E-Confession ...

... for protestants?

LifeChurch set up mysecret.tv as a forum for people to confess anonymously on the Internet about a month ago. Since then, it has received more than 150,000 hits and more than 1,500 confessions.

Groeschel told the Times that after 16 years in ministry he knew that the smiles and handshakes he received each week from parishioners often masked a lot of pain.

"I realized that people are carrying around dark secrets, and the website is giving them a first place for confession," he told the Times. "There’s no magic in confessing on a website. My biggest fear is that someone would think that and would go on with life. This is just Step 1."

Due to the response to his website, Groeschel had begun a series of sermons on forgiveness and the need for confession.

"We confess to God for forgiveness but to each other for healing," he told the Times. "Secrets isolate you, and keep you away from God, from those people closest to you."

That is the beauty of the sacrament of confession: You confess to a priest who is acting in the person of Christ.

Sin isn't a private affair. Everytime we turn away from God, we effect His entire Church. So, it makes sense that when we confess to God, we do it through one of His human ministers. The Priest isn't a substitute, he is an instrument that God uses to give mercy and forgiveness.

I can identify with anyone who is afraid to go to confession. It is intimidating, but the grace that you recieve through it is amazing. There's such a surety of God's presence when you hear:
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son
has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is a smart guy.