Is there any limits to what can be forgiven?
No, but the person has to sincerely want to forsake the sin.
How can mere mortal priests judge and forgive in God's place ?
They can't.
Is there any limits to what can be forgiven?
How can mere mortal priests judge and forgive in God's place ?
The thing that always baffles me most in Christianity (or at least some branches of it) is the concept of confession. Is there any limits to what can be forgiven (Imagine religious serial-killers who regularly confess) ? How can mere mortal priests judge and forgive in God's place ?
5 This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we haven't sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Actually, some Christian groups believe that some sins can't be forgiven.
Christ says you have to believe in Him; it's even the same word for the level of belief needed to work other miracles.
Not necessarily. The Bible is said to have 7 great mysteries within its pages. For instance, the incarnation is presented as a mystery; so is the church. So the concept is there.Anyone have any input on the 'God works in mysterious ways'? It certainly seems to be a powerful meme. So much so that I thought it had a biblical origin.
If it's not biblical, then it's extra-scriptural and thus could be seen as a non-scriptural concept.
And your point? Of course I want my child to be a Christian, I don't care about it being an "unbiased" decision, whatever that means, like any decision we make is completely without influence. A hippy will want her child to be a left-winger like herself, we all want to shape our children in our image, its just the way it is, why should religion be any different? The important thing is to not force the child or young adult to make a false profession of faith, that benefits no one. And yes, in Norway at least, most confirmations are false professions of faith, not because they are force to do it, but because they get lots of money and gifts upon confirmation. It has become a tradition, and a bad one, it has gone way too far and confirmation has lost its original meaning.
This here is a Catholic and Eastern Orthodox practice. Protestants dont have nor believe in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Or commonly known as Confession).
The Lord's Prayer, as it is called, asks very little for the petitioner personally: only to be kept righteous and to be given "daily bread", which is usually interpreted as "just what I need to survive until tomorrow, when I will pray again".Luke 11 said:Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
Luke 22 said:39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Obviously I believe people pray.This is to any Christian that's willing to answer (and there will be a follow-up):
Do you believe in prayer?
I believe that God hears and answers prayer. You're not getting an answer to your literal question for now, as I'm a suspicious b--t--- who expects you're going to creatively quote some scripture at me that I had forgotten about and show how I'm contradicting the Bible or something like that.This is to any Christian that's willing to answer (and there will be a follow-up):
Do you believe in prayer?
I believe that God hears and answers prayer. You're not getting an answer to your literal question for now, as I'm a suspicious b--t--- who expects you're going to creatively quote some scripture at me that I had forgotten about and show how I'm contradicting the Bible or something like that.![]()
Bump again, because someone was wondering about this thread, and I felt like including an anecdotal essay about prayer. Perhaps it might answer something that someone was wondering about which hadn't yet coalesced into a question.
The other day a friend of mine said that he might be getting a job, and asked me to pray for him. I asked for specifics, and he asked me to pray that he got that job or that a better one would come along.
Then I prayed: "God, let [name] come across and accept a job you find suitable for him."
The reason: God is not a wish-dispenser. God says "No." to many prayers. Growing as a Christian and learning to pray better does result in more prayers being answered with "Yes.", but only, as far as I know, (I am open to correction) because one learns to pray the right prayers, which tend towards "Your will be done".
Those who wish to raise complaints (the most common, in my experience, are hindsight bias and the probability of this happening to at least one person on Earth) may do so, and I will deal with them in a later post.
Obviously I believe people pray.
Nah, I assume you're asking whether we believe prayer actually "works", and whether we do so ourselves. Myself, I do believe prayer can be effective and is always answered in some way - even though the answer is often not what you might expect, and you might not even get it. And yes, I do pray.