Bible Question:
Emmaus, I am very confused about certain aspects of Catholicism. I ask that you please remember that I am not familiar with the faith and do not mean to offend by my words. I simply want to understand the differences. In response, I agree that one must pay for the wrongs he did. However, I see a distinction between salvation and punishment, which you seem to imply are the same (correct me if I am wrong). Yes, we all, if possible must atone, or make restitution, for our sins. This is what I call punishment, not salvation. Nor was I speaking about being rescued (saved) from circumstances in one's life. I was referring to the forgiveness of sins. BC, the blood of Christ was represented by the blood of sacrificial animals. Therefore many of the "rituals" for lack of better word are no longer necessary for forgiveness of sin. In Catholicism, I see man forgiving man's sins and God is seemingly cut out of the picture. I don't understand why a priest is able to absolve a person's sin by telling him to say the rosary a number of times, or pay a penance fee to the church. It clearly says in the Bible that only God forgives sins. Why then is it necessary for a practicing Catholic to attend confession if he has made himself right before God and those he offended? I would better understand the necessity if the person made a public confession, but anything said to the priest in the booth is confidential. So what is the point? How is saying the rosary an atonement for a lie made to someone else? Another few questions, why is a priest not required to provide testimony to murder if the priest knows who did it? Where in the Bible (please do not include the Apocrypha) does it say that a person does not need to bear testimony against those who have done wrong against the laws of the land? Wouldn't the priest not become an accomplice? And how does he know to weigh the sin of the murderer or thief against the pain experienced by the injured party or party's family? In Christ, Estelle |
Bible Answer: Estelle, I will answer a few question I may not have covered in the previous posts to which I referred you. "However, I see a distinction between salvation and punishment, which you seem to imply are the same (correct me if I am wrong)." You have the wrong impression. I do not see salvation and punishment as the same. It is from eternal punishment that we are saved. Sometimes even after sin has been forgiven the temporal consequences remain as in the case of David and Bathseba. See 2 Samuel 12:1-23. My only purpose was to make a distinction between eternal salvation and atonement and temporal salavtion and atonement. God operates in both spheres as He chooses or does not choose. We can operate only in the temporal. "Where in the Bible (please do not include the Apocrypha) does it say that a person does not need to bear testimony against those who have done wrong against the laws of the land? Wouldn't the priest not become an accomplice? And how does he know to weigh the sin of the murderer or thief against the pain experienced by the injured party or party's family?" Nothing prevents the sinner from confessing to the civil authorities. In fact he may be obliged to as a sign of repentence. I suspect more murderers confess after being caught by civil authorities than before. Of course I don't known because I have never heard of any priest breaking the seal of confession, athough I have heard of a case of civil prison authorities secretly and illegally bugging a room where a prisoner met a priest for confession. They had to confess that one when their sin was exposed. Imagine the furor that would have ensued if they had bugged the room where attorneys met with their clients. Can give me one example of Jesus reporting to any authority the sins of any of those whose sins he had forgiven? The priest is nothing but a stand-in for Jesus. The Catholic view of sacraments is that they are encounters with Christ. The minister of a sacrament is merely a stand-in. In the sacrament of matrimony the spouses are the ministers of the sacrament to one another. In that sacrament the priest or deacon is merely an official witness for the Church. Emmaus |