Confess Your Sins . . . Online

The Miami Herald has a story about the increasing number sites (some Christian, some not) that allow people to confess their sins online. Here are some examples:

• mysecret.tv
• ivescrewedup.com
• notproud.com
• dailyconfession.com
• grouphug.us

Here’s a selection from the article:

A woman kept her secret for nearly two decades.

Finally ready to confess, she turned not to a minister, but to her computer.

”I am sorry God for not keeping that baby,” her anonymous confession reads. “I had an abortion and had kept that secret for over 18 years. I feel so ashamed. Please forgive me!”

The confession appears at ivescrewedup.com, a website launched by the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City. It’s one of a growing number of such sites across the country—some secular and others church-sponsored—that offer a place to spill out ugly secrets or just make peccadilloes public.

From briefly looking at a sampling of the “confessions” on the secular sites, notproud.com, dailyconfession.com, and grouphug.us, it’s apparent that most are using them not to confess with sorrow but to brag with pride or just be downright rude and offensive. I’m not sure if this is representative, but this was true of the handful of “confessions” I read.

The two sites run by churches, mysecret.tv and ivescrewedup.com, seem to contain more legitimate confessions and are probably moderated for offensive content. Yet I don’t know that I really see much value in anonymous confessions, except for the occasional prayer that may be offered on behalf of the unidentified.

All sins should be confessed to God (1 John 1:9), and some probably to God alone. Other sins should be confessed to those against whom the sin was committed (or others related to the situation under certain circumstances [cf. 1 Tim 5:20]). Ongoing struggles should be confessed to other believers for the purpose of prayer, help, encouragement, and support (Jam 5:16).

When biblical confession is taking place, there really is no need for sites like these. The real solution, then, is probably not to create online confession websites, but to teach and practice biblical confession in our churches.

Read the whole story.

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