To say I was stunned is to put it mildly when I read that this last week that the Catholic Church has approved its first iPhone app for confessional. Taking its lead from last year’s World Communications Day papal address, in which Catholics were called on to embrace the potential of the internet, developer Little iApps has released a program it claims is “the perfect aid for every penitent”. Featuring a “step-by-step guide to the sacrament”, Confession: A Roman Catholic App invites Catholics to “prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance”.
The developer of the iPhone app, Hasham Abbas says, “With churchgoing at an all-time low, and the digital age leaving us disconnected from our families and communities, few have an outlet for healthy confession. So it made sense to give people a virtual confession booth where they can unload whatever has been troubling their conscience.”
All I can say is…..REALLY? You must be kidding, they say that few have a healthy outlet for confession, but Jesus says “Behold I stand at the door and knock”.
I have enough problems with a person confessing their sins to another human looking to be absolved, as only Christ can forgive sins.
I may lose some of my FB friends with this statement but I am sorry to tell you, that NO PRIEST, and NO CHURCH has the power or the authority to forgive sins. There is it, the TRUTH according to the Word of God, end of story.
The following procedure listed below for forgiveness of sins comes directly from the Catholic Dictionary.
Penance is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same. It is called a “sacrament” not simply a function or ceremony, because it is an outward sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul. As an outward sign it comprises the actions of the penitent in presenting himself to the priest and accusing himself of his sins, and the actions of the priest in pronouncing absolution and imposing satisfaction. This whole procedure is usually called, from one of its parts, “confession”, and it is said to take place in the “tribunal of penance”, because it is a judicial process in which the penitent is at once the accuser, the person accused, and the witness, while the priest pronounces judgment and sentence. The grace conferred is deliverance from the guilt of sin and, in the case of mortal sin, from its eternal punishment; hence also reconciliation with God, justification. Finally, the confession is made not in the secrecy of the penitent’s heart nor to a layman as friend and advocate, nor to a representative of human authority, but to a duly ordained priest with requisite jurisdiction and with the “power of the keys”, i.e., the power to forgive sins which Christ granted to His Church.
I am sorry, no, let me change that, I am happy to tell you that the above statement is completely, absolutely 100% false. Christ did not grant the power and authority to forgive sins to any man or any church.
Now to even insult the precious blood of Christ even further, the Catholic Church has added an iPhone app to help you with your process of salvation. I find it downright disgusting. Salvation is not a process. It is a gift from the Father above wrapped in the blood of Jesus Christ that forgives sins.
We read in 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So why not just drop off the iPhone with your recorded confession and have the iPriest behind the screen forgive you? Catholics still labor under the assumption that a human intermediary is necessary to forgive your sins.
This obsession the Catholic Church has with confession to the church or a priest, keeps people under the power of sin because they are consumed with thoughts of themselves in a sincere desire to please God through repetitive acts under human control.
God has forever settled the sin issue, and does not need a priest of church organization to administer it. Before Christ, men’s sins separated them from God. Christ was the only solution to this dilemma. Then, when He hung on the cross and said “It is finished!” When Jesus said that, He meant it is finished! God has bridged the gap between Himself and man through His Son. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them… God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God “(2 Corinthians 5:18,19,21).
So if you are using an iPhone to help unburden yourself, it’s a good idea to have some idea of exactly who it is you’re confessing to. “This app belittles salvation, twisting it from a tender act of grace In Christ through love and forgiveness, into a salacious mockery where sinning is encouraged and recorded and true salvation is mocked.
The Catholic Church does state for the record, “The new iPhone app is not designed to replace going to confession, but to help Catholics through the act, which involves admitting sins to a priest in a confessional booth. Catholics still must go to a priest for absolution.
I tell you the truth. NO priest can forgive you of your sin. Only Jesus Christ our Lord has that job, and he takes it so serious that He died for it.
I can see it now, the embarrassment of the Catholic Church as hackers get in go people’s iphones, see their confessions and make their dirty laundry public for everyone to see. For God’s ears only is the way it is supposed to be.
There is not a confession booth or confession to a priest for forgiveness mentioned anywhere in scripture, much less an iPhone app. Salvation is simple. Read about it in Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Salvation is so simple. Yes it is true, “believe in Jesus and you shall be saved.” Trust him “lock, stock, and barrel”. Be so convinced of Him that you will believe what he has said, will do what he has said, and want to know more of what he said. Be absolutely, thoroughly, totally, completely convinced that he is the Son of God, and all you have to do is confess your sins to Him.
Forget about confessing your sins to a priest or anyone else, and everything else including the iPhone app.
ONLY JESUS SAVES.
Categories: Forgiveness, God
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why should we not have the crazy i phones and cell phones inb church, the4 pastor, or priest or Minioster is tytring to preach and it does get a bit distracted. our reminedwre at Lafayett First aassembly is simply to remember to put the cell phone on pause. This way the phone cannot ring. or put the phone on vibrating.