lipman@decwrl.UUCP (02/16/84)
Message-Id: <8402161305.AA20337@decwrl.uucp> Date: Thursday, 16 Feb 1984 05:09:17-PST From: vax4::sander To: net.religion Subject: "COP-OUT" on confessing I would like to respond to the confessing of sins to a priest as being a "cop-out." If it sounds like an attack, please don't interpret it that way; this is a response to the idea. If you take the confessing of sins to a priest as being a cop-out, then I would suspect that you would have to consider the purpose of the man Jesus that came almost 2000 years ago as being a cop-out for us. Surely you can't accept some painless, to you, way of regaining heaven, there must be some more profound and macho way of gaining the same thing. All Christians know and accept Jesus as the Savior, who was sent here by God the Father to redeem all mankind. "...for unless you believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, you will die in your sins." (John 8:24). God gave his son the power to heal physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc. and to forgive sins. Nowhere in the Bible do we see Jesus taking away sin or healing, and having that person tell Jesus to give it back to them because they aren't going to cop-out the easy way. The people accepted, and always sought after, these gifts. Before Jesus died he passed on all of these gifts (abilities) to his apostles, "whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you free on earth will be freed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18). "If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, then are unforgiven." (John 20:23). Jesus didn't give this gift as an easy way out, but as a means of having a way of forgiveness before we meet the judge. If we have true sorrow and continually ask for forgiveness, we will grow closer to God, and further from sin. Just as programmers (this seems to be an appropriate example here) gain ease and understanding of a programming language the more they use it, so it is with the gifts that Jesus left for us to use. It isn't easy following the way of the Cross, why make it harder? "One who is forgiven little, shows little love." (Luke 7:47). The actual "cop-out" is telling yourself that you would rather face the person. This is a psychological cop-out for yourself. How many times did you face someone yesterday; or face someone during the week; even during this past month? "If you are only 'angry', even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call your friend and idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in danger of the fires of hell." (Matthew 5:22). How often do we get upset with someone in the home, at work, or behind the wheel of the car? How many of these people have you faced and asked for forgiveness? Let's look at this from a different angle. If you had cancer and the doctor said that your ONLY hope of cure, or retarding its spread, was to undergo five years of cobalt treatment, and even then there was no guarantee. Most, if not all, of us would take the treatment in the hopes of a cure, but also to live longer. Let's further assume that after two years of this painful treatment you're told that the Canadians, or Europeans, have been experimenting for three years with a drug that after only one or two shots within a month all of your cancer will be gone. Those that participated early in the experiment don't show any signs of the cancer returning, nor have any bad side effects. You are now asked if you want to take this drug. Will you say that it's a cop-out, that you want to continue taking the painful cobalt treatments and take a chance that the cancer will be gone in three more years? I don't believe you will. Why are we like that? Because we know physical pain, we don't want any part of it, and we want to live healthy, long lives. Why turn your soul away from a gift of God? As long as you maintain that you will face the one you have hurt, even if that person doesn't know anything about it, and you don't ask for forgiveness, you won't be forgiven; you can't grow completely in grace; and you're playing right into the hands of the evil one. "If you meet your accuser on the way to court, try to settle the matter before it reaches the judge [God], lest he sentence you to jail; for if that happens you won't be free again until the last penny [sin] is paid in full." (Luke 12:58:59). Why not avail yourself of God's gifts while you can? Joe ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!vax4!sander