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Anonymous,
I wish I knew your name. Nevertheless, you are clearly
well-educated on the issue. You have most of the
verses you need if you put them together. Permit
me to challenge you on a few points.
You say, Only God can forgive sins (which
by the way, Jesus never said; the Pharisees did though),
but then you quote James 5:16, which says that man can forgive sins through the Sacrament of Anointing
of the Sick.
You say that men are told to confess
their sins to God, but admit that we are to confess
our sins to one another. (By the way, do you follow
this Scripture in your church?) In my mind, we
are narrowing who we confess our sins to. We only
have to do it to a priest, not to everyone (which
has some major social implications if we take it
in that sense).
The fact is, we aren't to confess our sins only
to God.
- Don't you have to concede this point?
Now you say that Priests/Church leaders are not
mentioned in James 5:16, but verse 14 says:
14 Let him call the elders of the church to
pray over him . . . and if he has sinned, he will
be forgiven.
James 5:14
This is very clearly a reference to leaders of
the Church. In fact, the word for elders in Greek, presbyteroi,
is the very word where the English term priest comes
from and the very term (one of two) used
in Latin to refer to priests by the Church.
Another verse that illustrates that men have the
power to forgive sins is John 20:22-23:
22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive
the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone his sins,
they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven."
John 20:22-23
This is significant and we know it is because it
is only the second time God breathes on a man: the
first is at the creation of man in Genesis.
Here Christ gives the Apostles power to forgive
sins and hold sins unforgiven. The only way that
they can decide which sins to forgive and which not
to forgive, is to hear them confessed.
Now to the remainder of your questions. It is true
that priests are not perfect. That is irrelevant,
though. We see them as instruments of Christ and
His Grace. There is no reason they have to be perfect.
As for one mediator between God and man, priests
are not mediators between God (by which is meant
God the Father) and man. They are mediators between
Christ and man; Christ remains the sole mediator
with God (the Father). Now proof that such mediation
is anticipated comes from the fact that just a few
verses before this one, in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, St. Paul
commands listeners to intercede for everyone. Intercession
is equivalent to mediation, so St. Paul is requesting
us to mediate by our prayers to Christ for everyone.
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made
for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life, godly and respectful in every way.
(1 Timothy (RSV) 2:1-2)
You said:
And a man cannot be forgiven
sins by being told to say a few hail Mary's, or by
some means like that, because forgiveness of sins
requires Godly sorrow, and a true heart-felt repentance.
We concur.
The point of the Hail Mary's is not to secure forgiveness,
nor does it obviate Godly sorrow and true heart-felt
repentance, both of which are prerequisites to a
valid Confession. The point of the penance is to
show our good faith and to produce fruits worthy
of repentance
(Matthew 3:8).
8 Bear fruit that befits repentance (Matthew (RSV)
3:8)
It makes more sense when we consider that penance
used to be hard, involving fasting and long periods
of prayer and exclusion from Communion. Now it's
pretty much a mere formality but I like to look
at it as an act that is a kind of free-will offering:
The priest is not there to make us do it or to pressure
us, it's purely an act from our heart that shows
our good faith desire to make amends to God for our
sin.
It's like giving your wife a bouquet of flowers
to make up for a spat. It doesn't earn forgiveness,
but it shows good faith.
Eric
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