Priests granting forgiveness

[Kansasdad]

John 20: 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Matthew 9: 6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7And he arose, and departed to his house. 8But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

Luke 5:23Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

James 5: 14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

2 Cor. 5: 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Matthew 18: 18Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

2 Cor. 2: 10To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

God Bless,

K.D.

[Smalcald]

Hi Kansas,

I have a confession question (not a debate or anything but an honest question about the Catholic view).

Do you ever worry that you would go for confession and the priest would be so disturbed by your past (lets say if you had never been to confession before and thus had a bagful of sins you could name), that he would not proclaim forgiveness? Does that ever happen?

[Kansasdad]

Hi Kansas,

I have a confession question (not a debate or anything but an honest question about the Catholic view).

Do you ever worry that you would go for confession and the priest would be so disturbed by your past (lets say if you had never been to confession before and thus had a bagful of sins you could name), that he would not proclaim forgiveness? Does that ever happen?

I have never asked a priest so I don't know what would preclude a priest to hold the sins bound. I do know that just having a "bagful of sins" would NOT be a reason. There is no sin that can not be forgiven. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit you wouldn't be there. I also know that it is not about naming ALL your sins. If I get a chance I will ask.

God Bless,

K.D.

[Massorite]

I'm curious about all of the differences in the denominations and one thing iI'm most curious about is where did the "practice" for lack of a better word, come from as far as priests having the authority to absolve people of their sins? I'm sure this is in here somewhere, but couldn't find it in the other threads. Sorry if this is redundant.

1Tim 2:3-5 This is good and acceptable, in the sight of our saviour God, 4. Who desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth. 5. for there is One God and one Mediator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. 6. who gave Hiself a ransom on behalf of all, testimony to be borne in it's own times. read more...........

All priests are born sinners like everyone, so where in the bible is the authority for sinners to absolve another man's sin. Some may be born again and forgiven like any other repentant sinner, like myself, but no one can usurp the authority of God, to forgive sin, Not even the pope.

Eric, thanks for responding but I'm afraid that that doesn't really answer my question. I know that God forgives us our sins, but I'm curious as to where in the Bible it gives permission for any man or woman for that matter to grant forgiveness, especially in relation to Confession in the Catholic church. I'm not here to stir up trouble, I'm simply curious about how that all came about. There maybe I phrased it better this time. LOL. A few hours of sleep will do that for you.

There is no scripture anywhere in the bible that gives any man or woman authority to forgive sins. Only Christ/God can do that. It is a man made function.

[Kansasdad]

Hi Kansas,

I have a confession question (not a debate or anything but an honest question about the Catholic view).

Do you ever worry that you would go for confession and the priest would be so disturbed by your past (lets say if you had never been to confession before and thus had a bagful of sins you could name), that he would not proclaim forgiveness? Does that ever happen?

I posted that question on a Catholic sight and I already received a good example. Lets say you confess to having an affair. And the Priest will inevitably instruct you that you must stop having the affair, yet you refuse. You can't stop because you "love" her yada yada yada. In this case even though you ask for forgiveness you are not truly repentant.

Lets contrast that. Let say you have an addiction to drugs. You agree to get help to stop, you desire to stop but you tell the Priest of your fear that you will fail. That you are afraid you might give in even though you so desire to stop. And later you do in fact fail. The Priest would have (in my opinion) absolved the sin in the first confession, and one would receive much Grace from God so that you can break the addicition.

Also, at no time are we ever going to fool God.

God Bless,

K.D.

[Kansasdad]

There is no scripture anywhere in the bible that gives any man or woman authority to forgive sins. Only Christ/God can do that. It is a man made function.

John 20: 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Jesus speaking to the Apostles. I just don't know how it could be stated any more clearly.

[Smalcald]

Hi Kansas,

I have a confession question (not a debate or anything but an honest question about the Catholic view).

Do you ever worry that you would go for confession and the priest would be so disturbed by your past (lets say if you had never been to confession before and thus had a bagful of sins you could name), that he would not proclaim forgiveness? Does that ever happen?

I posted that question on a Catholic sight and I already received a good example. Lets say you confess to having an affair. And the Priest will inevitably instruct you that you must stop having the affair, yet you refuse. You can't stop because you "love" her yada yada yada. In this case even though you ask for forgiveness you are not truly repentant.

Lets contrast that. Let say you have an addiction to drugs. You agree to get help to stop, you desire to stop but you tell the Priest of your fear that you will fail. That you are afraid you might give in even though you so desire to stop. And later you do in fact fail. The Priest would have (in my opinion) absolved the sin in the first confession, and one would receive much Grace from God so that you can break the addicition.

Also, at no time are we ever going to fool God.

God Bless,

K.D.

Okay thanks, and that makes total sense and is scriptural. If we ask God for forgiveness for a sin we are refusing to give up we are in a delusion to think that it is forgiven, such as an ongoing affair.

Thanks.

[kat8585]

Okay thanks, and that makes total sense and is scriptural. If we ask God for forgiveness for a sin we are refusing to give up we are in a delusion to think that it is forgiven, such as an ongoing affair.

Thanks.

Thank you. That is the point I was trying to make in another thread--the divorce and remarriage one.

[exrockstar]

There is no scripture anywhere in the bible that gives any man or woman authority to forgive sins. Only Christ/God can do that. It is a man made function.

John 20: 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Jesus speaking to the Apostles. I just don't know how it could be stated any more clearly.

Interestly enough Massorite, the Apostles were given many gifts and "abilities" after Jesus' death. Kansas Dad

just pointed one out. John 20:21 is the example of one. However, things have to be considered at this point.

1. The apostles received the Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost

2. There wasn't a gospel yet so it was up it them to spread the gospel. How could the Jews ask for forgiveness if they

did not who Christ was or could do. The apostles were needed for this transition.

3. The aspostles had the gift of discernment to know who truly repents and who does not but this action

was temporary. The aspostles had NO POWER to forgive for sins but were using the Holy Spirit to do such a task that is

why Christ said "Receive ye Holy Ghost..." before the forgiveness of sins ability:

Matthew 9:6 (King James Version)

King James Version (KJV)

6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

It is the Holy Spirit's invlovement. Again, this is a unique case until the gospel was spread.

Unfortunately there are religions out there that claim to have men that can forgive sins.

That is plain dumb. Millions of followers actually believe this nonsense.

Christ hand picked the apostles whereas these "religious men" are picked by schools or comittees (all sinners).

1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, he (Christ) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[Kansasdad]

There is no scripture anywhere in the bible that gives any man or woman authority to forgive sins. Only Christ/God can do that. It is a man made function.

John 20: 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Jesus speaking to the Apostles. I just don't know how it could be stated any more clearly.

Interestly enough Massorite, the Apostles were given many gifts and "abilities" after Jesus' death. Kansas Dad

just pointed one out. John 20:21 is the example of one. However, things have to be considered at this point.

1. The apostles received the Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost

2. There wasn't a gospel yet so it was up it them to spread the gospel. How could the Jews ask for forgiveness if they

did not who Christ was or could do. The apostles were needed for this transition.

3. The aspostles had the gift of discernment to know who truly repents and who does not but this action

was temporary. The aspostles had NO POWER to forgive for sins but were using the Holy Spirit to do such a task that is

why Christ said "Receive ye Holy Ghost..." before the forgiveness of sins ability:

Matthew 9:6 (King James Version)

King James Version (KJV)

6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

It is the Holy Spirit's invlovement. Again, this is a unique case until the gospel was spread.

Unfortunately there are religions out there that claim to have men that can forgive sins.

That is plain dumb. Millions of followers actually believe this nonsense.

Christ hand picked the apostles whereas these "religious men" are picked by schools or comittees (all sinners).

1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, he (Christ) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Ok I figured this would come up. My post was in response to the claim that Jesus never gave this authority to any man or woman. That statement is blatantly false. Scripture is very clear on the subject. Now your claim is then, Ok, but it was only for the Apostles and not for anyone else. This is a completely different claim, and one the verse I quoted does not address completely.

Some say that any power given to the apostles died with them. Not so. The powers necessary to maintain the Church as a living, spiritual society had to be passed down from generation to generation. If they ceased, the Church would cease, except as a quaint abstraction. Christ ordered the apostles to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." It would take much time. And he promised them assistance: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28:19