Confession

Confession is good for the soul, but it doesn't do much for one's reputation.

This week in NewSong we talked about the spiritual discipline of confession. We specifically talked about confessing our sins to a trusted friend. But it got me thinking, how public should one's confession be? Does the old adage, "The more public the sin the more public the confess." hold true?

But if the other person doesn't know anything about the wrong is it worth confessing to them and hurting them in the process just to cleanse your conscious?

I can remember as a young person not liking one of my teachers. I would even make fun of him behind his back. But he had no clue. Well one day under a fit of guilt I publicly confessed that I never liked him. He was shocked. I think he wrote it off as a deranged teenager, I hope so. Would I have been better off to confide in another person and just change behaviors?