Catholic / Orthodox Fapstronauts

Welcome Sanguinos! This forum, and more specifically the Catholic Orthodox thread, will help you to quit PMO. The guys here have been where you now are, and a great many have successfully overcome the problems you speak of.

In my opinion your more serious problem is not finding the courage to go to Confession, but to find ways to quit PMO. In my case, I have found success through my Faith, and I do not think I would have been successful otherwise. I so very much treasure being able to receive Holy Communion every time I attend Mass and live a life that allows me to completely participate in Church activities. This alone is a very strong force that prevents me from relapsing.

You may not be able to live a perfect life, however, I think having to Confess weekly is unreasonable. The Catholic literature I've read suggests that going to Confession monthly is a reasonable expectation. I've decided that I must live my life in such a way that I can attend monthly without placing myself in situations of going several days or weeks living in a state of mortal sin. I had to clean my life up sufficiently to conform to that ideal.

You must search for the resources to assist you in this problem, Sanguinos. I made an appointment and visited my Parrish Priest for more than an hour (which included Confession), and he helped me work through some issues I'd dealt with for a long, long time. He is there to help you, and he can help you. He has seen the problems you are having before, so you do not need to be afraid. Find the courage to make the telephone call for an appointment; the rest will fall into place. I'm praying for you Sanguinos, and I wish you the best!

May the peace and strength of the Lord be with you!

 

one thing that helps me is to think of the priest like a physician. if i am not able to be open and honest with my doctor, he (or she) cannot help prescribe the right medicine. also, if i remain sick and in need of medicine, i need to keep coming back to get treatment to get healthy- or at least not get sicker. don't jump around, but don't stop going either.

as far as not being repentant, we need to be careful with this thought. (just yesterday, i was fighting the urge to fantasize about a friend because I really wanted to M. it was very difficult and could be seen as me not being repentant of this sin, but being drawn to a sin is not the same as failing to recognize the harm it does to me relationship with God.) if we are really not repentant, we wouldn't be concerned about what we are doing. that fact that we are concerned is an indication that we are in some way repentant. it is likely that what we are experiencing is the Accuser (Satan) trying to keep us from going where God will receive us and bless us with the graces to become whole. even if it is just for that day. remember He is abounding in mercy and has no need of it for Himself, He longs to pour to out on us.

Let us pray for each other!
Peace!

 

I like your physician analogy, Funky! Another point, if you were really sick and needed to keep going back to the doctor, you wouldn't go to a different doctor each time. You would want to go to the doctor who was most familiar with you and your particular affliction. The same goes, I think, for attending Confession. Give your Parrish priest a chance; be open and honest; go beyond simply confessing your sins and ask the priest to assist you with the problem. I'll bet you will be pleasantly surprised how it works out.

Peace, my friends

 

Hi all,

I've been offline for awhile (primarily because of busy-ness with college), but I'm back!

 

Lately I've been reading some really empowering theology from St. John Klimakos. He was the abbot of what is now St. Katherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai. He wrote an amazing text called the Ladder of Divine Ascent. It covers a lot of topics, but one of the quotes that stuck with me was the following:

"I have watched impure souls mad for physical love but turning what they know of such love into a reason for penance and transferring that same capacity for love to the Lord. I have watched them master fear so as to drive themselves unsparingly towards the love of God. That is why, when talking of the chaste harlot, the Lord does not say, 'because she feared much', but 'because she loved much' she was able to drive out love with love".

 

I found a good excerpt taken from a daily devotion by PresentationMinistries.com that I often read:

Jesus demands our "all." It would be unreasonable for anyone else in the world to make such demands. But a crucified, nail-scarred, thorn-crowned Savior has the right to expect all now. The first of all commandments is: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Lk 10:27). After what Jesus has done for us in becoming man and dying on the cross, how can we give Him anything less than everything? The least we can do is the most we can do for Him. Our greatest privilege is to be Jesus' slave (Col 3:24). We are eternally indebted to Him for the honor of serving Him. Thank You, Jesus!
​

We all need to overcome our stupid habits of PMO (which by the way are MORTAL SINS that offend our Savior) and clean up our lives. Considering the sacrifice that Jesus made on all our behalf, it shouldn't take much effort or be much imposition for us to overcome these nasty, satanistic habits. Forget going 10-, 30-, or 90-days PMO-free. We need to rid ourselves of thes Christ-insulting sinful habits completely, we need to do it now, and we need to bury these old , repugnant sins never to revisit them ever again. Let's honor our Savior and do it NOW!

peace to all

 

I wrote a piece in my journal last night that I want to present to a wider set of readers:

God made our bodies, so our bodies in reality belong rightfully to God. Our genitals are parts of our bodies, so they also belong to God. God's commandments allows us to use our genitals in a sexual manner only within the state of marriage, and only for the purpose of procreation. Any objections so far?​

Ok, so when we masturbate or engage in illicite sex, we are in fact abusing God's property (i.e. our genitals) in direct defiance of His commandments. Have you ever thought about masturbating in this way? Masturbation is not a victimless act because we are in essence victimizing our Lord (as well as ourselves).​

I'd like your thoughts on this as I've been thinking about this for a while.

Peace, my friends

 

daaaayum. powerful. nice to hear straight from an archbishop and he makes so much sense

 

I haven't had any experiences like that, but it sounds like God may be using it for transformation, which is good.

 

That's definitely one of the more 'unusual' things I've read on the internet..

 

He has not yet blessed me with such an acutely intense prayer sensation, but if He does, i don't think i'd be too concerned about being out of line in terms of how i was acting in relation to my 'sexual response'- unless i was perving on an image of Jesus. it seems to have been, as you indicated, just a physical response to the ecstasy resulting from your conversation and communion with Him; unusual, but not sexual.

 

Brothers and sisters, something is weighing on my mind and I would like your opinion please.

When you would watch P, or view sexual images in the past, if the person wore a cross or crucifix, did that affect you? Did you stop, or move on to another image/clip? Did you pray for that person, or feel sad or scandalized?

I'm asking, because I never take my crucifix off, and it has featured in topless photos I've taken of myself and sent to someone I wasn't married to. I now feel I have been a scandal to the faith, but I didn't want to take it off.

And although it might not sound believable, doing this was not primarily sexual in nature. I don't really want to have a discussion about my behavior per se (in fact my husband knows what happened and doesn't mind), I'd just like thoughts about the crucifix being visible.

Thank you in advance.

 

All I'm not catholic but I am a Christian. I'm hoping to gather fellow Christians to work on this.

Please check out my thread

Army for Christian Integrity

Please join me, God bless!

 

it definitely impacted me. it was as if i could here Jesus saying to me, "As you do this least one, you do to Me." (i say 'least one' here as i understand the desire to be viewed erotically as a manifestation of the hunger suffered from not being given appropriate affection. thus, the youths i was perving on were suffering from least being given the affection proper to their dignity.)
in a way, this speaks to what @Dom Quixote wrote about in #450 above.

seeing Him prevented me from being able to continue looking at that item, and occasionally elicited a prayer for whom i'd looked upon, and even might cause me to exit the site. most times, though, in my weakness (and unwillingness to let Him feed my own need for proper affection), i would simply recognize Him and then move on to the next image, not unlike the rich man stepping over Lazarus. however, the internal conflict was always palatable.

in reflection, i see it was His way of letting me know that regardless of the darkness surrounding me, He is with me. and also that no matter where i might try to flee to escape Him, i can never get to a place He is not. (David wrote about this reality.)
Peace!

 

Thanks for the answer @funkycedars. When I've taken these photos for that purpose, I did have some inner conflict about it. But I just couldn't take it off..

 

The fact that you didn't take it off, at least in my humble opinion, is still to your credit though. At least you know on some deep level how important the cross is as a guiding and transforming symbol and reality.

Also, note: I edited my earlier post with the John Klimakos quote. I realized I had left out part of the quote. Klimakos draws a contrast between love and fear by pointing out that Jesus didn't say, "Because she feared much" as an explanation of why the sinful woman was justified, but rather Jesus said, "Because she loved much".

 

Also, I'm frustrated that the groups still aren't fully implemented yet.

 

I haven't been here in a while so I'm just catching up.

DonQuixote- once a month is a general guide. Once a week may be entirely appropriate depending on where the person is spiritually. Also The Sacrament gives grace to prevent sin and "devotional confession" of venal or even past sins can be a tool. A lot can be said on the matter skilled spiritual directors are few but they know how to apply these things to individuals.

 

Saskia - yes seeing a cross or crucifix would cause conflict within me. I've had all the reactions you describe. I Clearly remember one particular time when the girl wasn't wearing one but their was a crucifix on the wall in the background. Usually I would have to leave those images or quit the pmo all together. I Found it not scandalizing so much as humanizing. It made it difficult to use that person.

So much of p##n use for me required compartamentalizing things in my mind. Closing off certain truths from my mind. The cross dropped those truths right in the middle.

 

Hello,

I was raised in the catholic church and went to catholic school. I'm new here and trying to get more involved with the church. I wish you all the best of success. Day 1 starts for me tomorrow so praying will play a big part. Ill pray for all of you and your success. Feel free to message me a anytime.