Why do we have to confess all our sins

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oliver109 said:
You are talking sense, none of us asks to die in a state of mortal sin but it obviously happens to many people. Even Thomas Aquinas could not give a satisfactory answer as to why some souls are saved “at the right time” while others “die at the wrong time” and perish. He said that we are not to question God and his judgements which is fine but it is still a very chilling answer and does not leave anyone in comfort.
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Someone feeling perfect contrition for their sins is forgiven whether there’s a priest present or not. God is not out playing “gotcha.”
 
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oliver109 said:
How do you know ordinary souls who may have gone to Hell have not done everything they could to avoid sinning? There are saints who made a promise one day to not sin again and managed to keep that promise for the next 50 years while there are other saints who sinned until the very day they died, only making that promise not to sin again before they were literally cut down, it is a reality that death is essentially random in nature, some die in grace while others do not.
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We’re not talking about just any sinning though. Venial sins do not cause you to be damned. Mortal sins do, and you can’t accidentally sin mortally. Salvation is not random chance, it is a choice. God does not play dice with the universe, and certainly not our souls. The Saints are not a class or different breed of people. We can be just like them, but no one, including themselves, has ever said it would be easy. What makes you so special that you can’t (not are or will, can’t) be one? How do you know that those in mortal sin have not been granted every opportunity to repent before they die? What you’re calling reality is, under Catholic understanding, nonsensical.
 
JMMJ said:
Personally, I don’t go to confession because I don’t believe it is necessary
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It doesn’t matter what one personally believes, but rather, what is the economy of salvation. The fact that Jesus gave authority to His apostles to forgive or retain sin is a clue that one has to confess one’s sins. When one commits a mortal sin, it means we have separated ourselves from God and are living in Satan’s territory. Only the Church has the authority to absolve sins through the priest. Obviously Satan is going to convince people otherwise. Jesus could have personally appeared to everyone in the whole world to spread the gospel Himself; instead he uses human beings to do it. Likewise, the confessing and absolution of one’s sins is personally through those to whom it was given authority to forgive or retain sins. It takes humility to confess one’s sins to another human being; but in doing so they are confessing to Jesus Christ in the person of the priest. God’s ways aren’t man’s ways…
 
I understand that is what the church teaches. My statement was that I don’t believe in it.
 
The real issue is authority; Jesus did not hand out Bibles; instead He founded a Church invested with authority to teach in His name throughout the ages, to bind and to loose things in heaven and on earth. If one trusts the Bible, then one has to trust the teachings of the Church, being that God gave us the Bible through the authority of the Church who defined the Canon of Scripture.
If one trusts the Bible and dismisses the authority of the Church, then they are dismissing Christ.
I think people are afraid to confess their sins and find ways to rationalize reasons not to?
 
Well I would never speak for others.

I will say that for me, it is a matter of conscience and morality. This is for me, as an individual person. As I said, I just don’t believe it is necessary. I have a heart-to-heart with God on a daily basis, and I trust I am forgiven for any mistakes I make.

I realize this isn’t aligned with Church teaching. I don’t expect others to believe in what I believe. I do me, and I am fine with them doing themselves.
 
The problem is that Catholics were given all the sacraments for a reason, thus to those to whom much was given, much will be required. there are plenty of Scriptural passages that address each of your concerns. But here is the testimony of a fallen away Catholic who had a reversion after a mystical experience he had while he was kidnapped in the jungles Colombia. interesting to watch if you get a chance:

 
oliver109 said:
none of us asks to die in a state of mortal sin
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Wrong. Mortal sin is, has been, and always will be a choice. If you die in a state of mortal sin, that is entirely your fault.
oliver109 said:
Even Thomas Aquinas could not give a satisfactory answer as to why some souls are saved “at the right time” while others “die at the wrong time” and perish.
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No answer is needed! We are not made to sin, nor is it natural. With God’s grace, we are meant to overcome the desires of the flesh. Those who die in sin did not do this. It’s never a matter of luck, but of how we live our lives.
oliver109 said:
it is still a very chilling answer and does not leave anyone in comfort.
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Comfort is not the way we should do things. It should be very uncomfortable to think about dying and going to hell.
 
If sinning is not natural then why do so many of us sin? Mortal sin is something I struggle with, I go to confession, promise not to sin again and commit a mortal sin maybe 2 weeks later. That causes me great distress and sometimes I just wish that a truck hits me after going to confession so I die in a state of grace. You may be different but for me living in a state of grace is difficult, not impossible but difficult, I hate the idea of having to live another 60 years on earth and having to spend all of them trying to avoid mortal sin, it is hard.
 
oliver109 said:
The main issue I have is that confession has to have details of every sin, why cant we be forgiven by just confessing the worse of those mortal sins?
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It will be good practice…

And all things that are done, God will bring into judgment for every error, whether it be good or evil. - Eccle 12:14

But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. - Mt. 12:36
 
I think a lot of people have had time away from the church or confession - you dont have to do it all at once. Just do your best. I was away from the church for longer than 5yrs once and my first confession back I told the priest my worries, ie I’m never going to remember all my sins and he said, God will guide you just say what you remember when you remember it and trust God. I tell you he was right. Confession is always there, you can go back as often as you like.
 
Those already baptised who are received into the Catholic Church might have some 20-70 years of sins to confess. Do your best in remembering all sins and if you forget some then go back.

I find it more difficult to prepare my confession than actually confessing. When I go to Confession I know I am a sinner in need of mercy and I have accepted that I sin.
 
Grave matter, consent, knowledge. Some people have theorised that for the “consent” part not to count, our will doesn’t necessarily have to be impaired from the outside (e.g. someone holding a gun to our head), it could be impaired from the inside (e.g. addictions, mental illness). Not sure if this applies to you but could be a reason why you have trouble avoiding sins.

If you do make it a rule to go to confession once a week, then if you ever die unexpectedly then God would take into account that you were planning to go to confession and just didn’t get there. If you can deepen your relationship with God to the point where you can feel perfect contrition (sorrow for your sins for the sake of offending God and not just because you recognise that the sins are bad) then that can also allow you to be forgiven in the case of unexpected death
 
You make a lot of sense, unfortunately a lot of Catholics have a more cut throat view of salvation whereby someone who dies suddenly on their way to confession goes to Hell because they had committed a mortal sin and so are worthy of Hell and do not deserve Gods mercy because nothing is owed to them by him. It is my lifes ambition to help the church become more merciful because many times there is about as much mercy in the church as in an American courtroom!
 
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It’s not so much whether the church is merciful as what the church teaches about whether God is merciful. But we are aiming to be as accurate / truthful about God as we can, not to make him out to be more or less merciful than he really is
 
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Of course you can go directly to God and ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness. The church does not do the forgiving.
 
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