Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, given our tendency to do things electronically and take the easy way out. We can now confess online, admit our transgressions, and request forgiveness.
Time was that to cleanse oneself of guilt caused by the commission (or omission) of some deed you'd exile yourself to the desert, a mountaintop, or a lifetime of helping those less fortunate. If society wanted to "cleanse" you, then the sanctions might be considerably harsher. Or maybe you would just confront the person you wronged and sought forgiveness.
If you were a Catholic (as I was raised) you could go to confession if you committed a sin, endure a scolding (or worse) from Father Doyle, say a couple of prayers, and presto! Back in God's good graces - for a while at least. If you practiced another religion I suppose you could confess to your minister, rabbi, priest, imam, or avoid the middleman and confess directly to your Supreme Being.
Now comes something else. Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City, FL, now sponsors:
where you can post your screw-ups anonymously (after you go through the "legalese" to enter the site). The FRC has four physical campuses, so I'm guessing it's a "megachurch".
A quick perusal of the posted confessions indicated such sins as swearing, cheating on a test, wishing bad things on people, to bigger-ticket items such as fornication, stealing, drug abuse, violence, etc. Ages ranged from pre-teen to over 60.
I wondered how many confessions were actually real.
The pastor at Flamingo Road Church is one Troy Gramling and he was interviewed last week on Anderson Cooper's CNN show (I missed that).
Of course, after you have confessed, you should probably visit www.imscrewed.com to see what your punishment is. There is such a site, but it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
'Fess up, now! Hey, whatever gets you through the night...
"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions." -- Jerry Falwell
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