Peter Sellick I don't agree with everything but overall another well-thought out and sensible piece of writing.

You say:
"In the absence of belief in confession and absolution what other choice is there? As the father in the film Little Miss Sunshine says, ‘Never apologise, it is a sign of weakness’. Fortunately this movement is going the way of all fads but it is capable of producing a whole generation of unreflective sociopaths who will go through life feeling good about themselves regardless of the havoc they have caused in other people’s lives as they resolutely strive for their life goals." This comment on the "self-esteem movement" is well said Peter Sellick of certain sections of this "movement" but is too much of a generalisation to be credible.

I think that some modern day thinking is just the old Christian-like thinking renewed without all the church and religious carry on. Self reflection and seeking counsel on problems is a sign of humility. To grant ourselves absolution (after all we are the only ones who know how annoyed at ourselves we are for doing something wrong or being weak willed when being challenged by life’s little character builders) is just people recognising that they are not perfect but at the same time don't need to let it undermine their own self worth.

Jesus hung out with people who were regarded as hopeless sinners of little value. I think this showed that He valued all people regardless of their status or whatever. The lack of the kind of humility that Jesus showed in some churches is doing more damage to the church than individuals feeling good about themselves and having feelings of self worth.

Re: Confession. Granted you do acknowledge that not everyone who takes confession is fair dinkum (I’m a little puzzled at the responses above that have a go at the confession on this point) but you’ll have to confess that the insight and irony of that old Irish song “Wild Rover” is spot on. See next post

Wild Rover

I've been a wild rover for many's the year and I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer and now I'm returning with gold in great store and I never will play the wild rover no more

Chorus:
And it's no, nay, never no, nay, never!
No more will I play the wild rover no, never, no more

I went into an alehouse I used to frequent and I told the landlady me money was spent I asked her for credit, she answered me nay such a custom as yours I could have any day

I took from me pocket ten sovereigns bright and the landlady's eyes opened up with delight she said she had whiskeys and wines of the best and the words that she told me were only in jest

I went home to my parents, confessed what I'd done and I asked them to pardon their prodigal son and when they'd caressed me as oft times before I never will play the wild rover no more.

End

Yeah Paddy whatever you say brother.

Sorry Peter but these days you’re correct - confession is regarded with little esteem. The church has itself to blame for the lack of respect for confession because it absolved people of sins whilst they continued to carry on as before - don’t try and pass it off on others or bogey-man like “self esteem movements”. Own it. Best wishes on re-establishing Truth and truth in confession.

The Truth may set you free, but the truth will destroy your world of fantasy. And then on bended knee, we’ll understand the gist of Christian humility.

Church and Absolution:

If a Jesus character did died for our sins [subsitutionary ransom], it would seem that Church-based confession is redundant. If I were a Christian, I would see no need for a church, which would seem to be an unnecessary intercession. If I were Christian, I would posit a Pope, Bishop, Priest or Minister is no closer to any posited god than would be a lay person.

How often have you heard a member of the Christrian clergy humblely denounce the notion of the "Holy" Man in society or title? I have never heard of this. Rather, the Most Revereds of this temporal world seem to have aligned themselves with openly temporal leaders, doctors, mayors, school principals, police inspectors and the like.

When I did attend church, I can recall the fuss made, when the Bishop would visit. Given that, supoposedly, on a normal Sunday and any Sunday a god's presence was supposedly there, it seems incredibly temporal to be more engaged in pampering to a member of the Church's executive, which would add nothing to the presence of a god. Soft icons

Ronni,
I agree that I may have lambased the self esteem movement out of hand. The problem with it is that it is entirely reflexive, people are told to believe in themselves certainly a Christian heresy. It is not that we believe in ourselves but that God believes in us, without the breaking of the narcisistic circle we go nowhere.

Peter writes this article on confession and absolution but hasn't fessed up here on one of the most dishonest concepts ever perpetrated by some unpardonable people ....... i.e. belief in invented teddies (gods) where vulnerable people have their minds systematically emptied and replaced with a teddy vacuum ..... as if we do not want to give offense.

Within these religious playpens we just see these poor, unfortunate, praise addicts seemingly moving in unison, inexorably with some single, well-laid-out messianic agenda to where it is all grovel and praise, praise, praise to the all powerful teddy, this heavenly gift to be preserved, venerated, worshipped with utmost loyalty. This it seems is justification for the hidden agendas .... like ...... what must I do to be saved?

BUT, oh my gracious goodness, Peter then confesses something, ........ that he has "lambased the self esteem movement out of hand" because "people are told to believe in themselves" with praise rather than praise, praise to the all powerful teddy.

However,

life should be about raising consciousness, and not developing a conscience if that can be understood intelligently. The former is a thirst to understand the nature of our being while the later is born out of emotional blackmail by religious (teddy) cheerleaders. Whilst there is nothing wrong with people wanting to believe in themselves, unfortunately this assumed "self esteem movement" from the early 1970's has taken a similar messianic approach where it is all phony praise, praise, praise, too. Not of course to an imaginary teddy but to the individual although that duplicity remains.

Consciousness raising recognises the material fact that the brain is a muscle and giving it a harder workout makes it smarter. Responding to failure is a learning opportunity to exercise some testable implications and rational functions of the mind to understand and to avoid any hasty conclusions. We just need to find correlations to see the reality of our relationship to the environment, others, our bodies, and our emotions.

So we should forget the three Hail Mary's and the donation in the box and go and learn hard stuff.

Peter, as an ex-catholic, now bible believing christian my life could have turned out differently if the priest I confessed my sin of impurity to, at age 8, when he ascertained that the person my sin was with was a man, had not been bound by the seal of secrecy which, in my case, protected my rapist - a paedophile who probably raped and molested other small girls, and perhaps boys. He did tell me to tell my mother, and the police, but in my child's mind I thought that I was not only in trouble with God, (the priest was God in the confessional), I was also in trouble with the cops too. I did not tell, and made up my mind there and then I would have to go to hell when I died, because I did not follow-through with the priest's instructions and did not obtain absolution! Mandatory reporting by the priest could have saved my angst for over 40 years..
Amber