Confession

My son Ian, at age 11 had this to say about confession: "We are all like pillars holding up God's kingdom. Our sins weaken and sometimes break us as a pillar, and the weaker we get the less we can hold up. When we are damaged all the other pillars have to work harder to hold up God's kingdom. When we go to confession that's when our pillar gets a new coat of cement and we are strong once again holding our own weight as we should."

What he said is so true, our collective sins weakens mankind and harms us all.  So what do we do to remove that black mark of sin?  Jesus died for our sins, there has to be a way to come clean! 

So, what does the Bible have to say about confession? Confession is another one of those trouble spots for a lot of Catholics. They feel that they shouldn't have to go to a priest for confession, God is all knowing, he already knows our sins, why should we have to tell them to a priest?

Well, God knew Adam and Eve's sin yet he still asked them what they did. He wanted them to confess. Of course we know the rest of the story, everyone passed the buck, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake.

Sin as a whole hurts the entire community, the whole body of Christ, which contains all of us. Even our most private sins that we may say only effects us have a ripple effect on the entire christian community. There are many stories of this in the bible, Sodom, Gomorrah, Noah and the Flood and many others. Sin is not a private thing between ourselves and God. Thus we need to make sure that our confession of sins is not a private thing either. We need to make sure we confess not only our sins to God but also to the community. The priest not only is a representative of God/Jesus, he is also a representative of the Community of believers.

We are not guarenteed entrance into heaven based on simply accepting Jesus into our hearts as our Savior. It sounds great and that would be awesome if it were indeed true but that's contrary to what the Bible tells us:

2 Timothy 2:11-12 This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

"if we persevere we shall also reign", if all we needed to do was profess that Jesus is indeed the Savior for what reason would we need perseverance?  We have to live the life the Bible instructs us to live!

Romans 11:22-23 See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Again Scripture uses terminology that warns us that we must "remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off".

Philippians 2:12 So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

There is no "fear and trembling" in simply professing Jesus as our Savior and being all set. If we sin we must get back into kindness with God. That is done through confession, plain and simple.

Confession

John 20:22-23 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Matthew 18:18 I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation

James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

For Further reading:

• Lord, Have Mercy - by Dr. Scott Hahn
• The Sacrament of Pennance - From the Catechism of the Catholic Church