[THIS IS A REPOSTING OF THE SAME TITLE THAT I WROTE LAST SPRING. I POST IT AGAIN IN VIEW OF THE TRIAL OF TWO CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN FINLAND CONTINUING TODAY. JOY PULLMAN OF THE FEDERALIST.COM REPORTS ON THE NATURE OF THIS PERSECUTION HERE: https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/14/finnish-christian-on-trial-for-quoting-the-bible-on-twitter-god-is-working/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=finnish-christian-on-trial-for-quoting-the-bible-on-twitter-god-is-working&utm_term=2022-02-14
I POST IT AGAIN TO REMIND THE PUBLIC OF HOW PROTESTANT LIBERALISM HAS ABANDONED THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. IT’S SO SIMPLE IT’S DIFFICULT]
I promised yesterday a Part II of my post concerning the consecration of a transgender individual as a bishop. Today I am informing the laity and especially their pastors of how it is that Leftist clergy promoting or witnessing to immoral behaviors can never forgive your sins, underscoring the promotion of behaviors regarded as sinful in Scripture and tradition as these bear witness to natural law.
It is beyond controversy that God as Creator of the male and female regards the human bodies given to that male and female pair as sacred. It is also incontrovertible that Scripture and tradition condemn homosexual conduct as sinful. In Romans 1:18ff, St. Paul testifies that the wrath of God is against the ungodliness of humans who hold the truth in unrighteousness, giving two examples of what provokes the wrath of God. These two are idolatry, and homosexual conduct.
Those familiar with St. Paul’s discourse are familiar with the fact that he grounds such conduct in nature. He never mentions any Old Testament story or inscripturated law, but merely proclaims that homosexual conduct is against nature. Natural law holds the male and female created by their Creator as the model for the human race. Additionally the creation of each according to their individual sex is built into the creation. Distortions of human sexuality are sins against nature and nature’s God.
The cure for the souls burdened by these and other sins is the act of confessing them. The pastoral installation vows to a given parish assignment include the pastor’s commitment ‘to forgive sins’ in the Name of Christ, ordaining him to perform that duty with the authority of the ordaining body. It is not optional. But the confessional in our time is almost completely ignored and its importance disregarded by many if not most pastors. The sheep are without a shepherd if that shepherd fails to instruct them in how they might receive forgiveness for their sins and make himself available to the members of the flock to do just that.
A CONFESSIONAL DISCOURSE
But what happens when a parishioner comes to the pastor some Saturday evening, having committed a sin and desiring to receive forgiveness before the Holy Eucharist the next morning? Read the following narrative:
“You have come to me this evening with something on your mind?”
“Yes, Pastor, I have sinned during the past week.”
“So you come to confess this sin?”
“Yes, I want to find the Lord’s forgiveness for what I have done.”
“The church does have a rite for confession. Would you like for us to proceed?”
“All right, Pastor.” [a short reading follows, said together]
“As a member of the body of Christ, you are at liberty to confess that which bothers your conscience to me as your pastor, what you have done or even what you ought to have done yet failed to do. You may tell me now what is on your heart.”
“Pastor, I slept with another woman recently, and yes, we did have sex together. It has bothered me greatly since then, and the words of Paul in Romans keep nagging me. I want to know that the Lord will forgive me for it. I know from some of your sermons and the new couple that you blessed that you may not agree. It just troubles me so much though that I did this.” [Pastoral counsel may follow].
“I have the authority of this church as ordained clergy to forgive you your sins, assure you in doing so that it is Christ forgiving you, and I do so now, in the Name of the Creator and the Redeemer and the Sustainer. Go in peace, knowing that your sin is forgiven.”
[Another reading sometimes follows, depending on the rite in question.]
“But Pastor, there’s something that bothers me about that. This church just made that decision to bless same-sex unions, and they say that they will even ordain them to the ministry. So how can you as one ordained in this church, and they gave you this authority…”
“How can you assure me that my sin is forgiven if the church that ordained you approves of it and even celebrates it?”
After a few words, the pastor had no ready answer for her, and she left in dismay…
The issue is among those that are so simple they are difficult.
WHAT THE CHURCH APPROVES OF, CELEBRATES AND FINDS EXEMPLARY, ITS CLERGY CAN NEVER WITH THE INTEGRITY AND THE ASSURANCE OF THE CONFESSIONAL FORGIVE!
Protestant liberalism, live with that.
POSTSCRIPT
Some will object that a controversy settled in the third century maintained that sacraments performed by apostate clergy were nonetheless valid. A baptism performed by a priest living in sin was the baptism of the Church and was not nullified by the amoral condition of who performed it.
I agree. But a validity of standing in the Church does not convey the assurance of the confessional to the person confessing his or her sins. It is therefore irrelevant to the matter at hand, as the denomination made a decision that a given sin is no longer to be regarded as sinful.
And particularly so when it is the church itself and the ordaining bishop approving the sins…
Father David+