forgiving sins verse in John more consistent with Catholic interpretation

Pro's Resolution Clearly Referred to Priests Pro has simply backpedaled from the original resolution and has now argued that men have to power to forgive sins. To quote, "catholics hold that a priest has been given the authority to forgive sins. if the priest decides to not absolve the person, their sins could be said to be retained." I would not have expected this softer version of the resolution and Pro referred to Priests directly not "men." Pro has not defended the resolution or explained why any power to absolve sin attributed to this verse would only apply to priests since the priesthood has not been established. Pro has offered no passages to support the validity of the priesthood. Remember, less than half of Christians are catholic and accept the priesthood as being a valid interpretation [2] so the majority disagrees with Pro"s interpretation of this passage. Pro's Interpretation contradicts other passages. Notice Pro says that priests have the power not to absolve sins and has not disputed that this would send the person in question to hell as their sins have not been absolved. It is an action of individual believe and confession that leads to salvation according to the bible, "If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved," Romans 10:9-10. Again Pro"s interpretation directly contradicts another passage in the bible. Pro has backpedaled and is now supporting another resolution I did not agree to debate. Retain is an action and it does not imply some kind of agreement. Even if we take Con"s position to be entirely true the priest is not doing anything other than agreeing with what God has already done. The verses I have listed make it clear that each Christian takes action to receive forgiveness and mention nothing about an intermediator forgiver to make it "official". Pro"s interpretation is in direct conflict with these passages. Pro has essentially agreed with the protestant evangelical position I put forward. "i have already stated that catholics do not believe that a priest can retain a sin unless it is in accord with God's will. so them retaining something is not in tension with God at all. again the forgiveness or retaining merely makes it official." How is this different from my claim that Christians simply agree with God"s forgiveness? Does an all knowing/powerful/benevolent God really need a human to make his actions "official?" Again, Pro has not provided a scripture reference to back up the resolution. Taking one scripture and taking it out of the context of the bible and directly contradicts other scriptures is not a valid argument. - Pro has essentially agreed with my position that contradicts the resolution and has not offered any scriptures to support the interpretation put forward. The resolution rests on the assumption that the Catholic Priesthood is supported by the bible and has done nothing to try to prove that this is true. [2] http://www.pewforum.org...