Fathr, 4give [User_Name]

| By Scott McClellan | Found in The Web | 3 Comments

Did you happen to catch the CNN.com article, “Forgive us, father; we’d rather go online” last week? The article looks at sites such as mysecret.tv (a product of LifeChurch.tv) and ivescrewedup.com (a product of Flamingo Road Church – remember mynakedpastor.com?). Both sites allow users to anonymously post their most heinous sins (sex, lying, cheating, addiction, etc.), to “come clean, get real, and to take a first step toward the freedom that can be found in genuine confession,” according to the MySecret About page.

The CNN article notes that the Catholic Church officially opposes online confession as a means of protecting the in-person sacrament of confession. Given that LifeChurch.tv and Flamingo Road are Protestant churches, my guess is that they are introducing confession to a different audience than the one currently served by the Catholic Church. Along those lines, I sincerely hope priests don’t feel threatened by the Confession 2.0 trend.

However, I can identify with some of the criticisms verbalized by Father Ricardo Bailey in the article. Absent from Confession 2.0 sites is a conversation. Posters post, readers read. Posters may decide to take another step, contact the church, and get the counsel need. Or, they might go on about their lives. Readers might decide to take another step by committing to pray for a confessor or committing to reach out to the hurting people they know. Or they might become voyeurs, scanning page after page of sordid tales just for the thrill of it.

For the record, I like it when churches get creative. I like it when churches leverage online technology. I like it when churches tackle tough issues. However, I’m beginning to think that while sites like these are amazing starting places/entry points/onramps, they are just that. I’m beginning to think that for sites like these to be considered successful, they have to generate more than just millions of hits.

Have you taken a look at mysecret.tv or ivescrewedup.com? If so, what do you think?

  • Michael

    Hi Scott,

    I’ve just looked quickly at these two sites, but there have been other sites in the past that have done this concept of online confessional. I’m not a Catholic, so I don’t speak from their perspective, but as a Lutheran music minister I do share some of their concerns (and the ones you voiced). I’m glad for the introduction of confession to those who maybe haven’t experienced it before, but what concerns me (besides voyeurism) is the lack of a personal pronouncement of forgiveness. Sure, this is a “first step”, but my concern that many will see as the “only step” needed.

    Sure, it can be a relief to unload something, even anonymously, but the real power of the Gospel is speaking the words “Your sins are forgiven” to someone who’s confessed. Simply confessing it and leaving it there gives the person no assurance of forgiveness, which is the whole point of confessing sin in the first place. These sites may work pyschologically in giving a sense of “that’s a load off me just to finally get it out there”. But theologically it’s lacking in that it leaves very little opportunity for the Gospel to be spoken into these people’s lives.

    I see mysecret.tv has 1 John 1:9 on the front page, which is great. In the About page, they also quote James 5:16, which I find most ironic, that they encourage people to confess to “one another”, but the
    one another” in this case is simply the faceless Internet, not the personal presence of other believers. So I still think this is missing the point – the power of a personal announcement of forgiveness, as well as the personal touch of helping someone to change their ways with accountability.

    If theses sites drive people to a church, great, but my guess is that most who use sites like this aren’t. If sites like these can figure out a way to make this much more personal, more power to them. But as they stand, it’s just not complete.

    FWIW,
    Michael.

  • http://www.kezrush.com Kez

    I think all websites, even community sites, are basically ‘ramps’. Site like MySecret.tv and others are good use of mirco-sites for marketing and taking what I call a cultural temperature. This temperature allows us to see the emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical brokenness of our day. Hopefully we, the Church, will then take step to address them. The above is need, the question remains, how we take this from confession, to forgiveness, and ultimately reconciliation. How do we find these people, take them to the cross and the feet of Jesus for Reconciliation and Restoration?

    I believe that it must be done in community/relationships, it must be done in humility, and it must be done on some physical level at some point.

    Grace and peace from your brother over at C2.0 – the blog

  • http://dustindkk.com/2008/03/24/monday-morning-links/ Monday Morning Links | Dustin DeKoekkoek

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