It seems you can do just about anything on the Internet. A Web site called dailyconfession.com invites people to “confess the sins you would never admit to your priest, or your mother for that matter!” It promises anonymity with confessions “shamelessly presented to the entire planet, for the whole world to read! Confess your sin now!”
However curious or bold it may be, the website misses the point on every level. Confession is not anonymous, it’s not easy, it’s not fun, and it’s nothing to make light of. The only thing the Web site gets right is, yes, we should confess our sins.
Confession often brings to mind a scene from a movie – someone kneeling in a dark confessional booth, whispering reluctantly through a grille to a priest who listens and sternly assigns prayers for absolution. This activity is formally called the “Sacrament of Penance” in the Roman Catholic Church, and while some still call it “confession,” many call it “reconciliation” – a term that perhaps best captures the purpose of confession.
The Catholic Church traces the practice of confession to Christ, who after his resurrection told his disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:22-23). It’s from this verse that the Catholic Church derives the authority of a priest to hear the confession of another person.
But hearing is different from forgiving. “No Catholic believes a priest simply as an individual man, however pious or learned, has power to forgive sins,” writes Edward Hanna in The Catholic Encyclopedia. “This power belongs to God alone; but he can and does exercise it through the ministration of men.” Hanna continues: “It is not true that for the Catholic the mere ‘telling of one’s sins’ suffices to obtain their forgiveness. Without sincere sorrow and purpose of amendment, confession avails nothing, the pronouncement of absolution is of no effect, and the guilt of the sinner is greater than before.”
Most Christians would agree with that, and there’s no arguing that we are all called to a higher standard of living. But do we really need to confess our sins? And what’s a Baptist to do without a priest to hear confessions in a booth?
The reality is that God knows what we’ve done; there’s no hiding our actions or intentions from God. But spiritually, we need to demonstrate to God, ourselves and sometimes our family and friends that we understand we’ve sinned, we don’t want to sin again, and we are committed not to sin again.
Such an act requires no intermediary. In Baptist theology, every person has direct access to God through prayer. We practice a kind of do-it-yourself confession.
Confession should begin in a spirit of honest sorrow and remorse that moves us toward repentance. Says pastor and author Max Lucado: “Repentance is the decision to turn from selfish desires and seek God. It is a genuine, sincere regret that creates sorrow and moves us to admit wrong and desire to do better.”
We may be moved to confession during a time of prayer, or we may be so stirred by our conscience and grief that confession becomes a solitary, purposeful act. There is no litany for confession, but if our sense of conviction and desire for reconciliation are real, the Holy Spirit will guide us – not just in what we say and do at that moment, but in what actions might be taken to reconcile ourselves to those we may have hurt.
While it’s unlikely we’ll ever see confessionals in a Baptist church, there is a time and place to confess our sins to others. Sometimes a behavior or habit can be so overpowering, and so obviously damaging and dangerous, that we need to confess to others. In doing so, we acknowledge our weakness and ask for the prayer and support of others in overcoming it. As said in James 5:16: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Even in the Catholic Church, most congregations are practicing confession now in the form of face-to-face meetings, and communal reconciliation services are common. They’re acknowledging some circumstances require more than just confession, repentance and absolution; counseling and other special help may be needed.
The purpose of public confession is not self-flagellation, humiliation or punishment. The purpose is the same as with private confession – to restore broken relationships with those we have hurt and most importantly with God.
God never leaves us; through our actions, we turn away from Good and God longs for our return. Confession is the first step on the path back to reconciliation and communion.