Since, George, you've locked the other thread, I will post the response I prepared here. I suggest you move the part of the thread dealing with Catholic vs. Orthodox confession here (from about page five on).
Again with the Catholics.... Roll Eyes
Who cares what you believe? (which, by the way, is that the sin would be outweighed by the "Treasury of the Church" which according to your mob includes "the truly immense, unfathomable and ever pristine value before God of the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, who following in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by His grace have sanctified their lives and fulfilled the mission entrusted to them by the Father. Thus while attaining their own salvation, they have also cooperated in the salvation of their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body." (Indulgentarium Doctrina 1967) So you see, we are different. You guys think the "merits" of the Saints "co-operate" to save and form part of the "Treasury of the Church" which can be applied in the form of "Indulgences" for the remission of temporal punishment.- we don't. The only thing we place in the other side of the scale is God's mercy in Christ. Smiley So now, why not be a good little poster and do as the moderators have asked you to and post in the Orthodox-Catholic Discussion Forum rather than turn every thread into a theological argument about doctrinal differences between RC's and Orthodox, or your inane claims that they don't exist? And if you can't do that, then I really have to wonder what you are doing here apart from trolling.
My "mob"? Is that an attack on my Church or my ancestry? Is this not shades of TomS from you?
I'm not taking your bait. Did I "inanely" say everything was the same doctrinally between the Catholic and EO Churches? Once again, these are straw men you are punching. The basic point I made before STILL holds true---BOTH of our Churches treat different sins in different ways. Some are barriers to Holy Communion because they have so sickened the soul that they require medicine in confession. Others, however, can be healed by the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ through Holy Communion. OF COURSE all sin is sin and requires repentance and trust in the mercy of the Lord for us to be healed at all. I've never claimed otherwise! That's why I feel personally attacked and have become utterly disgusted by this "discussion." My words have been twisted and other words put in my mouth, I feel.
As I was afraid, it seems you actually took seriously my last statement about Catholics not caring about "small" sins, even with the smiley face. You actually believe we think that, don't you?
The thread was already discussing (the negative aspects of) Catholic confession before I came to it. I jumped in only to correct serious mischaracterizations, before your uncharitable dissembling act took things off the rails. Had it been moved to the RC-EO forum, I would have taken it up here. It should be here now.
But some simply cannot discuss purely EO topics without dragging Catholics into it, as if the EO self-definition and identity includes as a chief component "not RC." It's a very ugly streak in EO culture. This is
personally offensive to me (similar to attacks on my own mother), and less tolerable with the level of frequency I've seen here---it is tempting me to develop corresponding anti-EO feelings, feelings which did not exist before here. Blessedly I was spared most of this uncharitable stuff in my dealings with EO offline. I came here with such a warm orientation toward the EO Church, despite our differences, but through this experience, I can feel the temptation of growing hostility. These feelings trouble me. It's safe to say that I've grown to be glad I'm not EO---it had some appeal to me before. But I'm not sure I want to stick around and develop an anti-EO streak after seeing my faith mischaracterized and disrespected so much here. I fear that may happen if I stay on a regular basis. I don't want to harbor this kind of hostility toward a Church I've always admired, despite the uncharity of some of its members.
So after some thinking, like PJ, I've decided to restrict my participation here. Better for you, better for me. I will pop in now and then but use discernment in deciding what threads to jump into. Starting today. Please direct all barbs to my PM box. I will answer them there. Many thanks.