“More than 2 in 5 (44%) confess to God every day, while a quarter (26%) do so a few times a week. Fewer say they ask for forgiveness once a week (13%), a few times a month (8%) or once a month (4%).” - Lifeway
“Gavin Ortlund offers a critical appraisal of the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance or confession, from a Protestant perspective.” - YouTube
“I’m also realizing that I too often take confession lightly. Maybe one of these quotes I’ve recently encountered will help you think about this important step in our Christian walk.” - Chuck Lawless
Read Part 1.
Basically, this is a prayer for spiritual restoration. The psalmist has strayed from the “paths of righteousness,” and he cries out for the Great Shepherd to rescue him. He wants forgiveness, and he wants to know again the joy of his salvation. As he makes his petition he’s conscious of at two realities:
Christian biographies are a great means of edification and godliness. And yet, their benefits aren’t free from dangers. One danger that comes to mind is that of developing an unrealistic view of the Christian life. Often, Christian biographers maximize the virtues and minimize the faults of the saints. The picture they paint has too rosy a hue. We can partly understand this. Obviously, we want to view Christians in the best light. We want to give them the benefit of the doubt. We want to showcase their faithfulness to God. But we can come away with the idea that genuine Christians rarely, if ever, commit sin. This perspective begins to affect the way we view ourselves and one another.
“…the New Testament authors apparently don’t think the once-for-all forgiveness (justification) conflicts with the need for ongoing forgiveness (sanctification). This can be seen not only in the Lord’s Prayer, but also 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.’” - TGC
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been preparing a review of Latasha Morrison’s Be the Bridge book and Bible study materials. In so doing, I’ve been reading her recommended resources, and have been struck by how central the following claim is to this genre of “racial reconciliation” material: “members of a group have the responsibility to confess and seek reconciliation on behalf of that group for sins that those members themselves may not have even personally committed.”
“A Vatican tribunal that deals with matters of conscience, including confession, called the Apostolic Penitentiary, issued a notice Friday, stating that though absolution of sin is the usual means through which sins are forgiven by a priest, in times of ‘grave necessity,’ such as now with the ongoing spread of the virus, other solutions are needed… Confession is considered a sacrament in the Catholic Church.” -
