Isn't it funny how confession is so often discussed in terms of the well advertised Catholic ritual. As many of my non-Catholic friends will tell you, it is quite the treat. Lucky us. I've spent the last couple of days thinking about the rite of confession and how it applies to golfers and everyone in general. I found this tid bit, I hate to confess on Wikipedia, that relates well to the topic at hand.
Judaism, confession (Hebrew וִדּוּי Widduy; Viddui) is a step in the process of atonement during which a Jew admits to committing a sin before God. In sins between a Jew and God, the confession must be done without others present (The Talmud calls confession in front of another a show of disrespect). On the other hand, confession pertaining to sins done to another person are permitted to be done publicly, and in fact Maimonides calls such confession "immensely praiseworthy".
The confession of a sin in itself does not bring immediate forgiveness, but rather it marks a point in time after which a person's demonstration of the recognition and avoidance of similar future transgressions show whether he or she has truly recovered from the sin and therefore whether he or she deserves forgiveness for it.
followed by this on Deathbed Confession:
The Talmud[10] teaches that “if one falls sick and his life is in danger, he is told: “Make confession, for all who are sentenced to death make confession.”” Masechet Semachot[11] adds that “When someone is approaching death, we tell him to confess before he dies, adding that on the one hand, many people confessed and did not die, whilst on the other, there are many who did not confess and died, and there are many who walk in the street and confess; because on the merit of confession you will live.” Similar language is employed in the Shulchan Aruch’s codification where it is ruled that the following text should be recited to the terminally ill: “Many have confessed but have not died; and many who have not confessed died. And many who are walking outside in the marketplace confess. By the merit of your confession, you shall live. And all who confess have a place in the World-to-Come.”[12]
The patient is then to recite the deathbed Viduy. There is an abbreviated form[13] intended for those in a severely weakened state and an elongated form,[14] “obviously if the sick person wishes to add more to his confession – even the Viduy of Yom Kippur – he is permitted to do so”.[15] Afterwards it is also encouraged for the patient to recite the Shema, enunciate acceptance of the Thirteen Principles of Faith and to donate some money to charity.
The entire article can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_in_JudaismI have always found Judaism much cooler than Catholicism and would be interested in what we can learn about this incident. My favorite quote from above is that (The Talmud calls confession in front of another a show of disrespect). I don't that applies here because the golfer did sin against Pete by lying to his face. Sadly I do believe the golfer once again harmed Pete by making the call. The question is, would he have done a better service to himself and Pete by confessing just to God and himself. Obviously yes.
The second aspect of this is what would you do if you were the playing partner that called the infraction and was shot down. I take it that he signed the scorecard that day and did not go to great pains telling everyone the guy was a cheat. In other words, he was a better man than me. This is where the story will get interesting and a hero may emerge that can teach future golfers. I hope we hear from him.