God vs. Evolution in U.S. Public Schools - William Jennings Bryan in 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial

Cal State ^ | 1925 | William Jennings Bryan

[Terry L Smith]

The only “true” thing about Christianity is, that if y’all ain’t my particular denomination, or my particular church, y’all ian’t a true Christian!”

That very point of hypocrisy, in spades, was added to the equation of why I left Pentecostalism.

[blackpacific]

I can understand that. I worked with a lot of christians who did seem to spend a lot of time making sure that the other christians they rubbed elbows with were “true believing”.

In the Catholic Church the sacrament of Confession gets rid of that concern by focusing one on one’s own spiritual condition, with the goal to stop particular sins and eradicating predominant faults. It is a wonderful sacrament.

[Terry L Smith]

This may seem crass.

The question is: “Should an individual ‘confess their sins’ to another human being, or to the Creator themself?”

I might be a bit ‘off’ about ‘the church’. My first 3 years of school were peppered with sitting in the waste bucket, behind the closed door of the coat closet, knuckles rapped with wood rulers, and a few times with the nun’s noticeable complete handprint on my face. Lastly, when my friend ran into a busyy street after a ball, during yhe funeral service, the priest pointed at me, blamed me before the whole crowd

[blackpacific]

It’s a good question. The priest is an alter Christus, when one confesses to the priest one confesses to Christ and it is Christ who forgives. The priest is the matter of the Sacrament while it is Christ who is the agent. St. Thomas covers your question here:
https://www.newadvent.org/summa/5008.htm

Jesus Christ instituted this Sacrament for our benefit, not because He needed it this way but as a help to our frail nature, which has been wounded by sin.

I went to a Catholic school where it was obvious that some of the nuns had joined a teaching order, but had no natural talent for teaching. So those nuns were perpetually frustrated. Then there were other nuns who were naturally gifted at teaching and their classroom was a joy to be in.