Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Rick Warren says that this doesn't mean you confess sins to another person in order to be forgiven. Scripture does confirm this (although I don't endorse Rick Warren, it just popped up among other sources when I was looking up that specific verse on Google.).
Still, if it's in the Bible, we must do it. I'm mainly hung up on this because of mechanics. Honestly, I should just take a look at the verse itself. Here's the entire passage in its context:
Jas 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Jas 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
So yeah, it appears like, if you're sick, confessing sin is key to getting healed, along with other believers praying for you.
But, if anyone's curious, I don't mind sharing. In the ESV, Proverbs 24:9 says:
Pro 24:9 The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.
I was really hung up on this because I wasn't sure what it meant, especially when the KJV says "the thought of foolishness". All I wish to say in public is that I may have violated Proverbs 24:9 throughout my life. How, I don't wish to disclose. Only that I am likely guilty of it.
I also would like to confess my continuing struggle with anxiety, in violation of Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 12:22-31, Philippians 4:6, and the like. Yes, anxiety IS a sin. I am less anxious now, seeing as I take the notion of anxiety being sinful, seriously.
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