I’ve other issues with the catholic church given it took our family 8 or 9 tries to find a priest who would bury my grandmother after she had taken her own life. Those eight or nine refused and basically condemned her to hell. There was little to no passion and no sympathy for the living either.
I remember it clearly when the family got together to discuss what to do given the situation with the priests. I also wonder to this day why they have remained so devout. Never been brave enough to ask the uncles and aunties. Perhaps it’s simply the belief that the teachings are more important than the church and the church is a place of reflection.
Firstly, the Catholic Sacrament of Confession is not some magical washing machine of the soul. The absolute conditions are 1) true sorrow for the sins and 2) a firm act of the will never to commit the sin again.
Of course, God is just and merciful. You can’t have one or the other; it’s both. He is the Creator of All and sets the rules and will punish you if you break them, but until the day you die He will be waiting and ready to give you the grace to repent and go to Him. Do you really think the good God wants anyone to go to Hell??? He died on the Cross so that all humans could share His Life and Happiness for all Eternity, but He does not destroy our human nature by taking away our free will and forcing us. He wants us to be of good will and freely choose to go to Him, which is why He gave us Confession.
However, God is not mocked, is not an idiot and cannot be cheated. To think that you can live how you please, deliberately disobeying God’s laws and so on, and presume that God will just grant you the free gift of His grace to repent on your deathbed, apart from being just ludicrous, is literally the grave sin of presumption. “A tree usually falls the way it is leaning”, and as such, deathbed conversions are extremely rare. If someone is habitually sinning for years, it’s pretty obvious that such a person is unlikely to even be willing to amend their life on their deathbed.
I know a guy who works at a rather prestigious Christian school, who has to keep his sexuality a fairly guarded secret. Not that he has a boyfriend, or that he might get ‘gay married’ one day, just the mere fact he’s gay would be enough for him to lose his job. (Not directly, of course, but they’d find a way.)
But it’s apparently a good job, pays far better than the public system and he is a practising Christian, so that’s why he stays.
"Ok, I’ve made these places called heaven and hell. You’re good, you go to heaven. You’re bad you go to hell. Now, I’m gonna give you a bunch of temptations and stuff. You’re really gonna want to do some of them. Some of you are going to want to do all of them. Don’t do it. It’s called sinning. Now, I realise not everyone is going to make it. Just let me say that I’d like everyone to but… thems the breaks. Ok, lets see who’s got the right stuff.’
On second thoughts that’s too complicated. Ok, let’s just make it whoever trusts me."
“If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.”
Deuteronomy 25:11-12
It happened to me just the other day, and man, I couldn’t find anything to cut my woman’s hand off with.
I think we’re all going to get righteous and mocking, because everyone knows that religious arguments online (or anywhere) eventually lead to nowhere - so this is a shortcut, if you like.
I was trying to subtly point out that the people who take the confessions don’t exactly have the best track record, but I’ll agree Deckham, we’re just going to go around in circles as per usual and end up at the mocking point anyway.
But to be fair, TSB did present his/her side of the discussion in a clear and non-mocking tone.
Religion shouldn’t be a debate. You believe what you want to. I believe what I want to. It’s way to personal to have a rational discussion about. It’s like arguing that Donatello was better than Leonardo (the Ninja Turtles).