Confession of Sin
To confess one's sins frees one from living life on one's own, for no man is an island. There are many who realize the importance of telling someone about one's hurts and problems. Dianetics even has a confession-like thing built into its system. I say they are copying the Catholics who have been doing this from the beginning. What of the public confession of Annas and Saphira in Acts 5? Of course, they lied rather than confessing the truth and they were struck dead on the spot. They were struck dead because they lied to God in the sacrament of confession! Please note Peter wasn't angry becasue they lied to him, rather, they lied to God as he said. Confession is the sacrament of the healing of the wounds, sin and disorder that, if left unchecked, drive one into things worse than the former. Abundant grace awaits the one who approaches this sacrament with a humble, contrite heart, as the Psalms make so abundantly clear (see PS 51). But for the grace of God, there go I.
Confession in Sacred Scripture
Confession in Tradition
(Tradition is the writings of those who went before us, marked with the sign of faith)
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