Who Do I Confess My Sins To?

[Mungo]

So far no-one has attempted to address the scripture based arguments I made in post #9

 

[Paul Christensen]

And the scriptural support for that opinion is?

"if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law" (Romans 2:19-23).

 

[Enoch111]

I don't confess my sins to anyone but God, because He is the one who forgives and forgets and buries my sins in the deepest sea of His forgetfulness...

Only God and Christ can forgive sins, and confession of sins should be to Him alone.

At the same time the King James translators were correct in using the word "faults" in James 5:16: Confess 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.

The modern translations and the Catholic bible have changed that to "sins". THAT WAS A DELIBERATE CORRUPTION of the Received Text, and it suits the Catholic Church mighty fine. Which also tells us that doctrine is indeed affected by the corruption of Bible texts.

CORRUPTED CRITICAL TEXT
ἐξομολογεῖσθε οὖν ἀλλήλοις τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ προσεύχεσθε / εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε. πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.
[ ἁμαρτίας (hamartias) = sins]

RECEIVED TEXT (as seen in four texts)
RP Byzantine Majority Text 2005
Ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε. Πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.
[παραπτώματα (paraptomata) = faults* (Strong's G3900)]
Greek Orthodox Church 1904
ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε· πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.
Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894
ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε. πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.
Stephanus Textus Receptus 1550
ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων ὅπως ἰαθῆτε πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη

* a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness (Strong's)
* a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, misdeed (R.V. trespass, 'differing from ἁμάρτημα...) (Thayer's)

 

[Joseph77]

There are things in my past that I am not proud of, but I know that God has forgotten about them. If they came back to mind, I treat the memories as the devil bringing them up to shame me and to corrupt my faith in the forgiveness of God.

Instead, we are told in God's Word, to look up, to look with eyes wide with awe, to come to the very Throne of the Creator for help, at once.

 

[Joseph77]

1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sin, then God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness".

More is written.
Not everyone who confesses their sin is forgiven.
Multitudes on Judgement Day find out.

 

[Paul Christensen]

More is written.
Not everyone who confesses their sin is forgiven.
Multitudes on Judgement Day find out.

True. Confessing sinfulness and then not forsaking it is hypocrisy.

I know that we have the continual struggle between the flesh and the Spirit and sometimes we win and other times we lose. It goes with the territory. I think the difference between a genuine believer and a hypocrite is the sense of struggle. A genuine believer hates the sin in himself and struggles against and along with his confession he pleads with God for strength from the Holy Spirit so that with God's grace he can withstand the temptation when it comes. Temptation has a way of sneaking up on us and before we know it, it is right there, and if we are not prepared, bingo! We commit our besetting sin, and then feel like the proverbial warmed up and flee to Christ for cleansing and assurance. When that happens to me, I tell the Lord that it is better for me to run to Christ than to run away from Him.

But the hypocrite doesn't have the same struggle. He tends to find excuses for his portfolio of unforsaken sins. He hides them, thinking that God doesn't see. He compensates in front of others by appearing over zealous in his religious activities - he prays spiritual prayers when there are others to hear him, he does good deed for the praise of others. He is quick to criticise and judge others for their lapses in holiness. He puts on a great show of holiness that would make us mere mortals ashamed. All this is to cover up his unforsaken habit patterns. When challenged, he will argue and try to discredit the faithful person who is trying to make him see that he needs to run to Christ to be forgiven and cleansed.

When I see acrimonious and acidic responses to posts where faithful, godly members are stating Biblical truth, my thought is, "What unforsaken sinful habit pattern are these contentious ones hiding?"

But the genuine believer is conscious of his own struggle with his or her flesh, and although not backward in coming forward in having a spirited debate with other members over doctrinal issues, is humble, loving, kind, gentle, and civil about how he or she goes about it. He shows the grace of God, even though he can tell another member that he is talking nonsense!

 

[Joseph77]

A genuine believer hates the sin in himself

Like LOT, in the sinful city(-ies),

a genuine born again with circumcised heart can do something about his own sin - as directed by God,

AND is sorely VEXED STILL< by THE SINFULNESS ALL AROUND US >

in forums, cities, countries, churches, governments, hospitals, schools, stock markets, cainoes, ttoo places, divorce courts, hollywood, tv, movies, dancing, immodesty, cussing, meanness, greed, landlords, gambling, immorality , etc etc etc

 

[Joseph77]

So far no-one has attempted to address the scripture based arguments I made in post #9

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.Prejudice is a great timesaver.
It enables you to form opinions without bothering to get facts.
=================================================================

God doesn't say He accepts opinions of mankind/ society. He exposed them.

He Judges without prejudice, He Judges Perfectly.

 

[Paul Christensen]

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, take up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Mt 9:4-8)

The people did not perceive that Jesus is the Son of God. They saw Him as a mere man, and this is why they were amazed that a mere man had that level of authority. It does not support mortal and sinful men forgiving the sins of others.

And Jesus said to the apostles:
"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (Jn 20:22-23)

These were godly, Spirit-filled Apostles of Christ who were sharing the gospel in the name of Jesus. Not all priests are godly and Spirit-filled, and forgiving sinners in the name of a church is not doing it in the name of Christ.

Just previously he had said to them:
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

Jesus was sent with the power and authority to forgive and retain sins (see Mt 9:4-8 above).

Jesus came to do the will of the Father, and to show that the Father forgives those who come to His throne of grace.

Jesus was sent with the power and authority to pass on this power and authority to forgive and retain sins.

He passed on this power and authority to forgive and retain sins to specific individuals - the Apostles (see Jn 20:22-23 above)

He also sent them in the same manner God the Father sent Him (see Jn 20:21 above), which means he passed on his power and authority to pass on his power and authority . .

So the Apostles not only received the power and authority to forgive and retain sins, they also received the power and authority to pass this on to others.

And they did . . and those they passed it on to passed it on to others, and those others passed it on to others, and those others passed it on to others. . and so forth through the centuries and millennia and still those others have the authority and power to forgive and retain sins and to pass that authority onto others.

They are called Bishops and priests.

There were no priests in the early Christian church. They are an invention of the formalised, established church. And early church bishops were those appointed to oversee a number of churches in a region. It wasn't a position of authority, be more of a shepherding role to ensure that churches were run decently and in order.

The trouble today is that because of the widespread corruption, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and pedaphilia among celibate priests, one would not know when one goes to confession whether the priest is actually clean before God himself, because if a priest has hidden sin in himself, he has no authority to forgive the sins of others.

 

[Mungo]

"if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law" (Romans 2:19-23).

That says nothing about a sinful man not being able to forgive the sins of others.
I conclude you have no scripture to back up you opinion

 

[Mungo]

The people did not perceive that Jesus is the Son of God. They saw Him as a mere man, and this is why they were amazed that a mere man had that level of authority. It does not support mortal and sinful men forgiving the sins of others.


These were godly, Spirit-filled Apostles of Christ who were sharing the gospel in the name of Jesus. Not all priests are godly and Spirit-filled, and forgiving sinners in the name of a church is not doing it in the name of Christ.


Jesus came to do the will of the Father, and to show that the Father forgives those who come to His throne of grace.


There were no priests in the early Christian church. They are an invention of the formalised, established church. And early church bishops were those appointed to oversee a number of churches in a region. It wasn't a position of authority, be more of a shepherding role to ensure that churches were run decently and in order.

The trouble today is that because of the widespread corruption, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, and pedaphilia among celibate priests, one would not know when one goes to confession whether the priest is actually clean before God himself, because if a priest has hidden sin in himself, he has no authority to forgive the sins of others.

You can either have a sensible discussion with me or insult me but not both.
You seem to have chosen the latter.
Goodbye

 

[Paul Christensen]

That says nothing about a sinful man not being able to forgive the sins of others.
I conclude you have no scripture to back up you opinion

So, if you discovered that your priest was a pedaphile and raped young boys because he couldn't keep it in his pants, would you want to confess your sins to him? Come on... I don't think you would!

 

[Paul Christensen]

You can either have a sensible discussion with me or insult me but not both.
You seem to have chosen the latter.
Goodbye

Oh calm down and make yourself a nice hot sweet cup of tea, and grow yourself a sense of humour. It must be the cold, rainy weather you poor schmoes have away up there in the cold regions of the world. You need a holiday in New Zealand to get a bit more sun to raise your spirits! :-)

 

[Joseph77]

Oh calm down and make yourself a nice hot sweet cup of tea, and grow yourself a sense of humour. It must be the cold, rainy weather you poor schmoes have away up there in the cold regions of the world. You need a holiday in New Zealand to get a bit more sun to raise your spirits! :)

Those who share in and bring a false gospel seem to be hyper this week/ emotional, upset, irrational...

 

[Joseph77]

That says nothing about a sinful man not being able to forgive the sins of others.
I conclude you have no scripture to back up you opinion

Pope Francis buys souls of Kenneth Copeland & evangelicals to prepare for USA presidential election. God forbid Jeb Bush wins! Bush is the curse of America, by Paris Arrow, PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils. (July 8, 2014)

Deuteronomy 13:5
Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, in order to turn you from the way the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 18:20
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death."

 

[prism]

Q. Who Do I Confess My Sins To?
A. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
(1Ti 2:5)

 

[prism]

So far no-one has attempted to address the scripture based arguments I made in post #9

For one...2 Corinthians 2:7 (KJV) So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
The Church as a whole is told to forgive an offender, not just an apostle or their 'successor'.

 

[Joseph77]

For one...2 Corinthians 2:7 (KJV) So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
The Church as a whole is told to forgive an offender, not just an apostle or their 'successor'.

The assembly of Ekklesia is told that , not some 'Church' is told that.

 

[prism]

The assembly of Ekklesia is told that , not some 'Church' is told that.

The Church at Corinth was told that, but that's beside the point.

 

[Joseph77]

The Church at Corinth was told that, but that's beside the point.

The assembly of Ekklesia was told that, and that is the point. It is nothing like todays "Church" (officially) anywhere.