My sharing code is 5zz7r7.
I’ve been a Christian for many years. I have struggled though for many years of my body being the master of me. A man cannot serve two masters so I cannot fully follow Christ and my body at the same time. I have been trying to break away from this slavery alone. I know now that the best thing for me is to get accountability.
Just got back to my faith in Christianity after so many years…
I hope I can stay away from porn for good as I do love God more than my vices.
Try using app blockers, if you regulary watch porn on your mobile device, brother.
Are you guys serious? Is it necessary to include your religion into self improvement program? I’m an atheist at the same time I DON’T OPPOSE ANY RELIGION OR THEIR BELIEVE but come on, this forum is focused for “HUMAN” life improvement.
But this really made me speach less,
Hello, we are serious. I know you may find this ridiculous that we are including our religion on a self improvement program. At least we only have one thread it seems I could be wrong though. But yes, it is necessary for us. I fully understand that you might not view religion as important or even something that makes you speechless. I’m also not here to put you down and harras you for not believing what we believe. I just want to hopefully help clarify a few things for you about what we believe. Christians believe that sex was created by God (I might of lost you already) to be a beautiful display of intamacy between a man and his wife. God created humans to be intimate and when we are intimate within the boundaries that He created for us, it brings glory to Him. Lust for another person who isn’t our spouse is a perversion of that intimacy that should only be shared between married individuals. I fully know that most of the world thinks this ideology is ubsurd. When an individual lusts after another, either through fantasizing or looking at pornography they are forming an intamacy in their mind that isn’t theirs to have. If I lust after another woman I might me lusting after another man’s wife or a man’s future wife. Masturbation almost always involves lust. The Bible says that when a man looks after another women lustfully they are committing adultery with them in their hearts. As a Christian I believe that sex and purity are sacred. Unfortunately, though we believe in something we don’t always follow through with our beliefs. Christians aren’t perfect and we all fall short of our beliefs. We are all sinners who need Christ as salvation. (This is another conversation that we can have, but if not, I’m not going to pressure you.) Yes, this is an app for human improvement. I’ll even speak to you through a secular viewpoint. You are most likely on this app for accountability. You probably want other people to help you not fall back into the struggles of porn and masturbation. Having people hold you accountable is one of the best ways to break an addiction. Believe me, trying to break an addiction by yourself is almost impossible. Now back to a Christian viewpoint. The Bible calls for Christians to remain pure. Sadly many many Christians struggle with purity. When a Christian gets caught up in sin they are called to repent. They are called to confess and turn from their old ways. We are on this app for accountability probably just like you. The difference though is that we are trying to build each other up in the way that God calls Christians to help those who struggle. This app is a convenient feature that is helping us towards the same goal. To help break the addiction to porn and masturbation. I know you might think this is stupid and foolish, but as Christians we believe that purity is not only a physical issue but a spiritual. Sexual impurity is an issue with the soul and when our souls are a mess than we can’t be the humans that God calls us to be. Sexual sin causes a decay of the soul that leads to many human issues. It is important for people of the same beliefs to hold each other accountable. We can speak Biblical truth into each other’s lives. We can help each other through this struggle and help build each other up. I’m sorry for the long message and there are things that I have probably missed. I hope that I have answered a few questions and I would be willing to answer any that you have. I do hope we can continue this conversation in a respectful way. Thank you for being respectful and not storming in here calling us all idiots or other things. I understand that you would be confused as to why we have congregated on a self help program.
@EvilMorty It’s not like that bro.
There are some things that others would accept as normal, or even good, but Christians would not.
We are all here to help each other, no matter what. To beat this addiction. Others will also have other reasons to do this. They want to unlock their soul, become legends, etc.
But for Christians it’s to get a better relationship with Jesus. So noFap isn’t the only ultimate goal.
Please don’t get offended bro, you are one of my good friends here, just didn’t want a misunderstanding.
Why is this a problem for you? Christians want to be able to talk to other Christians about something that involves their faith. This is one of the greatest sins in today’s world and we’d like to support each other with the help of God. Nothing wrong with that.
As I said earlier, it’s not a problem for me but I just wanted to know WHY. This is a forum for self improvement and I thought it’s unnecessary to include religion here that’s it.
Do whatever you want get better guys I’m not against anything. If you think that grouping here based on you religion make you feel better fine no problem. Sorry if I offend anyone.
Hello guys Also join my group Christians : Redemption
Hey brother, thanks for the reply. I do have blocking programs on my phone and laptop, and have an accountability partner (though sometimes I can get around the apps on my laptop).
For me, the lust struggle is not entirely contingent on having access to that stuff. I struggle with m/o without p (say when I’m showering or something), so for me this is definitely more of like, worship of pleasure and control of what I feel, vs worshiping God and trusting him even when I’m down/unhappy/whatever.
Welcome to the thread!
From what I know, masturbation by itself is not a sin as there is not a single passage which mentions it directly.
But for me, if i stay away from P, i won’t be masturbating anyway. But i get what you mean though.
Restricting yourself to the point of excess self-control is actually counter-intuitive. I just let the passing thoughts of lust to pass and acknowledge them for what they are “just thoughts”. Do you have a problem with fantasizing hence why you can masturbate without porn?
I understand your point friend.
Believe me, I was an agnostic atheist for like 5 years. I did not believe in anything or any supernatural phenomenon during that period of time.
There are a lot of other threads which do not mention anything about religions. Maybe people just have a different approach/ mindset when it comes to tackling the problem of pmo through the lens of your belief.
No one is forcing anyone to come into this thread.
Masturbation is a sin for this one reason- we seek joy and contentment is something other than God. He is the source. We are selling ourselves short.
As C.S.Lewis said, “It is like a child in London enjoying making mud pies in the street because he has not heard of enjoying a holiday at the beach”
Only God will satisfy.
Yea I mean going after Ash_Matt’s post, I do believe it’s sinful for the reason he gave. I would also add that, for me, 1) I struggle with same sex attraction so I don’t think this can ever not be sinful for me, and 2) yes, often fantasies or past failures can be a source of temptation for this. But even without those, I don’t think it’s neutral for me.
I know also for me, there is a habit of me turning to masturbation as a way of controlling how I feel. Ie, I don’t like how ___ went at work today, or I’m unhappy about ___ thing that happened, so I turn to this (or even just entertainment in general), instead of enjoying and delighting in God, psalm 16 (or 63) style.
Anyways, just my thoughts. Let’s all keep up the fight for His glory!
I think it is only sinful when one enganges in sexual thoughts, which i know is not realistic especially in men.
From what I remember, there is no single passage mentioning the act of ejaculation itself. Only the part where (i forgot the character) who spilled his seed accidentally while impregnating a woman. This is just based on my research, but I could be wrong.
I think the problem for a lot of men (especially) is porn in itself. I mean I don’t even masturbate without porn, and am trying to stay away from both (killing two birds with one stone). That’s my point.
M* is bad because not only are you seeking pleasure, you are not treating you body as the Temple of God. You are simply destroying the valuable nutrients created by your body. Whether you watch p* or not.
I think for us porn addicts masturbation alone never stays as masturbation alone. So I think hard mode is the only way to go if we are to conquer this addiction. I’ve thought about this but I think masturbation is compromise and compromise leads to surrender. I have a friend who M’s without porn but he may never have had a problem with porn but we have all the neural circuitry connected to porn : countless images and videos stored in our memory banks ready to be activated the minute we engage in self stimulation. I should add this friend is a Christian and is trying to stop M and I’m sure he utilises fantasy when he does it and how is that helpful?
Anyway I think you agree with me but my thoughts anyway
In fact, brother, God is willing to help us and overcome this addiction. Every time I get weak in prayer I fall back, but when my knees bend constantly I have more strength to beat pornography and masturbation.