Let's say I've PMOed. Did I, by doing this, "invited" demons to "come to me"? Like, are they "here" if I'm PMOing, but I can't see them? Because if true, this could be a good motivation to all of us to stay away from mortal sins in general, because all you're doing is inviting demons to you in the most literal sense.
I can’t answer your question regarding demons actually being invited to come. However, I do believe when I did fall and pmo I allowed satan into my heart, where there should only be room for Jesus. Regardless, like you said “Because if true, this could be a good motivation to all of us to stay away from mortal sins in general, because all you're doing is inviting demons to you in the most literal sense.”
Luke 20:24-26 is not a direct answer to your question but nevertheless the answer is clearly inferred. If we can sweep our minds clear of demons clearly we can also allow them back in. It seems to me that sin, both venial and mortal, can open the door to demons and what a frightening thought it is to consider demons can live and grow within us. Even more frightening, once we sweep these demons from our mind, we must remain strong or even more evil demons will haunt us. Luke Ch. 20, v24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.” NRSV-CE
I heard a priest recently who reminded me that Christ referred to hell and the devil frequently in His words as recorded in the New Testament. Clearly, Our Lord, knew of the devil and He even cast the devil out of people on occasion. One of the devil's most effective tricks has been to convince modern man that he doesn't exist.
I think my personal problem is that I'm just not scared of the devil. I do believe that he exists, I mean, I'm catholic, but I don't fear him enough to let go of sin. I think that's why I'm personally obsessed with "evil" things like gore and horror (which I no longer watch as I got a psychosis because of that), so I maybe will grow a fear of the evil and devil as a consequence. You can check out my nightmares thread in the Off Topic Section. It's a complicated topic.
For me, the scariest thing about the devil is the very real possibility that he could draw me into a life devoted to sin. I have glimpsed a life so deeply sinful that I despaired of the possibility God could have mercy on me. Fortunately, God reached out and pulled me out of that pit. However, the feelings of loneliness which come from being so far distant from God are incredibly depressing. I expect that if such feelings go unchecked they could lead to suicide. I won't bother trying to convince anyone that the devil is scary but I do suggest all should consider what a life devoid of hope feels like. God fosters hope for the future while the devil leads us to give up hope and live in total despair. What a dark and unhappy place that must be.
I mean, that's the point here. I'm glad you're terrified of living with sin, especially of staying in a state of mortal sin. As I'm not. I know why it's bad, as it will lead one to hell right after one dies, but I don't feel any emotions about it. Like "I emotionally don't care whether I've sinned or if I'm in a state of mortal sin" And maybe what I'm trying to achieve by being interested in gore and horror (as I said, I don't watch gore anymore because it literally gave me mental issues like derealization and a panic attack disorder) and by watching "extreme porn" (BDSM and something like that, won't go into details, there's a specific porn website dedicated for extreme BDSM and fetish porn) is that I might become scared of the evil and the devil and sin, because I don't know any other way of becoming scarred of sin and the evil. My situation is indeed strange. I accept catholic teaching yet refuse to practice it, because I'm not afraid of sin and the devil although I acknowledge that they exist
In short, yes, when you commit certain sins, you give the devil certain rights over you. There's a great video series with Chris Stefanick and Chad Ripperger about topics like demonic possession and oppression. It's available on YouTube.
First of all we should fear God. Without fear of God we can act disrespectful towards Him. The same with people. Being too familiar to somebody often means that we feel we can treat them without respect. Even the word respect contains in it some fear towards some one else. "I accept catholic teaching yet refuse to practice it " It's the same as - I accept eating healthy food but I eat fastfood every day. There are some consequences of such attitude. In case of eating it's being fat because only accepting but not practising gives nothing. The same with God's grace.
It sounds like you've swallowed a spiritual "black pill." You just don't give a darn. You need a dose of hope. So, you can't imagine hell; can you imagine heaven? Can you imagine a world better than this one? What would it look like? Do you desire to goto heaven? I imagine heaven as a place where everything is as it ought to be. A never-ending place where everything is always in perfect order. Where we can learn everything there is to know over the course of millenia and aeons. I can't wait.
No, I didn't say that I can't imagine hell I can imagine hell very well, St Faustina diaries describe it pretty well. What I meant was that, as you rightly pointed out, I just don't give a darn anymore, I've given up spiritually to care about heaven and hell. It's more like I use this life on earth I have to accept that I will 99.9% end up in hell. I tried to escape to other religions and atheism, but I actually find it easier to accept hell than to pretend that it doesn't exist We can't imagine heaven as no one has seen heaven, only the souls in heaven God and the angels know how it looks like. It's literally written in the Bible. So, no i don't know how it will look like. I just know that: There is an order in heaven, the "holier" you were the nearer you're God in the hierarchy so to speak We won't have physical bodies or appearances, just pure spirit We won't have any needs, as all our needs will be satisfied as we're in the presence of God Worshipping God all the time If I'd choose how heaven should look like, I would make it be like a continuation of life on earth with your loved ones and friends, but without any suffering and pain (and obviously no death). But that's not the case how heaven will look like. Maybe "Golden Jerusalem" will look like this, but certainly not heaven yet.
Yeah, that's the thing, I don't fear God because nowadays God is presented as the "good guy" who doesn't send people to hell, but the people themselves send themselves to hell. So how can I fear such a God? The only reason to fear him would be because if he wanted, he could make me die at any moment, or take away my talents at any moment. But that's the only reason I see to have some fear of God That's a good analogy with fast food. I just agree with catholic teaching, but I still refuse to practice it because I don't have the motivation to get out of sin.
It sounds like you're in despair, which is a "foretaste of hell." You know what hell is like because you're already there. I've been there. No, there is not a 99.9% percent chance you'll end up in hell. You can always turn your life around. Right, well as you pointed out there will be a time when heaven will be just as real as us sitting here typing on our keyboards. We'll be in our glorified bodies and everything will be completely perfect. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a world without despair?
It's hard not to be in a state of mortal sin. I mean, I basically mortally sin every day: either by PMO if I relapse (or sexual fantasizing which happens more often), not praying, no mass, meat on Friday, anger and bad language, pride as im pretty sure a narcissist, watching series which are contrary to church teaching (like Family Guy and when they joke about Jesus). I'm no Carlo Acutis, I'm actually the exact opposite of him. The only hope for me there is, is if I die right after confession. I wouldn't say it's despair, it's just realism. Catholicism is the hardest religion to live. I remember when a priest once said that one should see religion not as something restrictive, but as something you can benefit from. But I simply don't see it, religion is only there to restrict your way of living in order to get to heaven. I get why PMO is bad as I feel it myself what a huge difference NoFap makes, but I still relapse once every two weeks because the pressure is too much I also think that I might be suppressing a lot of emotions and that's the reason why I feel like that, because frankly I don't feel a lot of emotions, I feel like on x-nas all the time
You can stop. A good starting point might be a simple apology to God. Just acknowledge that what you're doing is wrong and promise God you'll do your best to amend your life. You have a good conscience; you know what you're doing is wrong. Also, I'd like to point out that if you were a narcissist, you would never concede that you might be a narcissist. Narcissists don't have that level of self-awareness. They think they're the bee's knees. No, you're not. Nobody can be Carlo Acutis except Carlo Acutis. Nor can anyone be the exact opposite of him. You're uniquely you. All you can do is be the best you, you can be. If you're going to confession with no intention of amending your life then you're doing it wrong. They're all hard. Imagine being a Jew with their 613 commandments. That's because you're trying to eliminate the vice without replacing it with virtue. It's not enough to just stop sinning, you have to replace it with something. Yes, you are.
With what virtue should I replace PMO? What I'm just saying is that at least with the way I'm currently living I'm on a highway to hell. Sometimes, I think it's a matter of environment. If I could live in late 1800s or early 1900s Europe (in a village, not city), it would be a lot easier to actually practice your religion, as everyone around you did. I mean, besides working in the fields, going to church and prayer was the only activity back then. I don't want to blame my environment, but it's much harder to want to practice your faith if everyone around you is indifferent to religion (and not only that, but also with absolute no modesty which again triggers my PMO addiction). I mean, what can I do? Go to mass and rosary everyday to the church? Maybe it would be a beginning.
Chastity. It probably would have been easier in certain times and places. There are also times when it would have been harder. Imagine being a Christian in Ancient Rome. The fact is, there are plenty of practicing Catholics who do just fine in this environment. You can do it.
Well said, Every one in the state of mortal sin is already in hell. One of many aspects of hell is total pessimism and awareness that nothing can be changed for good. If you are 99,9% sure that you end up in hell so you have (almost) no control over your life then you know how they feel there. pmo is not a mortal sin for somebody who tries to get out of it ( and you try ) because of the lack of full will control ( and only with full will control you can sin mortally) , sexual fantasizing is not a mortal sin for addicted people - see above why. anger and bad language - emotions not controlled, so I daubt you sin here mortally. The real problem is not praying and no mass - but I think it's rather the result of being in the state of hopelessness and this state without hope is really a mortal sin but it can be changed easily. No, it's not because you think that every pmo act is a mortal sin though it really is but only if you aren't an addict but you are. So you can be in the state of grace even if you do pmo every day provided you really try to fight it ( it doesn't matter if you are able to overcome pmo, it matters if you try to do it and if you have hope that with God it is possible someday - and it is). I had been for 33 years pmo addicted. Here it is CPilot who had been for 50 or so years addicted and now we are free so you see - it's possible and even not so hard the fight if you do it with God, not on your own.
