(August 22, 2015 at 7:27 pm)abaris Wrote:(August 22, 2015 at 7:21 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: You were wrong, of course, since your sins ARE God's business, and confession was established by Jesus as the normative means for forgiveness of serious sins. Venial sins do not require confession.
How old were you at the time?
Even when I was a believer I never saw priests as anything but nosy humans and not as god's ground crew. I was pretty little back then. Maybe 9 or 10. And still being a believer I thought that god knew anyway. So why go through all the bother, since I also knew that I would lie to them anyway.
I always valued my privacy.
So, at the ripe old age of 9 or 10, you made these judgments about whether God had or had not instituted the papacy and the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
Of course, you were right to understand that an omniscient God would (and still does) know all of your sins, but since you were planning on lying to the priest anyway, why bother?
Um...did you also at that time consider the fact that while God knows our sins, He also knows our need to hear the comforting words of absolution from another human being?
If not, would it make sense to consider it now?