One of many other forms of confession, now evolved into Facebook rant, all useless to a being. in Scientology it's an expensive security protocol. Novelty is that the believer pays to undergo the lie detector. Historically the relief felt in confession is that the confessor stops the torture once he hears whatever he wants to hear.
Maria, you sure bring up some interesting perspectives. So very true!
It annoys the heck out of me that COS masks these interrogations as "church confessionals" and pretends there is anything in common with the Catholic Church about it, beyond the medieval torture during the Crusades when they were hunting witches and heretics.
But that wasn't New Testament, either, and Jesus' concept of confession was never about intimidation and torture.
One of my Jewish friends once told me, "I wish I were Catholic."
Puzzled, I asked him why he'd say such a thing.
He said, "Because in your religion, all you have to do is believe and you are forgiven. There is no judgement, no amends, no guilt. You say a few prayers as penance, turn to Jesus and you're forgiven. You believe, say you're sorry and it's over. What could be easier?"
It took literally years for me to reconcile that concept. Could someone do horrible things all their lives, then just before they die, ask to be forgiven and have a clean slate? Every Christian I asked said yes, but that made no sense to me.
Then it finally dawned on me one day how it all worked and what a gorgeous, singular concept for a religion.
It wasn't about saying the words. It was about having a true change of heart and humility, admitting one was flawed and accepting that there was a person or power far more good and perfect than one's self and desiring with all one's mind, heart and spirit to become better, more good, and to put the work and effort into it.
To the atheists - having a role model of integrity is a bit similar. Sociology studies say that the worst, most violent criminals do not answer to anyone for anything and consider themselves to singularly set their own rules and laws. They see themselves as above society and others, answerable to no one but themselves. These are the characteristics of a psychopath.
So if someone has a true change of heart in a true confession, the past is erased. It's gone. It's forgiven, they are not judged and they do not have to carry the guilt.
Christianity is truly a beautiful religion. How many of us have enough love in our hearts to heal another's heart and past?
Sure, there's a lot of controversy and discussion about how people should pay legally and make things up and what is right or wrong. But here I'm only talking about the spiritual aspect, and it's quite a beautiful, pure concept.
Scientology is nothing like that. As you pointed out, it's more of an exercise of of medieval Inquisition, torture, blackmail and corporate control.