A Meaningless Ritual?
THE sacrament of confession has been practiced by Catholics for centuries. Yet, for many it is an empty routine. Reflecting on his youth, a high school principal named Bob says: “I was a teenager, and even then I didn’t take it seriously.” Why not? For him, confession had become a meaningless ritual. He explains: “Confession was like bringing all your luggage full of sins up to the customs man at the airport. He asks you questions about your sins and then he lets you go through after paying something for the luxury items you bought while you were abroad.”
Similarly, Frank Wessling, writing in U.S. Catholic, describes the practice of confession as “an extremely simplified step-by-step guide, from checkoff of common sins through memorized prayer of repentance to ritual act of token penance.” Wessling’s conclusion? “I’m convinced that Confession is good for the soul,” he says. “But the way Catholics do it is a problem.”
The Bible presents confession in a completely different manner. Most important is confession to God. (Psalm 32:1-5) And the Christian disciple James wrote: “Is there anyone sick among you? Let him call the older men of the congregation to him, and let them pray over him, greasing him with oil in the name of Jehovah. Therefore openly confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may get healed.”—James 5:14, 16.
A Christian burdened with sin can call the congregation overseers, who can give personal and practical counsel from the Bible to help the wrongdoer abandon his sinful course. The overseers can give appropriate encouragement as they monitor the progress of the one who is ailing spiritually. What a contrast to the formalistic ritual of confession practiced by churches today! Fortified by the personal assistance of congregation elders, repentant wrongdoers can gain the relief that David felt, as he expressed in a psalm: “My sin I finally confessed to you, and my error I did not cover. I said: ‘I shall make confession over my transgressions to Jehovah.’ And you yourself pardoned the error of my sins.”—Psalm 32:5.