S
Moviefan:
Priestly Confession and Absolution
(1)The Catholic doctrine insists that in order to be seen as clean by God, every person must confess to a priest, who then gives them absolution for their sins. In other words, this is clearly a "salavtion by human effort" mentality, which erases the need for Christ's sacrifice completely.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." ~1 Timothy 2:5~
(2)The doctrine of necessary confession places the priest in divine authority, seemingly with no need to involve Jesus at all. This then raises the question, "Whom does the priest confess to when he screws up?" What makes a priest so fundamentally different from the parishioners in this way?
1. In order to be Saved, I must believe and repent. This is an effort made on my part. I am a human. This is a human effort to attain salvation, and I only attain salvation because of Christ’s salvation for me that I am rewarded for believing and repenting.
2. Christ places the priest in authority: “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 them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20 22:23). The priest says this: “"I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This involves Jesus acting through the priest (as per his permission in the quote above from John) and is only possible because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. We are forgiven in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And who does the priest go to? Another priest. The Pope also confesses to a priest. Priests and parishoners are all human, all sin, all need forgiveness. There is no difference.
The 3 Vows for Nuns
Simply put, the vows every nun is required to take upon entering a convent include the following:
(1)The Vow of Poverty
(2)The Vow of Obedience
(3)The Vow of Chastity
Luckily for me, I have a great amount of experience working with, learning under, and knowing nun and monks (who are female and male versions of the same thing).
1. "A certain ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.' He replied, 'I have kept all these since my youth.' When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!'" (Lk. 18:18-23)
It isn’t that one can’t own things to get close to God, so much as it is seen as a sacrifice to give up things for God. If you are not willing to give up all you own for Christ, then there may be a problem. Do you have to? No. The actual vow of poverty is that you own nothing. No property is yours. Property is shared and sparse. You have only what you need to survive.
2. The Abbess, Mother Superior (for nuns) or Abbot (for monks) does not replace Christ at all. She/He is merely the head of the body, so to speak, and seeing how all authority is given by God (none have it on their own), they obey their Abbess/Abbot. Why obey your parents? Because it is pleasing to God. In obeying your parents you are obeying God because they are the authority over you. You are not obligated to obey unjust authority, this also applies to nuns/monks. If their Abbess/Abbot tells them to do anything contrary to Scriptures, they are obligated not to do it.
3. This is a custom. This is a practice…we are all called to Chastity anyways, are we not? Chastity before marriage says we do not fornicate. Chastity within marriage says we do not commit adultery. The life of a monk/nun is the single life, so the chastity appropriate to that life is one without fornication.
Mind you, no one has to become a nun or a monk. It is a choice. One freely chooses to do this, and one freely chooses to live in poverty, obedience, and chastity. If one does not like this, they do not have to be a monk or nun.
Catholicism and Homosexuality
The Church considers homosexuality to be a disordered condition. It considers homosexual sex to be sinful. Homosexuals, the Church teaches, are called to a life of celibacy. As celibates, they must live chastely as all Christians must: that means, as people who can not be married because marriage is reserved exclusively between a man and a woman, that they are called to a life without sex since abstinence is the rule for unmarried people.
Now, priests molesting kids is a statistically very rare thing, and has no barring on what the Church teaches about homosexuality. These links may be helpful on that topic:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26955
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html
http://www.advocateweb.org/cease/csa.htm
http://www.reformation.com/CSA/startPage.html
Priestly Confession and Absolution
(1)The Catholic doctrine insists that in order to be seen as clean by God, every person must confess to a priest, who then gives them absolution for their sins. In other words, this is clearly a "salavtion by human effort" mentality, which erases the need for Christ's sacrifice completely.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." ~1 Timothy 2:5~
(2)The doctrine of necessary confession places the priest in divine authority, seemingly with no need to involve Jesus at all. This then raises the question, "Whom does the priest confess to when he screws up?" What makes a priest so fundamentally different from the parishioners in this way?
1. In order to be Saved, I must believe and repent. This is an effort made on my part. I am a human. This is a human effort to attain salvation, and I only attain salvation because of Christ’s salvation for me that I am rewarded for believing and repenting.
2. Christ places the priest in authority: “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 them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20 22:23). The priest says this: “"I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This involves Jesus acting through the priest (as per his permission in the quote above from John) and is only possible because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. We are forgiven in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And who does the priest go to? Another priest. The Pope also confesses to a priest. Priests and parishoners are all human, all sin, all need forgiveness. There is no difference.
The 3 Vows for Nuns
Simply put, the vows every nun is required to take upon entering a convent include the following:
(1)The Vow of Poverty
(2)The Vow of Obedience
(3)The Vow of Chastity
Luckily for me, I have a great amount of experience working with, learning under, and knowing nun and monks (who are female and male versions of the same thing).
1. "A certain ruler asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.' He replied, 'I have kept all these since my youth.' When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!'" (Lk. 18:18-23)
It isn’t that one can’t own things to get close to God, so much as it is seen as a sacrifice to give up things for God. If you are not willing to give up all you own for Christ, then there may be a problem. Do you have to? No. The actual vow of poverty is that you own nothing. No property is yours. Property is shared and sparse. You have only what you need to survive.
2. The Abbess, Mother Superior (for nuns) or Abbot (for monks) does not replace Christ at all. She/He is merely the head of the body, so to speak, and seeing how all authority is given by God (none have it on their own), they obey their Abbess/Abbot. Why obey your parents? Because it is pleasing to God. In obeying your parents you are obeying God because they are the authority over you. You are not obligated to obey unjust authority, this also applies to nuns/monks. If their Abbess/Abbot tells them to do anything contrary to Scriptures, they are obligated not to do it.
3. This is a custom. This is a practice…we are all called to Chastity anyways, are we not? Chastity before marriage says we do not fornicate. Chastity within marriage says we do not commit adultery. The life of a monk/nun is the single life, so the chastity appropriate to that life is one without fornication.
Mind you, no one has to become a nun or a monk. It is a choice. One freely chooses to do this, and one freely chooses to live in poverty, obedience, and chastity. If one does not like this, they do not have to be a monk or nun.
Catholicism and Homosexuality
The Church considers homosexuality to be a disordered condition. It considers homosexual sex to be sinful. Homosexuals, the Church teaches, are called to a life of celibacy. As celibates, they must live chastely as all Christians must: that means, as people who can not be married because marriage is reserved exclusively between a man and a woman, that they are called to a life without sex since abstinence is the rule for unmarried people.
Now, priests molesting kids is a statistically very rare thing, and has no barring on what the Church teaches about homosexuality. These links may be helpful on that topic:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26955
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html
http://www.advocateweb.org/cease/csa.htm
http://www.reformation.com/CSA/startPage.html
