Sins forgiven by priest only

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santaro75

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Hello all.

I was wondering if anyone could point me to some reading that would explain why we must go to confession to have our sins forgiven.

I do believe that priests can forgive our sins, but what i don’t understand is why that is the only way we can have our sins forgiven.

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Who said it was the only way? The reason Catholics go to a priest is because Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive our sins, and they in turn passed it through the bishops and priests. Why would Jesus do this if He didn’t want us to take advantage of it. James tells us to confess our sins in his epistle.

What Catholics teach is that if we confess our sins, and do our penance, then when the priest absolves us of our sins, they are truly forgiven!!!

Christ has the power to forgive anyone’s sins, though. I just prefer to use the way that He established for His Church, rather than trusting to my own way of thinking I can “earn” His forgiveness.
 
I’m sorry. I didn’t answer your question.

Look at Leviticus Chapter 5: verses 4-5. You’ll see the OT type of Confession.

John chapter 20, verses 20-21 describe Jesus giving the Apostles the authority.

James, 5:24 tells us to confess our sins for our forgiveness.

Good Luck!
 
The way it was explained to me one time made perfect sense - when we commit a mortal sin, our soul is actually dead in sins.

Obviously someone who is dead cannot pray for the forgiveness of sins. That’s why we go to the priest, who, in the words of the Absolution, raises our soul to life, and intercedes on our behalf with Jesus (because we have made ourselves incapable of this, by our sins).
The priest is an ‘altar Christus’ which means that Jesus is working through him - when you look at the priest, you are seeing the priest but you are actually looking at Jesus.
 
Just want to clear the topic.

Priests cannot forgive sins… It is GOD who forgive sins through the ministry of the minister (Priest)…
 
On the one of the CA radio programs one of the commentators pointed out something I had never really paid attention to. In Matthew 8 we read about Jesus healing a leper. He said that the leprosy was representative of our sins. When the leper approached Jesus directly, He healed him. This is like us going “directly to God” for forgiveness. BUT Jesus sent the healed man into town to show himself to the priest. This is representative of us going to a priest for absolution. The same thing happens again in Luke 17 with the 10 lepers, Jesus healed them and still sent them to the priest.

Another point about the lepers that is not quite on the subject but I find it very powerful. In biblical times, lepers had to live outside the towns, and Jesus was able to move freely in the towns. However, after Jesus healed the lepers, THEY were able to go into the towns, while HE was not able to because the word had started to spread about Him (cf. Luke 17:45). Jesus suffered the burden that the leper (sinner) had previously had to suffer. Interesting, eh?

I would also like to reiterate that the sins are indeed forgiven by God, not the priest. The priest says “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sin, through the ministry of the Church. May God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
When the priests says “and **I **absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” he is not acting as an ordinary man. He is acting in the person of Christ. The priest himself does not have any authority to grant forgiveness. Although we might not understand “how” this happens it seems clear to me from John 20:19-23 that this is what Jesus wanted.
 
santaro75 said:
I do believe that priests can forgive our sins, but what i don’t understand is why that is the only way we can have our sins forgiven.
Click to expand...
The sacrament of reconciliation is not the only way we can have our sins forgiven. Baptism forgives sins. Receiving the Eucharist forgives venial sins.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
jmcrae said:
The way it was explained to me one time made perfect sense - when we commit a mortal sin, our soul is actually dead in sins.

Obviously someone who is dead cannot pray for the forgiveness of sins. That’s why we go to the priest, who, in the words of the Absolution, raises our soul to life, and intercedes on our behalf with Jesus (because we have made ourselves incapable of this, by our sins).
The priest is an ‘altar Christus’ which means that Jesus is working through him - when you look at the priest, you are seeing the priest but you are actually looking at Jesus.
Click to expand...
Though not the OP’s question, this is a wonderful explanation!

Continue…
 
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