Shame often whispers that the only way back is to lay every fault bare before others. Bahá’u’lláh answers otherwise. Confessing sins before human beings, He teaches, has never won divine forgiveness, and it leads only to humiliation, which God does not wish for His servants. Repentance belongs between the soul and God, Who is the Pardoner, the Bounteous, the One Who absolves the repentant, and no priest or congregation stands in between. A reported warning holds that educated people begin to despair of religion when they hear that a priest’s word can pardon sin, and Shoghi Effendi counts confession among the practices the Pen of Bahá’u’lláh set aside. The letter of James, which urges believers to confess to one another and pray for healing [1], marks a real difference worth pondering honestly. Beneath both lies the same longing to be made new without being diminished. That longing leads into the wider history of Christian doctrine and practice, and into the question of priestcraft, where spiritual authority over another soul can quietly become a burden.
Confession of sins and transgressions before human beings is not permissible, as it hath never been nor will ever be conducive to divine forgiveness. Moreover such confession before people results in one's humiliation and abasement, and God -- exalted be His glory -- wisheth not the humiliation of His servants.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Bisharat (Glad-Tidings; =Lawh-i-Nida), 1308-06 ca. [1891-Jan] -- BH00568)
02
To none is it permitted to seek absolution from another soul; let repentance be between yourselves and God. He, verily, is the Pardoner, the Bounteous, the Gracious, the One Who absolveth the repentant.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), 1290-05-15 [1873-Jul-11] -- BH00001)
03
The substance of this gate is that permission hath not been granted for anyone to seek forgiveness from another during the Night; while on the Day of Resurrection it is permitted to seek forgiveness from Him Whom God shall make manifest, or from whomsoever He may designate: otherwise, forgiveness must under all conditions be sought from God, betwixt oneself and Him: for indeed were a servant to beseech forgiveness of God by whatsoever means are possible in the world of being, still it would be no more than what was justly due from him, in view of the just deserving of his own inner essence – how much more of those matters which are subordinate thereto.
(The Báb, Bayan-i-Farsi (Persian Bayan) -- BB00001)
04
How often have the Prophets of God and His universal Manifestations confessed in their prayers to their sins and shortcomings! This is only to instruct other souls, to inspire and encourage them to be humble and submissive before God and to acknowledge their own sins and shortcomings. For these holy Souls are sanctified above every sin and freed from every fault. For example, it is said in the Gospel that a man came to Christ and called Him "Good Master." Christ answered, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." Now, this did not mean--God forbid!--that Christ was a sinner, but rather His intention was to teach humility, lowliness, meekness and modesty to the man He was addressing. These blessed Souls are light, and light cannot be united with darkness. They are life everlasting, and life cannot be gathered in with death. They are guidance, and guidance cannot be brought together with waywardness. They are the very essence of obedience, and obedience cannot join hands with rebellion.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 44, The Rebukes Addressed by God to the Prophets, 1904 ca. -- AB00168)
05
When educated people see the priests taking bread and wine in their hands, blowing a few breaths over them and saying that the bread and wine are now changed into the flesh and blood of Christ, or hear them saying that by making a confession before a priest their sins are pardoned, they will begin to despair of their religion and become totally irreligious.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Maxwell home on 1912-Sep-02 -- ABU2993)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
06
We are forbidden to confess to any person, as do the Catholics to their priests, our sins and shortcomings, or to do so in public, as some religious sects do.
LG#589 (on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
07
Those unwarranted practices, in connection with the sacrament of baptism, of communion, of confession of sins, of asceticism, of priestly domination, of elaborate ceremonials, of holy war and of polygamy, have one and all been rigidly suppressed by the Pen of Baha'u'llah...
WOB.022
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
Sentence boundary needs source review; the supplied wording is retained.