Scriptural Proof for Reconciliation?

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Hi there,

My dad and I just got into a religious debate. He does not go to Confession, and he asked me to explain to him why he should go to a priest when he could just ask God for forgiveness. I told him that priests have the same authority Jesus gave to the apostles (instituted at the Last Supper) to act in His name. I then said that when we do wrong, we have to approach the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness. Priests act in that authority from Jesus to forgive sins…the priest is the means that God’s forgivness comes to us. Almost like a placeholder for Christ b/c He can’t be here on Earth.

Am I correct? Also, can someone please give me something from Scripture or the CCC to back myself up? I’d appreciate anything. 🙂

Thanks! God bless you!

-Jeanne
 
usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john20.htm, v21-23

Now, the Bible is full of story of repentant sinners. One thing all of these stories have in common is that the sinner took some sort of physical action to go to Jesus and tell Jesus that he/she was sorry. Thing about Mary Magdalene bathing Jesus feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. Thing about how Zacheus climbs the tree to see Jesus. How Peter runs through the water to see Jesus. Because we have physically used our bodies to sin, we need to take physical action towards repentance.

We know of one person in the Bible who seemed sorry for what he did but he did not go to Jesus and tell Him he was sorry: Judas. By biblical accounts, Judas appears to feel sorrow because he tried to return the blood money to the Pharisees. But Judas never goes to Jesus and tell Him that he is sorry.
 
jeanne71350 said:
Hi there,

My dad and I just got into a religious debate. He does not go to Confession, and he asked me to explain to him why he should go to a priest when he could just ask God for forgiveness.
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“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

God has done this. Jeane, you should tell your father that God’s ways are far above his ways (Isaiah 55:9). And so he should not lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), but do things God’s way, not his way. Only try to be a little more tactful than I just was. 😛 And an article like this one might help him see the reasons God chose to give us the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the benefits of it. For more Scripture references and quotes from the early Church, see this page at Scripture Catholic.
I told him that priests have the same authority Jesus gave to the apostles (instituted at the Last Supper) to act in His name. I then said that when we do wrong, we have to approach the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness. Priests act in that authority from Jesus to forgive sins…the priest is the means that God’s forgivness comes to us. Almost like a placeholder for Christ b/c He can’t be here on Earth.
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Am I correct?
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Yes, you are correct:

“But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:15-16)

God bless.
 
jeanne71350 said:
Hi there,

My dad and I just got into a religious debate. He does not go to Confession, and he asked me to explain to him why he should go to a priest when he could just ask God for forgiveness. I told him that priests have the same authority Jesus gave to the apostles (instituted at the Last Supper) to act in His name. I then said that when we do wrong, we have to approach the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness. Priests act in that authority from Jesus to forgive sins…the priest is the means that God’s forgivness comes to us. Almost like a placeholder for Christ b/c He can’t be here on Earth.

Am I correct? Also, can someone please give me something from Scripture or the CCC to back myself up? I’d appreciate anything. 🙂

Thanks! God bless you!

-Jeanne
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What I was told recently was that, sure, we can go to Jesus directly, in fact, we should say a prayer immediately when we become aware of committing sin. But going to confession is a supreme act of HUMILITY. We have to tell someone else what we did. And that someone else is, for all intents and purposes, Jesus in the person of the priest. Without that humiliation, we can rationalize ourselves right into a permanent state of mortal sin.

The other good thing about confession concerns venial sins. The more often the Jews in the wilderness had to sacrifice their animals (which was daily), the more often they had to confront their basic tendency toward idolatry. The same for venial sins. The more often we confess them, the stronger we become to avoid them.

BTW, I think you gave your dad a lot to think about. As for biblical references, try James 5:14-16. The “one another” in verse 16 is referring back to the “priests of the church” mentioned in verse 14.

Good luck! pray Pray PRAY
 
Get a catechism! $8.95. You can’t go wrong.

Notice that each time Jesus forgave sins in scripture, He told the sinner “Your sins are forgiven”? The Lord knows that we need to hear those words of absolution. He set the pattern for all time. Pity those who assume their sins have been forgiven, when, if contrition is lacking in their hearts, those sins are bound to them!
 
Jesus gave the Apostles (and by extension, all ordained priests) the power to forgive sins:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “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 20:21-23)

How are priests to do this if you do not tell them your sins? Are priests mind-readers?

“Many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.” (Acts 19:18)

Jews and Gentiles who came to believe in the Gospel confessed their sinful practices to the Apostles!
 
po18guy said:
Get a catechism! $8.95. You can’t go wrong.

Notice that each time Jesus forgave sins in scripture, He told the sinner “Your sins are forgiven”? The Lord knows that we need to hear those words of absolution. He set the pattern for all time. Pity those who assume their sins have been forgiven, when, if contrition is lacking in their hearts, those sins are bound to them!
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I have one! lol

-Jeanne
 
jeanne71350 said:
Hi there,

My dad and I just got into a religious debate. He does not go to Confession, and he asked me to explain to him why he should go to a priest when he could just ask God for forgiveness. I told him that priests have the same authority Jesus gave to the apostles (instituted at the Last Supper) to act in His name. I then said that when we do wrong, we have to approach the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness. Priests act in that authority from Jesus to forgive sins…the priest is the means that God’s forgivness comes to us. Almost like a placeholder for Christ b/c He can’t be here on Earth.

Am I correct? Also, can someone please give me something from Scripture or the CCC to back myself up? I’d appreciate anything. 🙂

Thanks! God bless you!

-Jeanne
Click to expand...
See Matthew’s Gospel chapter 18
 
jeanne71350 said:
I have one! lol

-Jeanne
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For an even handier version, here’s a link to an online catechism, posted by St. Charles Borromeo parish in Picayune, Mississippi. scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.htm

Also, Patrick Madrid, in his booklet A Pocket Guide to Catholic Apologetics, provides the following verses as a scriptural basis for confession:

**Matthew 9:1-8
Matthew 10:40
Matthew 18:18-19
Mark 2:5-12
John 20:22-23
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
Luke 10:16
James 5:16
1 John 1:6-9
**

Note that public confession was practiced in pre-Christian times, witness Nehemiah 9:2-3. Oh, and tell dad that he will be in good company when he goes to the Sacrament of Reconciliation: Benedict XVI also receives the Sacrament frequently. Pope John Paul II was said to have gone 2-3 times per week!
 
The problem is that critics want a prooftext, a single verse that says “confess your sins to a priest.” That’s conveniently impossible. It’s also out of kilter with how we approach the Bible; for instance, if we refused to read the last supper in light of the teaching of John 6:47-58, would it be so clear that the Lord was not speaking figuratively?

The requirement emerges from seeing the connection between several verses of scripture. We are told to confess our sins, not only to God, but to each other (James 5:16). Now, James doesn’t specify to whom we should confess, but don’t read him in isolation. We are also told that the clergy may forgive or retain sins (e.g. Jn 20:23). And as japhy points out, how are priests supposed to exercise this authority if you do not confess to them?
 
30+ year Protestant’s point of view: Reconciliation/confession/whatever is the best part of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Yes, I actually put this above the eucharist as a selling point. The feeling one has after coming out of reconciliation – wow, I’m saying, this is the best part of Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
 
Scriptural proof positive text for absolution is 2 Corinthians 2:10. Paul forgives “in the person of Christ”.

It is only translated that way in the Douay Rheims Bible, The Confraternity Bible, the Knox Bible, and the King James Version Bible.
 
jeanne71350 said:
Hi there,

My dad and I just got into a religious debate. He does not go to Confession, and he asked me to explain to him why he should go to a priest when he could just ask God for forgiveness. I told him that priests have the same authority Jesus gave to the apostles (instituted at the Last Supper) to act in His name. I then said that when we do wrong, we have to approach the person we hurt and ask for forgiveness. Priests act in that authority from Jesus to forgive sins…the priest is the means that God’s forgivness comes to us. Almost like a placeholder for Christ b/c He can’t be here on Earth.

Am I correct? Also, can someone please give me something from Scripture or the CCC to back myself up? I’d appreciate anything. 🙂

Thanks! God bless you!

-Jeanne
Click to expand...
Hi Jeanne,
I have some articles on my blog that might give you some help.
God bless you both.
 
Jerry-Jet said:
Scriptural proof positive text for absolution is 2 Corinthians 2:10. Paul forgives “in the person of Christ”.

It is only translated that way in the Douay Rheims Bible, The Confraternity Bible, the Knox Bible, and the King James Version Bible.
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Perhaps this will be corrected in the RSV3CE. This is clearly a more ancient translation of what Paul said, and therefore, more true to the original. Here is a site for the Vulgate with parallel translations from the Douay-Rheims and the KJV:

latinvulgate.com/

So, it seems that nearly all modern translations suffer from ecumenical disease - at the expense of truth.

Hey, great thread starter!
 
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