Protestants, can a Catholic Priest forgive sins?

[guanophore]

I believe that Catholics are united in our theology – but that doesn’t mean every single Catholic. There are, of course, “renegade” Catholics.

Peter and all thread participants. I know it is very difficult to stay on topic when attempting to dialogue with Ginger2. Per her request, however, please take all these off topic posts to the “It’s all about Ginger2” thread she made. Don’t be thrown off by the thread title.

 

[Peter_J]

Peter and all thread participants. I know it is very difficult to stay on topic when attempting to dialogue with Ginger.

I thought Lily, Ginger, and I were doing pretty well.

 

[guanophore]

I thought Lily, Ginger, and I were doing pretty well.

Ok, please help me! I can’t figure out what any of these posts have to do with the topic? I could just go away, I guess, but Ginger2 seems to have raised a lot of what seem like relevant issues to me, but I don’t want to reply to them here because I can’t see what they have to do with the topic. Thanks for your help.

 

[ac_claire]

Ok, please help me! I can’t figure out what any of these posts have to do with the topic? I could just go away, I guess, but Ginger2 seems to have raised a lot of what seem like relevant issues to me, but I don’t want to reply to them here because I can’t see what they have to do with the topic. Thanks for your help.

You make a good point. I’m not sure at this stage how to go about reining in this thread.

Ok, so…Can a Catholic priest forgive sins? Yes. Why? Because Christ gave them the authority to do so, as clearly stated in Sacred Scripture and confirmed by the Sacred Tradition of His Church.

 

[guanophore]

You make a good point. I’m not sure at this stage how to go about reining in this thread.

Ok, so…Can a Catholic priest forgive sins? Yes. Why? Because Christ gave them the authority to do so, as clearly stated in Sacred Scripture and confirmed by the Sacred Tradition of His Church.

Is that how this thread got where it is now? Was it an appeal to the Scripture and Apostolic Tradition? what has the language of the NT to do with the sacrament? thanks for helping me.

 

[celticcrusader]

You make a good point. I’m not sure at this stage how to go about reining in this thread.

Ok, so…Can a Catholic priest forgive sins? Yes. Why? Because Christ gave them the authority to do so, as clearly stated in Sacred Scripture and confirmed by the Sacred Tradition of His Church.

Good answer , ditto for me also.

 

[ac_claire]

Is that how this thread got where it is now? Was it an appeal to the Scripture and Apostolic Tradition? what has the language of the NT to do with the sacrament? thanks for helping me.

As far as I can see, the language of the NT has nothing to do with the topic here lol. So…I’m really not sure how exactly we got so off-topic. Diversion technique, maybe?

 

[Ginger2]

As far as I can see, the language of the NT has nothing to do with the topic here lol. So…I’m really not sure how exactly we got so off-topic. Diversion technique, maybe?

Of course it was a diversion tactic - Catholics do that all the time.

Threads drift off topic all the time. Other topics can be brought up because they are directly or indirectly relate to the OP’s original question. It is usually a normal process of conversation.

We’re off topic now because guanophore wants to know why we are off topic.

There is nothing wrong with supporting your argument with comparisons of related topics or history, geology, and how to determine what the authors of the Scriptures actually meant.

The OP asks Protestant what they believe, “Protestants, can a Catholic Priest forgive sins?”

When we answer, we are told we are wrong. Naturally Protestants are going to back up their faith using Scriptures.

 

[guanophore]

Of course it was a diversion tactic - Catholics do that all the time.

Threads drift off topic all the time. Other topics can be brought up because they are directly or indirectly relate to the OP’s original question. It is usually a normal process of conversation.

We’re off topic now because guanophore wants to know why we are off topic.

There is nothing wrong with supporting your argument with comparisons of related topics or history, geology, and how to determine what the authors of the Scriptures actually meant.

The OP asks Protestant what they believe, “Protestants, can a Catholic Priest forgive sins?”

When we answer, we are told we are wrong. Naturally Protestants are going to back up their faith using Scriptures.

Well, please help me out, Ginger2. The OP cites the scripture about the forgiveness or retention of sins by those ordained by Christ. Were you giving scriptures to explain this? I went back thru the thread, and I could not figure out what the languages of the Scripture had to do with the topic. I took two of the posts over to your new thread, because I wanted to respond to them but thought they were off topic.

What does it mean that the Apostles would “retain sins”?

 

[Peter_J]

Of course it was a diversion tactic - Catholics do that all the time.

So your point is that Catholics are human beings? Or do you claim that Catholics do that more often than Protestants do?

 

[benedictus2]

benedictus2:

YOU were explaining it to her. You already know the doctrine of the Trinity. You already know all the supporting passages because that was also explained to you.

If you had given her the Bible to understand by herself, would she have been able to come up with the Trinity as it is known, Three Persons in One God.?

I have to disagree. It had nothing to do with me. I explained it to her for years and she never got it. I even looked up verses to show her it didn’t say what she thought.

It wasn’t until, after much, prayer, God laid on her heart a desire to study the Bible. Then, I was careful not to inject my understanding, but rather to cross reference Scripture when she asked a question.

We cannot explain anything to anyone about God unless God gives them understanding.

But you totally miss the point here.

Had she read the Bible on her own without you showing her, would she have come up with the specific doctrine of Three Persons in One God and not Three Gods or even just Two Gods (Father and Son).

All you have illustrated is that at one point she got YOUR EXPLANATION. For years YOUR EXPLANATION did not make sense, then suddenly she got YOUR EXPLANATION. It is still YOUR EXPLANATION that she understood.

Left to herself, she would not have come up with the doctrine of the Trinity AS IT IS STATED.

Also, I doubt very much if you, yourself would have come up with the precise doctrine had you been given the Bible in a vacuum.

 

[Ginger2]

So your point is that Catholics are human beings? Or do you claim that Catholics do that more often than Protestants do?

I see, PeterJ… it’s OK for a Catholics to joke and suggest Protestants are using “diversion tactics” to avoid answering questions, but I can’t joke and turn the tables?

Or maybe it wasn’t said in jest and that’s why you question me?

I don’t know what the person who made the comment was thinking, I just decided to take it lightly.

 

[Ginger2]

But you totally miss the point here.

Had she read the Bible on her own without you showing her, would she have come up with the specific doctrine of Three Persons in One God and not Three Gods or even just Two Gods (Father and Son).

All you have illustrated is that at one point she got YOUR EXPLANATION. For years YOUR EXPLANATION did not make sense, then suddenly she got YOUR EXPLANATION. It is still YOUR EXPLANATION that she understood.

Left to herself, she would not have come up with the doctrine of the Trinity AS IT IS STATED.

I was not actually trying to explain the Trinity. Our discussions were about Jesus being God incarnate.

You are the one missing the point! Her mind was totally close to considering anything other than what she already believed.

I prayed, but she would not even consider reading the Bible had not God placed it on her heart. I read, but she would never have believed unless God opened her mind to understanding.

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, …
John 14: 6 …No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

[benedictus2]

I was not actually trying to explain the Trinity. Our discussions were about Jesus being God incarnate.

Man, you really tangle everything. The point we were discussing was whether the Bible was plain. And you said that the doctrine of the Trinity was plain from the Bible.

When I said that it is not, you gave this woman as an example. Since you were responding to my point on the trinity, then I would have thought that your example was on the tritnity.

That is why people find it frustrating because you go from this point to that without even clarifying the first.

You are the one missing the point! Her mind was totally close to considering anything other than what she already believed.

I prayed, but she would not even consider reading the Bible had not God placed it on her heart. I read, but she would never have believed unless God opened her mind to understanding.

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, …
John 14: 6 …No one comes to the Father except through me.

But it was was still YOUR EXPLANATION. Don’t you get that?

Your above explanation does not even get within a smidgeon of an inch to answering my original question. This is just a diversion.

So to go back to the original discussion, since you gave this woman as an example, if you had given her the Bible without explaning anything, would she have been able to come up with the doctrine of the Trinity as it is stated Three Persons in One God, and not three or two separates Gods?

That is a simple enough yes or no question which you have evaded the past 3 posts.

 

[Peter_J]

I see, PeterJ… it’s OK for a Catholics to joke and suggest Protestants are using “diversion tactics” to avoid answering questions, but I can’t joke and turn the tables?

I never said you couldn’t.

 

[ac_claire]

You are the one missing the point! Her mind was totally close to considering anything other than what she already believed.

I prayed, but she would not even consider reading the Bible had not God placed it on her heart. I read, but she would never have believed unless God opened her mind to understanding.

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, …
John 14: 6 …No one comes to the Father except through me.

Nobody is arguing whether or not the grace or God is necessary for any and all understanding we may have of Him. That is something we all agree on.

Now when God opened her mind to understanding, as you say, what exactly did she then understand? The Trinity?

 

[Ginger2]

Man, you really tangle everything. The point we were discussing was whether the Bible was plain. And you said that the doctrine of the Trinity was plain from the Bible.

The Trinity was first brought up here:

the Trinity did not evolve, it was discerned. …

I did not bring it up. I only responded to those who used it as an example trying to prove Scriptures are not clear and cannot be understood without the help of the RC.

This is your post that I responded to:

Also, in the quoted text he is already exposing the Trinity but notice, you have Father and Son.** Do you think an average believer would conclude that they are not two separate Gods in the same way that a father is separate from his son.**

How can an average mind come up with Three Persons in One God when any person knows that three does not equal one. Even to the most learned Theologian the Trinity is still a mystery and you think it is so plain in the Bible the ordinary Christian can deduce this from the text?

Your 1st question was, “Do you think an average believer would conclude that they are not two separate Gods in the same way that a father is separate from his son?”

I responded with the example of the woman who didn’t believe Jesus was God incarnate. She thought Jesus was just “a good man.”

[/QUOTE]

 

[Bill_Pick]

John 20:21 - before He grants them the authority to forgive sins, Jesus says to the apostles, “as the Father sent me, so I send you.” As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, so Christ sends the apostles and their successors forgive sins.

John 20:22 - the Lord “breathes” on the apostles, and then gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. The only other moment in Scripture where God breathes on man is in Gen. 2:7, when the Lord “breathes” divine life into man. When this happens, a significant transformation takes place.

 

[guanophore]

I did not bring it up. I only responded to those who used it as an example trying to prove Scriptures are not clear and cannot be understood without the help of the RC.

Ginger, be honest. It even says in scripture that scripture can be twisted an manipulated.

Of course they can be understood outside of Apostolic teaching! People read all kinds of doctrines into them, and interpret them privately. I have even read some exegisis here n CAF that baptism has nothing to do with water!

This is your post that I responded to:

Your 1st question was, “Do you think an average believer would conclude that they are not two separate Gods in the same way that a father is separate from his son?”

I responded with the example of the woman who didn’t believe Jesus was God incarnate. She thought Jesus was just “a good man.”

I think there is plenty of evidence that people can read the same bible and arrive at opposite conclusions.

 

[believers]

I’m coming in late but the answer to this question is YES, a Catholic priest can forgive sins. In other words… if someone trespasses against him… the Word of God says he MUST forgive these trespasses otherwise his sins will not be forgiven.

Now, can a Catholic priest forgive sins that I have committed? Not according to the Word of God. How exactly will a priest know of my sins if I confess my sins unto the Lord as it clearly states in Psalms 32:5, Ezra 10:11, 1 John 1:9? When I pray, I make my confession just like Daniel did.

Dan 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

Dan 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Ezr 10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

Ezr 10:11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.