Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest - why not just confess them to God in your prayers? What powers of forgiveness does a priest have that God doesn't have?
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ANSWERS: 6
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They give you wine sometimes.
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I believe that it is basically "stupid" for one to confess their sins to another human being (no disrespect to Catholics), when Gawd has a PERFECT set of ears. +5
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Probably because That was the way they were raised, and only God can forgive sins.
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Catholics do confess sins in their prayers, but the belief is that it is just too easy to say "sorry" in an insincere and light hearted way in your prayers. The theory is that having to do so to a person who is beside you makes you adopt a more sincere attitude. The RC Church believes in the Doctrine of apostolic succession and it believes that Jesus authorised his disciples to forgive sins and to pass on that authority to their successors. This is mainly based on two passages of the Bible. “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: 22-23 RSV “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19 RSV Basically, the RC Church claims the power to forgive sin on Gods behalf and with his authority.They would most likely say that it is God acting through the Priest who is forgiving sins rather than the Priest himself.
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because they like to give priests juicy stories to whack off to so they don't have to blow lil boys' backs out
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we know that Catholics can not sin. so we know already that it is a scam. the priest can accept money as a way of forgiving sins. the priest can say to recite so many prayers. the priest can be the father image in voice and caring. the priest can tell the person to light some candles...which means give money to the church for the candles, etc.
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