Quote:
Originally Posted by MissBrattified
Sounds smart to me.
Personally, I think there are some things people should only confess to God. I don't want to know. Why do people feel like they have to tell another person in order to receive forgiveness? Doesn't it seem like that? That people have a need to confess?
I know of someone who carries around loads of guilt because they never resolved issues with a parent who is now dead. It can't ever be resolved. Does that mean they're going to hell because they never made restitution? At some point you have to trust God's mercy, and don't kill yourself trying to deserve it.
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Is that biblical though?
Is it forgiveness they receive through confession, or relief? Is it perhaps one of the gifts of God to the Church -- the brotherhood/sisterhood? Elders?
I've known a man for several years. He committed a despicable act against a minor. He was a "rational thinking man" (to Baron), but he had a season of "irrationality" and sin (living life without believing) after a divorce, light drug use that was getting worse, a porn addiction and a unwise friend who asked him to be the full-time babysitter for his 3-year old girl. He would watch his porn during her naps, and occasionally she'd wake -- he'd be aroused with her walking into the room. This went on for awhile until perverse thoughts went through his head (this is his own confession here) and he ended up molesting the girl. His own guilt brought him to confess to the girl's father, who of course tried to kill him and he was sent to prison. The man never was the same again (not sure if something happened physically in prison), but he never was. In fact, his emotional and mental health deteriorated rapidly. Coming out of prison was almost worse than when he was in. He couldn't find anywhere to stay (since the household had to register a sex offender). His family rejected him. He went to homeless shelters, and his own lack of wisdom (and guilt) brought him to trust a new friend at the shelter, where one night with alcohol releasing his inhibitions, he told her his past sins. It was later that night that a man wielding a knife attempted to take his life. He was on the run. No family. No redemption to the story. The next time I heard from him he was hearing voices, he was going through severe depression, 72 hours straight of sleeplessness. He was on suicide watch, and in fact set out to kill himself one night that got botched. Unable to get work, get transportation and find a place to stay, he violated his parole (checking in) and went back to prison. The last word I got about this man was that he is now being transferred to a mental hospital.
This was a man who committed a grievous sin. But the way it played out, I'm not sure if that was all a result of his sin, as much as our culture's lack of redemption for individuals in this situation. I know a similar situation of a 23-year old man and a 16-year old girl. The tension between protecting children from harm and creating a culture of redemption is in view here.
In this man's case, his over-confessions were to his detriment. But carrying guilt like that around without finding accountability, comfort and healing through the confession of a brother would be suicide -- both physically and spiritually, I'd imagine. A lack of confession at this point may have turned him over to an habitual child molester for all I know.
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