Well, here the clincher; my friends. Let's look what the Holy Scriptures say about confession.
"He breathed on them, and said, receive the Holy Spirit; when you forgive men sins, they are forgiven, when you hold them bound, they are held bound" (Jn 20:22-23)
He spoke these words to the Apostles and the same word was past on through Holy Scriptures and tradition to our modern day Apostles the successor of the twelve; chosen by Jesus and present day Catholic Clergy, Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and Pope. Since we know from scriptures that Jesus after his resurrection returned to GOD our FATHER and would not be with the Church visibly. Christ gave this power to other men. Church that was left in continuation of his presences throughout time. Would be able to administer the act of confession, forgiveness of sins for future generations.
So, logically thinking after the last Apostle died, the power automatically was past-on to their successors. After Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as the guide for his Apostles, if these Apostles would have ceased, then the Church would have ceased and all of Jesus teaching, his sacrifice on the Cross would have been in vain. However, here is the BIG NEWS my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was the beginning of the Church and the blessing bestowed upon his people. His death and resurrection marked the beginning – AMEN.
Now most Christians refute this privilege of confession; allotted to us by Christ and view confession of sin to priests as an invention by the Catholic Church. Opponents of the Catholic Church even go to the extent by saying; "Auricular Confession" was instituted by Catholics in 1215 at the Lateran Council.
One cannot invent something that was prescribed by Jesus Christ to his Apostles this was before any council ever existed and before the reformation of scripture. His word is eternal "If you forgive sins they are forgiven in heaven and if you hold them they are held".
Now let's talk about the logic behind confessing to a priest. First, Apostles cannot forgive sins that they don't know of an individual. Hence, the individual must confess his/her sins in order to be forgiven, which implies to confession or "EXHOMOLOGESIS"
Non Catholic interpretation of (Jn 20: 22-23) is that Jesus does not talk about forgiveness of sin, but he is telling his Apostles about preaching the good news. Now, I am not a Bible Scholar but, even I can see what the verse states and it implies to forgiveness of sins. Jesus tells that Apostles that "when you forgive men's sin, they are forgiven". Nothing here about preaching - that is handled elsewhere, such as in Matthew 28:19 and related verses. Instead, Jesus is telling the Apostles that they have been empowered to do something. He does say, "When God forgives men's sins, they are forgiven,"it is hardly necessary to say that. He uses second plural: "YOU". He talks about the Apostles forgiving, not preaching. When he refers to retaining sins he uses the same form: "When you hold them bound, they are held bound." There it is again "YOU". (Karl Keating Catholicism and Fundamentalism).
Another position that most fundamentalist insist on is that there is ONLY ONE MEDIATOR between God and man and that is JESUS CHRIST. They generally quote (Tim 2:5).
YES, Christ our Lord is the only one who can forgive sins; no man has the authority or power to forgive. However, if the authority came from Christ to the Church elders and the power received from the Holy Spirit to forgive sins; then one must follow Christ’s teaching. Asking for forgiveness in the solicitude of his/her house, a secret room seems easy and you don’t get absolution nor do you get any sort of spiritual directions. But, it is very difficult to confess your sins to a person especially a priest who is in persona Christi (Person of Christ) and the plus point is that you not only receive absolution from sins; but you get direction on how to avoid sins.
Hope this helps, my brothers and sisters in Christ about the act of confession and why it is important to confess your sins to a priest who is empowered by Jesus Christ, through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT. MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL - AMEN.
