The Roman Catholic Confessional's Hypocrisy

By -
Here's a funny cartoon of that shows the reality of the Vatican and it's something that's well-hidden from the average Roman Catholic today. The centuries worth of violent history of the Vatican isn't the only one hidden but also the priestly scandals. If Roman Catholics knew the truth then it would be detrimental, right? Then the same can also go because of the confessionals. I'm writing this one because today is Ash Wednesday and I remembered I once ate meat on that day and I was required to go to the confessional - back when I was still a Roman Catholic!

How hypocritical is the confessional? Although it's not directly states that it's a license to sin but it's becoming a license to sin. I remembered the first time I went to confession as a Roman Catholic for my first communion. I remembered after saying the Act of Contrition - the priest asked me to pray X Our Fathers and Y Hail Marys. I soon prayed them and believed I was forgiven. Then it came into my head that the confessional was becoming my license to sin. So I could sin then I could confess my sins to the priest then I could get them absolved. It's almost like the statement of sinning from Mondays to Fridays, going to confessional on Saturday, going to Mass on Sunday then you must rinse and repeat.

It's said that Roman Catholic priests save souls but how true is that? The whole problem of teaching priests save souls has made it so easy to manipulate people. After all if the priest can save your soul then he can damn you, right? The method was used in making people believe in the fake doctrine of transubstantiation. Now, you've got people confessing their sins to a priest. James 5:16 in the Roman Catholic Bible says, "Confess your sins to one another." but that is not confession to a priest. Instead, we are talking about admitting what you've done wrong to one another. It's like if you've wronged someone then shouldn't you confess your sin to that someone you've wronged? Unfortunately, that verse is loosely applied from its obvious context for the hypocrisy of the confessional.

Unfortunately, you've got many priests who have very many unconfessed sins. How often do you see a Roman Catholic priest who suddenly confesses "I have sinned!" during the Sunday service? I remembered how a confessional manual I had wrote as a guide, "Have I watched indecent movies and pictures?" - all the while many Roman Catholic priests are involved in so many sex scandals! This further raises the question whether or not these hypocrites can truly save someone's soul. I can't save someone's soul and neither can my pastor. My pastor is there to be an authority figure but he has no right to claim the power to save souls and to damn them. But the Vatican has taught it for centuries allowing them centuries of power and the ability to silence people from exposing their filth.

Besides, where does the Bible teach you to confess your sins? The answer is in 1 John 1:9 where all sins must be confessed to God. The Old Testament required priests for people to confess their sins to with the unblemished animal for a blood sacrifice - yet this was all but symbolic. The High Priest was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies. Yet after the veil is torn the office of the priesthood was no longer there. Ephesians 4:11 no longer mentions priests. Also, did you know that in Leviticus 21:13 that it requires a priest to marry a wife in her virginity? Do you know that the Levites are a family of priests? That's not possible with the celibate Roman Catholic priesthood! Levites were required to perpetuate a lineage of priests through lawful marriages yet the Roman Catholic institution declared a celibate priesthood centuries after it was founded.

What does it mean to confess your sins to God and to God alone? 1 John 1:9 always disturbed me when I was still a Roman Catholic. I soon found it quite comforting that I don't need a priest yet Roman Catholic priests insist that they are needed. If they insist that they are needed to save the souls of men through the sacraments - they better show first that they can practice what they preach. Otherwise, they are just like the Pharisees in Matthew 23. But even if the Good News Translation removes verse 14 yet the same verse about long prayers can be found in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 in the same translation! The promise is not only forgiveness but cleansing from unrighteousness. God's mercy grants power from sin not power to sin but the confessional ends up doing otherwise!

See also: