It was Christ who instituted the sacrament of Reconciliation when He commanded His Apostles to go out and whatever sins they forgive are forgiven and whatever sins they retained they are retained. Therefore, the sacrament of Reconciliation came from God, not from men.
John 20:21-23 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained
-- And who are the Apostles today? None of the Apostles Jesus spoke to were clergy. So why would this be required of only clergy today?
All who follow Christ today are His apostles, no? He expects all of us to go out and witness and share His Word. But are all who have accepted Christ, are they all where they should be with Christ? This includes priests, pastors, etc.
Do they have the ability to discern when a person talking to them about a sin is truly sorry? If not, then there are some out there who will say a sin is forgiven when, because the person who confessed wasn't really sorry, isn't really deserving of forgiveness.
But if that person says, "My priest says God has forgiven me. Since he is God's representative it must be true" how can you say he is wrong? You would have to judge the priest yourself to know the answer.
Once more, if that person (priest, pastor, whatever) isn't convinced that person is sincere (after all they are humans and ALL humans make mistakes), a person who is sincere in seeking forgiveness and repentence could be told they are NOT forgiven.
I once had a priest fall asleep on me during Confession. His snoring was a giveaway. He had been in the Confessional for a couple of hours and I likely wasn't the only one. He recovered nicely and (though he didn't hear half of what I confessed) said my sins were forgiven and gave me my mandatory "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys."
I was in 6th grade at the time and had made up the majority of what I said I did (as several of my classmates in Catholic school had to do for weekly confession when we didn't have a clue as to what to say we were sorry for but were forced by the nuns to go to confession.)
If you are TRULY seeking God's forgivness on your knees, scripture says He will and has forgiven you.
The Holy Spirit prompts you if there is more you should do, but if you are Christian you should already know that if you have harmed someone through thought or deed, you should - if possible - approach them and seek forgiveness.
Stating that a human being has to tell you this or your sins aren't forgiven is completely - and I do mean COMPLETELY - ridiculous.
By your very belief, if a person who discovers they need Jesus falls on his knees, asks forgiveness for his sins and asks Jesus to be his Lord and Savior, he isn't saved because he didn't confess his sins to 'an apostle.'
My very best friend and another friend of his helped lead me to the Lord by praying with me in a restaurant book late one night. I told God I was sorry for my sins, asked him into my life to be my Lord and Savior, and promised to follow Him from that point on.
If I was to believe what you say, since neither of them were ordained and/or I didn't detail every sin I had committed and they then told me I was forgiven, I didn't become a child of God.
Sorry, but what you say is wrong.