I took a trip over to a virtual confessional yesterday and confessed something anonymously.
I’m not exactly sure what emotion I was expecting but it wasn’t much. In fact, I’m not sure what I was expecting to experience at all except something within me hoped for a pause or moment of relief.
What do you think of this idea by Long Hollow Baptist Church? Is this a valuable addition to an online ministry?
I think that this can be a great tool for a church or ministry to utilize. When you look at the popularity of projects like Postsecret, which thrive on the anonymity of being able to tell a secret (or confess in this case), I believe that one can see that anonymous confession is therapeutic. Obviously, it should not be the only step towards confession, but it can be a place where the first step towards reconciliation can be taken.
digg it.
Thanks for the link love, John.
Our goal for the confession site is merely to kick start the healing and recovery process. We hope that folks will be moved and encouraged enough by the anonymous confessions of others to take the first step into some real accountability.
Immediately after a confession is submitted via the short form, they're presented with the following message:
"Thank you for sharing.
1 John 1:9 tells us “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [...]” We first must confess to God, then James 5:16 tells us, “Confess your faults to one another.” If you want to experience true freedom, take what you’ve written here and read it to someone that you feel is safe and trustworthy to hold your confession in confidence.
If you don’t have access to a safe person in your life, please feel free to contact our staff or attend Celebrate Recovery where you might find that safe friend with which to share your struggle in confidence."
We've had hundreds of confessions submitted since Sunday, and have seen many folks taking additional steps to true transparency and accountability. I'm not saying this is the perfect solution/tool, but I'm encouraged at the repentance and life change we're seeing so far.
I like this.
My first thought about this post was "anonymous confessions leads to anonymous accountability," which was just a snarky way of saying no accountability at all.
I like your explanation. I like thinking of the anonymous confession as a starting point for people who would not have made the jump from no confession at all.
I enjoy thinking of providing steps in the process in this way for people. Perhaps anonymously confessing something is better than never confessing at all.
+1 to you!
+1 … epic!
I like the idea of correcting the incorrect tendency that a technology might have. Interesting work Eric!
Got ya
Weird…the confession that you posted showed up in my RSS reader….lol
maybe it's just me…but i don't feel the need to confess anonymously on a site…
I am totally with you Jim! I think this kind of thing leads to shallow and "hollow" Christianity.
I'm not sure about what it leads to…I'm not comfortable doing it…I can confess before God and to a person I sinned against…but this seems like the guy who ran out in the field, dug a hole, and whispered “King Midas has donkey ears”….without confessing before God, first…I'm not sure what the advantage would be…maybe it would help someone…I don't have an opinion, I'm just processing scenarios…
Please view my comment above. After they take the first step of submitting the anonymous confession, we immediately prompt them to share with a "trusted person" to begin the process of repentance and recovery.
The anonymous confessions exist to be a healthy first step and encourage others to examine the sin in their own lives.
I can see that…I'm realizing that the church-at-large is in the process of creating outlets for folks online where they can do this…I don't have an issue with it…I'm not sure it's for everyone, but, if God leads them there and it leads to repentance and recovery, that would be incredible…
Anonymity is something that whilst running http://j516.com I have thought about a lot.
A famous quote goes "While anonymity increases, accountability decreases" and confession I think is often pointless without accountability.
I would have to agree that it is very difficult to truly overcome habitual sin in life if we don't place ourselves in a place where others know who we are and know what we are struggling with. In my life I found I wasn't able to overcome pornography until other men around me knew of my struggle and held me accountable. I was scared to death of others finding out, but through confession and accountability God used those men to heal me and pull me out of my sin. I am now free from that sin. Praise the Lord!
I have to agree with what's been said here. There's no accountability to an anonymous confession, especially if it's a habitual sin like pornography, something that I've battled with. And I even tried some anonymous confession and prayer requests for my problem with porn, but it wasn't until confessing it face to face with someone I trusted enough to show the yuck that I was involved in that healing for it could begin.
Anonymity and accountability don't go together.