Roman Catholic Beliefs- Part 10- Confession box, Prayers, and Forgiveness of Sins
Part 10 of "Cathechism Chat"
Jesus said, "Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of me.
And you will not come to me that you may have life."
(John 5:39,40; Douay Version)
Jesus said, "I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10 last half - Douay Version) In this article I will be sharing more with Roman Catholics. The more that I study the cults and the clearer I see the blindness that Satan has put over their eyes, the madder that I get at him and the more thankful that I am because I have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus. That I accepted his free gift of everlasting life and I'll live with him for all eternity because of the payment that he made for each and everyone on planet earth when he died on the cross for our sins. But he arose and he is alive today, living within his people, those born of him, washed in his blood. I would like to speak a little concerning the confession box, prayers and forgiveness of sins.
I'll be reading out of approved Catholic writings- the Roman Catholic bible, Douay Version, even though they have changed some of it to fit their teachings, it still doesn't teach their beliefs of doctrines near enough and I'll also be reading out of a catechism book entitled, "A Catechism for Adults" by Rev.(?) William J. Cogan. In Lesson 25, 'How to go to Confession'
"1. Examination of conscience
Kneel in church and ask God to help you know your sins. Try to remember as well as you can, what sins you have committed since your last confession and how often you committed each one. Tell God that you are sorry for your sins. Then go to the place designated for Confession. This may be a confessional booth or a reconciliation room. You may choose to confess your sins in a face-to-face conversation with the priest or you may prefer to kneel before the confessional screen so as not to reveal your identity. A chair and a kneeling bench will ordinarily be conveniently arranged so that you can make this choice."
Okay, now back to Lesson 25, part 2.
"2. In the Confessional or Reconciliation Room
After a word of welcome from the priest, you make the sign of the Cross. The priest will say a very short prayer encouraging you to have trust in God, and you answer: "Amen."
Then the priest may quote a few lines from Scripture (optional) which proclaims God's mercy and calls man to conversion.
After this, you say:
"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned; it is one week (or one month or whatever length of time it is) since my last Confession. I accuse myself of the following sins."
Name the sins and tell how many times that you have committed each one. Then say:
"I am sorry for these sins and all of the sins of my whole life, especially (here name some past sin already confessed)."
The priest will then give you some prayers as penance and perhaps advise you. After this, he will ask you to express your sorrow by an act of contrition. You may use a formula prayer of contrition (see p. 137) or you may use your own words in a brief prayer from the heart."
It says here to name some sins already confessed as already discussed, "Why? God doesn't want a person to feed on his past sins already confessed to him. He has forgotten them as far as he is concerned and he wants you to do the same.
It also says here to express your sorrow by an act of Contrition and go to page 137 for a prayer of contrition so I did. Now I would like to read it to you.
"ACT OF CONTRITION: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You. I detest all of my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Your grace to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give you my heart and soul.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, help me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.
May the Lord bless me and bring me to life everlasting.
And may the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
From reading this it helps me to see even clearer why God hates vain repetitions in prayer. How it could easily cause a callous heart toward God. Can't you just imagine going to a confessional box week after week, month after month, year after year saying this each time over and over. The monotony, the emptiness. This is just not the life that Jesus came to give us, it's religion, dead religion. He has so much more for us, come to him. Reading Matt. 6:7, "But when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard." Don't you see the heathen nations prayed these kind of prayers. They were empty and useless just like the Pharisees and Sadducees were praying, they had a bunch of meaningless written prayers too!
Also reading Luke 13:3 in the Douay Version, it says, "No, I say to you: but unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish." I just quoted Luke 13:3 from the Douay Version, this is another one of the Roman Catholic church's 'little' changes. To tell you the truth, God doesn't like little changes or big changes to his word and those who do it will pay dearly for it. The Roman Catholic Church leaders remind me of the words of Jesus to the Scribes and the Pharisees when he said, "But woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter." If Jesus were here today, I believe that it would go something like this; "But woe to you Popes and Priests, hypocrites: because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter."
God is calling all men and women to repent, to turn to him and him alone for life. He came in human flesh to set us free, HE died on a cross and rose to give us life. Just turn to him for that life not a bunch of religious do's and don'ts, sacraments, or whatever other fleshly works you can come up with. He paid the price for our redemption fully. I really do love you and that is why I am speaking the uncompromising truth from the word of God. Paul said,"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" I am asking you the same question. If you say, "Yes!" then so be it. But I am willing to become your enemy because I so bad want to see Roman Catholics saved and walking in God's love, his power, his full salvation because the Lord loves them and because of his love in my life, so do I.
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