A number of questions regarding the current teaching was submitted last week. I’d like to address one here:
Does the Roman Catholic church today believe in taking money to in exchange for forgiveness of sins?
In my understanding, this is not an overt doctrine of the RCC. However, given their system of salvation (process justification—as Dan has pointed out), almsgiving is seen as one of many “bricks” in one’s road toward justification. Whereas we believe that the Bible teaches that one’s forgiveness of sins is a one-time event (forensic justification), we would hold that giving money to the church or to the poor would be as a RESPONSE to forgiveness. Not as a means of forgiveness.
To make it more simple, the RCC believes that you do good works IN ORDER TO BE forgiven. We believe that God has clearly taught in the scripture that we are justified by trusting in Jesus’ good works. Our good works are therefore done BECAUSE were are forgiven.
Paul makes a HUGE deal out of this in the book of Galatians. I’d recommend a fresh reading of that epistle.
The following was written by Father John Dietzen from the Diocese of Springfield Illinois.
Indulgences are traditionally described as a partial or total remission of temporal punishment due to our sins through prayers and good works performed by oneself or other Christians. The spiritual treasury of the church, the merits attained by Jesus Christ and those united to his body, the church, are distributed in this way to those who still have purification to undergo for their sins.
It’s true there is less emphasis on indulgences than there used to be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the major one was mentioned by Pope John Paul II, who called indulgences a “delicate topic … about which there have been historic misunderstandings which negatively left their mark on communion among Christians” (general audience, Sept. 29, 1999).
Decades earlier, Pope Paul VI noted the same. Indulgences have been improperly used, he said, either through “untimely or superfluous indulgences,” which humiliated the church, or through “illicit profits” (Apostolic Constitution, “Doctrine of Indulgences,” 1967).
…the use of indulgences remains a salutary practice in the life of the church, based as it is on our belief in the communion of saints.
… in applying partial indulgences to prayerful invocations, which are widely left to individual preference, the 1999 Manual of Indulgences notes that these invocations must not be considered a complete or distinct work in themselves, but must accompany the carrying out of one’s daily duties and bearing the hardships of life.
The simplified practice of indulgences, begun by Pope Paul VI and continued by Pope John Paul II, is contained in the Manual of Indulgences published in 1999 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Read the entire article.
A free PDF is available as an overview regarding Indulgences. or you can pay for the official Manual of Indulgences.
What is interesting, I find, is that the RCC finds itself in a very difficult position. Because Church tradition is on par with authority of scripture, they can never admit that they were wrong in the sale of indulgences, only that it was misunderstood.
When it comes to the RCC position of final authority, it is had to determine what is worse the cure or the illness? The only remedy for the RCC to administer is that they have to claim that truth (i.e. Papal decree) changes accordingly under the application of time. But, is that really more helpful? Does it not open the RCC up to an even more troubling issue – maybe God has changed! It would seem they trade issue for issue until it threatens the very heart of a discernible definition of truth and, potentially, reality itself.
Am I wrong or is this consistent reasoning?
I would have to agree. Bu then again I’m not Catholic, so what else am I going to say?