? I do not see that. Anyway, celibacy is a discipline in the western Church (Latin Rite). Eastern Catholic priests may be married. The reason they have chosen to follow the discipline is also cited in Scripture by St. Paul in 1 Cor 7:32 and even Jesus says in Mt 19:11-12 Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother’s womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?

All sin is sin, and all sin is bad and a breaking of the law. But, even common sense would tell us that murdering someone is far more serious than stealing a pen from your office because you like how it writes. However, even if we are not dealing with common sense, Scripture clearly records that some sin is mortal and some isn’t. 1 John 5:16-17: If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

I thank you in advance for your responses.
You are very welcome. If there are any of these areas that pique your interest further, you could start a thread for it. I’ve given you a bare bones account here, but in most of these questions there are many, many Scriptural supports for the Catholic teaching.

 

[Onyx88]

I sacrifice a little during lent because of the way christ sufered and died for me. It’s the least i can do.

 

[jfoges]

I don’t understand at all what the OP’s problem is with sacrificing during Lent.

 

[Mintaka]

Re: mortal and venial sins

Originally Posted by RDJ12345:

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?.

The Bible talks about “deadly” sin in today’s translations. Deadly=mortal.

Numbers 18:22 talks about God instituting the Levites to protect the people of Israel from committing “deadly sin”, the sort of sins you could get instantly zotted by God for doing.

1 John 5: 16-17 talks about it also: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.”

This is not to say that “sin that is not deadly” (venial sin) isn’t serious and worthy of punishment. It’s just not quite as bad as if it were deadly.

 

[NPC]

Hello everyone,

Hello & welcome!

Why does there need to be a Purgatory? What motivation would that give anyone to do anything God says if they can be avoid Hell completely even though that person did terrible things in their life?

Even if you don’t accept 2Maccabees as an inspired Christian text - the famous line “it is a holy and wholesome thought that we should pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” - there is ample evidence in the New Testament for another place in the afterlife other than Heaven and Hell. For example, Christ mentions the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matt.12:32) - the sin which cannot be forgiven in this life or the next. That implies that there is forgiveness of some sins in the next life. Where does this take place? It can’t take place in Heaven since that would mean that an unclean soul entered Heaven which we know will not happen (Rev.21:27). Obviously it doesn’t take place in Hell either because the souls there will not be forgiven - they face eternal punishment. Purgatory is the answer.

In addition, after Christ died, we say he descended to the dead and freed the souls of the righteous people who had died. In history, this was called the Limbo of the Fathers - it was neither Heaven since it was closed to mankind following Adam’s sin. Nor was it Hell, because the righteous were not destined to suffer forever. It may not have been Purgatory either, but it does point to a certain state other that Heaven or Hell.

Why do you need to confess your sins if God already knows what you have done? If you feel the need to confess your sins, wouldn’t it be more pleasing to God to pray to Him about the sins you have committed and asking Him for forgiveness?

Why even pray to God in that case, since He knows all?! We pray despite Him knowing all because gave us a model for prayer. We confess to a priest because that is the model he gave when he said to the Apostles “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:23). The Apostles couldn’t possibly have known which sins to forgive or retain unless people were supposed to tell them their sins. Note too that just before Christ said that to them, he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit” - this is one of only two times that Scripture records that God breathed on man, the first being in the book of Genesis.

Confession to a priest also teaches humility which one would not learn from confessing directly to God in the privacy of one’s own room. The priest, who represents Christ in the sacrament of Reconciliation, can assure us that our sins are indeed forgiven. A good confessor will also offer good advice on how to avoid sins in the future.

Why must Popes, Priests and Nuns remain celibate? Would being married make them any less qualified to fulfill their role as a Pope, Priest or Nun? It seems pretty clear to me that 1 Timothy:3 condemns remaining celibate.

As others have said, celibacy in the Latin Rite is a discipline - although it has not always been compulsory, it was widely practiced, even in the early Church. The letter to Timothy does not condemn celibacy - saying that a bishop or a deacon should be married only once is not the same as saying that they must be married. What is being ruled out absolutely is the possibility of them being married twice or even thrice!

Celibacy follows the example of Christ who in Matthew 19:29 promised great rewards for those who would give up brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or property for His sake. Remember, however, that celibacy is not forced on priests or religious - it is freely chosen by them after many years of discernment.

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?

Well, the example I quoted earlier about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shows that not all sins tarnish the soul equally. That particular sin can never be forgiven. The first letter of St John tells us that “all wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin is deadly” (5:17). The deadly (mortal) sins are listed frequently throughout Scripture - for example in Galatians 5:19-21.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

No, it’s all sins where did you hear it’s only mortal sins?

We are only required to confess mortal sin in the Sacrament of Reconcilliation, venial sin is forgiven in the Mass when we confess at the beginning that we are sinners. However, confession of venial sin is highly recommended.

Here are the two applicable points in the CCC.

1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.”

1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful:

 

[sinnegam]

Purgatory is a temporary loss of God’s presence and Divine love thus causing us great pain. It is a state of purification to purge away sins like sins of omission etc. and we will eventually be in the presence of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all eternity as opposed to Hell where we put ourselves by a total refusal to love God and by total disobedience of His Commandments.
Observing Lent is most certainly not contrary to God’s Law. In fact doing penance and making little sacrifices e.g. fasting, praying and partaking in the Sacraments especially The Eucharist all make The Devil very cross because Lent leads up to Good Friday when Jesus won the battle for souls in the Redemption. Dont forget that the Cross should be our’s to carry but Jesus did it for us! Lent is when we define our Christianity and elevate our souls ever closer to God and further from evil.
By confessing our sins to God through a priest we have a greater sense of shame for our sins and quite deservedly so! How easy it would be to use your method but it lacks the depth of shame, humility and remorse required for true repentance…Jesus told us to confess to His pastors “whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven and whose sins you shall retain they are retained”…the priest also can give spiritual guidance prior to absolution.
Our human condition decrees that we are sexual in nature…God created us like that.
To be celibate as a priest or nun is. is to totally dedicate our life to God’s service unselfishly and being instrumental in the salvation of souls.No greater way can you serve God. It requires total dedication and a life of prayer to achieve this. It is probably a very difficult life hence the element of vocation. Such people are probably lonely for human companionship but it is more than compensated for by the relationship they enjoy with God…the clutter of married life and associated problems would seriously compromise such a vocation.
The distinction between mortal and venial sins is similar to chalk and cheese.
If I asked you to choose the sin status of adultery and using a swear word I assume you would know,wouldn’t you?..so where’s the problem here?
May all your problems with Catholicism bring you closer to God!!

 

[RDJ12345]

I don’t understand at all what the OP’s problem is with sacrificing during Lent.

It is because, as I now realize, I misunderstood what Lent is about. I thought Lent was making a sacrifice for Jesus to thank Him for dying for our sins.

 

[RDJ12345]

So Paul condemned himself for being celibate?

Not necessarily. I think Paul was referrring to people who were following the teachings of demons and false spirits who commanded their followers to be celibate.

 

[DOShea]

RDJ these are all very good questions. I’ll try to answer a couple of them for you. You might also get a better understanding of these things by going to the Library links on the home page; lots of good, detailed explanations there.

Hello everyone,
Why does there need to be a Purgatory? What motivation would that give anyone to do anything God says if they can be avoid Hell completely even though that person did terrible things in their life?

Purgatory is not an escape pod from hell. Our understanding of salvation is different from a single, past event (like “X was saved on Jan 12, 1975 at 3:12pm”). Our understanding is that salvation begins with Baptism, where all sin, orginal (and others in the case of adults) is purged and Sanctifying grace enters the soul. It stays there until or unless one commits a sin so grievous it “kills” that sanctifying grace, thus the name “mortal” sin. In order to be restored, or back in a state of grace, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a.k.a. Confession.

In confession, our sins are absolved, that is, the guilt of our sins is taken away. But there is still a temporal punishment involved that we must pay, either in this world or in the next, before we are truly sanctified, meaning “pure” enough to stand in the presence of God. An example of this is King David, who sinned by having Uriah killed and fornicated with his wife. You will recall that through Samuel, God forgave David when he repented, but God still punished David by taking the life of his newborn son. And you will also recall David spending the week in sackcloth and ashes, fasting and praying, right up until the son died. He didn’t think that week was wasted even though God took his son’s life. David was paying the temporal punishment for his sins.

There are things we can do in this world to help pay our own debt from sin, such as works of charity, fasting, praying, etc. If we die in a state of sanctifying grace, we are promised eternal life, yet we may still have some amount of unpaid temporal punishment yet to pay off before we enter into our ultimate reward. Purgatory is where we pay that off. If we don’t die in a state of sanctifying grace, it’s all over; we go to hell and purgatory is not even an issue.

Why do you need to confess your sins if God already knows what you have done? If you feel the need to confess your sins, wouldn’t it be more pleasing to God to pray to Him about the sins you have committed and asking Him for forgiveness?

Recall that the Apostles and the early Church fathers were, for the most part, Jews. They had an understanding of confessing one’s sins in the same way Jews did, which was at the temple and publicly recited to the priest in conjunction with a sin offering. It is from that understanding they drew the idea that sin must be confessed publicly. Over the centuries, the form of how it was done was changed from a very public scene to a more private setting, but the act of having to confess to a priest was still kept.

While you may be talking to a priest in the confessional, he is there representing Christ with the same authority to forgive sins (through his ordination and laying on of hands from a Bishop) that Jesus gave to the Apostles. So in reality, you ARE confessing your sins to God. In this way, with the priest giving you the words of absolution, you are assured that your sins are forgiven. Can you go out in the parking lot and confess to God by looking up at the sky? Sure you can. But do you KNOW your sins are forgiven? No, you don’t. But you do know when the priest gives you absolution because those words are hinged on a promise from the lips of our Savior Himself.

Why must Popes, Priests and Nuns remain celibate? Would being married make them any less qualified to fulfill their role as a Pope, Priest or Nun? It seems pretty clear to me that 1 Timothy:3 condemns remaining celibate.

If Scripture consisted only of Timothy, you would be right. But it doesn’t. In Revelation, St. John sees large numbers of consecrated virgins offering sacrifice. It’s commonly accepted that what John is seeing is heaven as it exists outside of time, in other words he’s seeing what you could describe as “everything at once” as though all of time was projected on a screen at once. What in the history of mankind would you say represents a large number of consecrated virgins offering a sacrifice if not celebrate clergy? The only other consecrated virgins in history are the Vestal Virgins of Rome and virgins in Greek mythology, making their “consecration” somewhat dubious in that it was done by the whim of man alone. Also, neither of them offered any sacrifice to God.

Also realize celibacy is considered a discipline matter in the Church. We do have some priests who have converted from other faiths and are still married.

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?

I thank you in advance for your responses.

All sin is bad in the eyes of God, just as all crime is bad in the eyes of the law. However even our own justice system makes a distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor. No practical person would expect law enforcement to launch a statewide manhunt to find a jaywalker, but they would demand it for a serial killer. So the degree of the sin committed has a bearing on our culpability and our punishment. As described above, if the sin is mortal, we have just rejected His promise of eternal life and if we don’t go and seek reconciliation and restore our relationship with God, we won’t have any Purgatory concerns to deal with, it will be the lake of fire for us.

Thank you for taking the time to ask about these issues. May God grant you a fuller understanding than what little I can give you.

 

[jdobbins]

Hello everyone,

I know you probably don’t like these kinds of questions, but there are some problems with Catholicism that I have. Keep in mind that I am here to get a better understanding of the Catholic faith, not to condemn it or anything like that.
These are some of the questions I have:

Why does there need to be a Purgatory? What motivation would that give anyone to do anything God says if they can be avoid Hell completely even though that person did terrible things in their life?

How does observing Lent not go against God’s teachings? I thought that the Bible said that sacrifices were to be made only for God.

Why do you need to confess your sins if God already knows what you have done? If you feel the need to confess your sins, wouldn’t it be more pleasing to God to pray to Him about the sins you have committed and asking Him for forgiveness?

Why must Popes, Priests and Nuns remain celibate? Would being married make them any less qualified to fulfill their role as a Pope, Priest or Nun? It seems pretty clear to me that 1 Timothy:3 condemns remaining celibate.

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?

I thank you in advance for your responses.

Thank you for your questions.

Purgatory: God created Hell for the fallen angels. Heaven is for those who are in spiritual perfection. Purgatory is that state of being for people whose lives were not evil enough to condemn them to hell, but are not perfected enough to stand before God and live in His kingdom. In Purgatory, the soul is purged (purgated) of those faults and imperfections that stand between the soul and God, and, when fully purged, the soul is then brought to heaven. Every soul in Purgatory will reach heaven. There are numerous references to Purgatory in the bible. If you would like a full paper on this, send me an e-mail at jhdphd@gmail.com and I will reply with the paper attached.

Lent: The sacrifices you mention are the sacrifices of external things (animals, crops, etc.) which were offered to God in recognition of His preeminent place and in petition for forgiveness or as a measure of thanks. With Christ, all such sacrifices ended. Lent is a personal sacrifice, such as fasting, we do to strengthen ourselves spiritually and to grow closer to God. Jesus tells us in the gospel we should practice both prayer and fasting. When the disciples could not cure a person and Jesus had to do it, He then told them that some things can only be accomplished by prayer and fasting.

Confession: Jesus instituted the sacrament of confession. He told Peter in Matthew that He would receive the keys to the kingdom and whose sins they forgive would be forgiven and whose sins they retain would be retained. In John Jesus breathed on the apostles and told them collectively they now had this authority and power. Jesus did not provide any other way for us to have our sins forgiven. He did not give us a menu of options. He instituted one Church and gave this Divine power to forgive sin only to the apostles and their successors in office. It is a power conferred on a priest at ordaination. No one other than a Catholic priest has this power and authority. In the ordinary circumstances of life, where martyrdom is not typically an available option, confession is the only means provided by Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. It has nothing to do with whether God knows our sins. It has everything to do with our acknowledging our guilt and throwing ourselves on His mercy. Just asking God for forgiveness is not enough since three elements are necessary: confession of guilt, an expressed intent to avoid that sin and its near occasions in the future, and accepting and performing a penance for our confessed sins. Confession also gives us a certitude of remission by the words of the priest, whereas if we only ask God for forgiveness, we have no such certitude and we are never sure we have sufficient contrition for Him to consider us worthy of forgiveness.

Celibacy: Celibacy is a rule, not a dogma. The rule could be changed tomorrow. It probably will not be, at least not tomorrow. The Church feels that someone so consecrated to God can perform their duties better as a celibate than if they were married since they can devote their full time and attention to serving God alone and if married their focus and attention would necessarily be divided between their family and God. Paul did not condemn celibacy. In fact, he says in one letter that if we are single we should remain so.

Mortal and venial: All sins are bad, but some are worse than others. Murder is more serious than stealing a quarter from your brothers piggy bank. The apostle John himself clearly makes this distinction. In one of his three letters (I don’t recall off the top of my head which one) he says that there are some sins that are mortal and others that are less serious. The Church acts on this clear apostolic and biblical teaching and joins it to the commission from Jesus to forgive sins. It is worth noting that only a mortal sin can be the cause of a person going to hell. A person who dies with only venial sins will go to Purgatory to be cleansed and will then go to heaven.

 

[VociMike]

Thank you for sharing this. I never knew that any other denominations of Christianity had any type of confession.

High Anglicans also have confession to a priest, AFAIK.

 

[VociMike]

Hello everyone,

I know you probably don’t like these kinds of questions, but there are some problems with Catholicism that I have. Keep in mind that I am here to get a better understanding of the Catholic faith, not to condemn it or anything like that.

Fair enough, we’re happy to have people with your attitude stop by.

Why does there need to be a Purgatory? What motivation would that give anyone to do anything God says if they can be avoid Hell completely even though that person did terrible things in their life?

Those who undergo purgatory are already saved, they are just not completely sanctified, not completely separated from sin and the temptation to sin. Purgatory is simply God’s final act of mercy for those people, in which he makes them fully holy, fully perfect and thus able to enter heaven. I’m sure you believe in purgatory when understood in that light.

How does observing Lent not go against God’s teachings? I thought that the Bible said that sacrifices were to be made only for God.

Lent is about coming to grips with our sinfulness, with our responsibility in both needing a Savior and in putting that Savior to death. Lent is about facing clearly our situation, so that we may more clearly understand and rejoice in our Savior. We make a special effort to confront the truth about the human situation and our own responsibility for that situation during Lent, so that we may more fully appreciate the meaning of Easter.

Why do you need to confess your sins if God already knows what you have done? If you feel the need to confess your sins, wouldn’t it be more pleasing to God to pray to Him about the sins you have committed and asking Him for forgiveness?

We confess and hear the words of absolution because it is good for us. God knows what we are, and he knows that we often need more concrete proof of our forgiveness than to just know inside that we are forgiven. Furthermore, we often need not just forgiveness but also help and guidance in turning away from our sins, especially our habitual sins. These are the roles of the priest. See also my general comment at the end.

Why must Popes, Priests and Nuns remain celibate? Would being married make them any less qualified to fulfill their role as a Pope, Priest or Nun? It seems pretty clear to me that 1 Timothy:3 condemns remaining celibate.

This is a prudential judgement by the Church. One cannot serve two masters well, serving one’s individual family and one’s pastoral family would fall in that category.

Why does the Catholic Church make a distinction between mortal and venial sins? Aren’t all sins equally bad in the eyes of God?

No they’re not. That is why scripture speaks of those sins which lead to death. And in reality Protestants don’t believe that all sins are equally bad either. That’s why they typically believe that Hitler went to hell, but their Christian mother or father, who occasionally had an angry thought or a cross word, went to heaven.

A further thought on the Sacrament of Confession, and also on Purgatory: These things and many others (the priesthood, baptism, preaching the gospel, living our faith through works of charity, etc) are all best understood as invitations by God for us to join him in his good and saving works. God could do it all, but he chooses to ask us to join with him. He also asks the angels and saints in heaven to join with him, BTW. Like any good father, God shares that which is good with his children, not because he needs their help, but because he wants to give them the gift of helping. If you view Catholicism in that light it will make much more sense to you.

 

[paul_c]

A further thought on the Sacrament of Confession, and also on Purgatory: These things and many others (the priesthood, baptism, preaching the gospel, living our faith through works of charity, etc) are all best understood as invitations by God for us to join him in his good and saving works. God could do it all, but he chooses to ask us to join with him. He also asks the angels and saints in heaven to join with him, BTW. Like any good father, God shares that which is good with his children, not because he needs their help, but because he wants to give them the gift of helping. If you view Catholicism in that light it will make much more sense to you.

I like your response and just thought I’d add a little to it. All of the sacraments are there to help us become more holy - and that is the ultimate desire of all Christians: to walk in the way of Christ.

The sacrament of reconciliation, in particular, fills that role. It returns us to the grace of God when we contritely confess our sins to the preist (standing if for Jesus) repent and do the required penance. But to the uninitiated, perhaps the most tangible benefit is it forces us to confront our own sinfulness in ways that you would never do if you didn’t have to say them outload to someone. And when we do that, it highlights that we need to change and if we do change, we grow in holiness. And yes, the priest can help us find our way and the more insightful ones can require penances that can be life changing (one once directed me to Daily mass and I never stopped going).

All of what the church (and by extention, Jesus) requests of us are helpful to our souls. If we can accept that, we can grow in holiness and possibly, attain to heaven…

 

[catholic1seeks]

Hi and welcome.

Be sure to stick around CAF, you’ll learn a lot!

Some advice I have would be to look at the Catholic Answer’s tracts. Many of them deal with your kind of questions:

List of Faith Tracts catholic.com/library/faith_tracts.asp

***MORTAL SIN LINKS

See what the first Christians believed about mortal sin vs. venial sin:
Mortal Sin catholic.com/library/Mortal_Sin.asp

**CONFESSION LINKS

Early Church teachings on confession:
Confession catholic.com/library/Confession.asp

*Read this from the Didache, a document dated back to AD 70:

“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 4:14, 14.​

From Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in the early 2nd century (this written in about AD 110)

“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3).​

Read this from a prayer for the ordination of a bishop, going back to about AD 215:

"[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command" (Apostolic Tradition 3).​

From Cyprian of Carthage in the mid AD 200s:

“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord” (The Lapsed 28).

“inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]” (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]). ​

See this article which gives a good overview
The Forgiveness of Sins catholic.com/library/Forgiveness_of_Sins.asp

The following a selection from "How to Defend the Sacrament of Confession

***

2. Where is the sacrament of confession in the Bible?*

As soon as Jesus rose from the dead and earned salvation for us, he brought his apostles a new gift. After speaking peace to them, he said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to reconcile the world to God, Jesus sent the apostles to continue his mission.

Jesus then breathed on the apostles. This is a verse that is often passed over, but it has extraordinary significance because it is only the second time in all of Scripture where God breathes on anyone. The other instance was at the moment of creation, when God breathed his own life into the nostrils of Adam. This should tell us that something of great importance is taking place. Upon doing this, Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22–23).

Notice that Jesus is not simply commissioning the apostles to preach about God’s forgiveness. He is not saying, “Go tell everyone that when God forgives men’s sins, they’re forgiven.” In using the second person plural you, Jesus is telling his apostles that by the power of the Holy Spirit he has given them the power to forgive and retain the sins of men. Having the power to forgive and to retain sins implies that the apostle knows what a person’s sins are, which in turn implies oral confession. Otherwise, how is the apostle to know what to retain or forgive?

In the same way that Jesus gave his apostles other supernatural powers (such as raising men from the dead), he gave them power to absolve sins (raising them from spiritual death). In Matthew 9, we read that Jesus forgave a paralytic and then healed him so “that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6)

After he exercised this power as a man, the crowds glorified God for having given “such authority to men” (Matt. 9:8, emphasis added). Notice that Matthew indicates this power to forgive sins had been given to men, and not simply to a man.
​

**

 

[Ignatius]

Thank you for sharing this. I never knew that any other denominations of Christianity had any type of confession.

Actually, all Christians had confession for the first sixteen centuries. In fact all of those practices were handed down from the Apostles and practiced from the early Church,

 

[ljubim]

Thanks for the clarification on sins, Jfoges and prayer_warrior! I always just confess everything anyway, better safe than sorry