/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>Spiritual soundness

First let's discuss spirituality. Mainly we talk about Christian faith. We all know that being christian is absolutely essential for your children not to end up in hell. The question is how to pass the faith onto them effectively? I remember some studies on how important is each parent being devoted for their children retaining faith in adulthood. I do not remember particulars but I know the point of study was the centrality of father. Devout father(mother atheist)>80% vs mother devout(father atheist)»>>20%. Well considering the man is the head of family it is well understood.

If you want your children to keep the faith be devout as a parent. Grand parents can be great in raising up the kids but if parents themselves do not take the faith seriously, why should their kids.

While having the family already, regular prayers together, going to church, having crosses/icons/discussing the faith may be vital. However since most of us look for the life partner our task now would probably fall in to the category of building the strongest possible foundations to build on. In other words go to church, read scripture, church fathers, do your best to become a sound in character. In order to give something to your family you first have to have it.

Another thing, although closely tied to Christian faith, is the nobility of spirit. There are kinds of spirit that are superior and then there are those inferior. Among inferior spirits: profiteering, utilitarianism, cucking to lies, materialist type of thinking.

Among the superior spirit: Putting God on the first place, always, longing for truth, willingness to suffer for truth, treating material only as secondary to soul.

One would expect those things to come out naturally…that by being christian you will possess those traits to some extent and then pass them onto your kids…well state of modern christian is that some people are devoted a lot, but when it comes to taking "hard stances" on politically incorrect topics, they tend to succumb to "muh feels". Therefore I thought I would point out also the preparedness of the superior, noble spirit within the individual. Of course somebody possessing the superior spirit will be a devoted christian here..but there might be devoted chrisitan who succumbs to the lower types of spirit because muh feels.

tl dr: Become spiritually sound to be a head of the family. In a family a man is the king of the little monarchy that is his family.

>physical soundness

Second let's discuss another aspect. We might be quick to dismiss the idea of physical superiority especially if we despise - as we should - the gym hook up culture. In this case indeed the only goal of working out is pure hedonism. Men work hard to look good, just so they can sooth their egos, and sleep with random women. Of course, this offends God and is off limits to Christians. This conduct not only damages women but makes one slave to his own passions, his sins and throws a man into a complete abyss of subhumanity because he no longer makes decisions on the level of what is right, but rather what brings him pleasure.

Let us leave this shameful display and let us play with the idea of developing strength for family purposes. First one needs the strength to do work. When you have your house you will be required to pull weights, work on the garden, move furniture. For this you do not need to look like pic related but you do need some strength and stamina. You cannot get out of your breath just by carrying a bag of groceries/vegetables that your wife buys. In other words do not be a soyboy just playing vidya and not doing anything IRL.

In other instances the strength might come off as handy when you need to defend your wife or your family. With the growing agression across the Europe and US you need to be able to protect those you love when someone pointlessly attacks them in the street. Again you do not need to be martial arts expert, but you do need some weight and some strength so the attacker does not throw you off as a pillow.

Another point is aesthetics. The pic is related. Of course one does not need to look like it but it is definitely an ideal to strive for. You sure want your wife to look good. And she will appreciate if you take care of your body as well. So you can have as many beautiful children as you are able to. Apart from the aspect of rightful "enjoyment" of your beauty by your spouse there are other aspects. Your kids will see that you take care of yourself and you give off a good example. When people see you, they will connect this with being christian…it gives us a good light.

But the most importantly. Your body is made in image of God the Father. It should be a temple of the Holy Spirit. It should not be a trash can. You are your body, your soul and your body are entwined…they will be seperated when you die, not before.Therefore what affects your body will affect your soul and vice versa. Therefore the need to work out. It is not to "look good" but to be better. It can move us in a good direction because it is a form of ascesis, self denial and it will benefit your soul as well as your family. I think I have given enough reasons to support the thesis that it is beneficial for you to do something.

Again contrast what has been said with the gym manwhore culture. In that your body becomes a trashcan, it is oriented towards looks meanwhile the soul rots. The goal of Christian working out is completely different and personally I would not want to be associated with the former.

>how to do it?

I do not intend to write any "plan" because I do not follow any. If you want to, check out /fit/. If not that, just go out for a ride on the bike, go running, swimming, do push ups, pull ups…whatever seems good to you. Most importantly do not avoid physical work.That is the best way of working out anyway and it is useful, unlike the sterile gym culture with all the supplements..

Personally I use push ups, squats and pull ups on the bar, on the top of that I do some running. I am no "big meat" but I think I see some difference.

Tl dr: do not ignore the physical fitness

>Few points on masturbation and pornography

First I want to say that I do not intend to preach form above.I had the problem too and only with God's help I overcame it, now being far from being safe from falling into it again. We always have to guard ourselves and thank God for his blessings. Hopefully nothing comes off as pretentious, prideful or larpy.

First let's address the porn. No doubt we all agree it is wrong to watch it. I think nobody will argue otherwise. The only reason why I write about it…recently I realized even more how disgusting that stuff is. I won't do the endless "bad effects" "muh perversions" debate. I think everybody here knows already. The thing I am aiming for is related to my previous post. The human body is beautiful, it is supposed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. It should celebrate its Creator, in whose image is has been created. Now look at what porn does. Depersonalizes, objectifies and utterly degrades all humanity from it. There is no beauty. It is just savage, rough, naturalistic. The women are not depicted as beautiful, they are depicted as literally jsut flesh used for masturbation. Common masturbation, but mostly still masturbation nevertheless. It does not degrade only the body but also the greatest mystery God gave us….man and women joining together, merging into one flesh and from this life springs a new life. Now compare this to disgusting spilling of semen everywhere, inverting this beautiful act to the lowest level of degeneracy. Can you claim it is anything else than satanic in essence? Hardly. This should be enough a reason not to watch it.

The other point, masturbation. Sex is intended for procreation. As has been said: man and woman joining together, merging into one flesh and creating a new life. Now what masturbation does is that you just satisfy your lust while having sinful thoughts/looking at devil's images. You spill the life giving liquid all over the place without any use, just to satisfy oneself. Isn't that selfish a lot?

Again I won't get into all "effects" debate. We know God condemns the act, it is for a good reason…all the "effects" are actually just what one gets if he disobeys God in his pride.

How to quit those things. There are 3 key things:

Fasting

Prayer

Work

Fasting, or other ascetic efforts will make you get into a self-denial living. Your efforts in working out, reading, whatever…will make your will stronger. Quitting fapping will seem easier than.

Prayer - you will not get this by yourself. If you succeed it is God that helped you do it. Pray…Pray…pray. You cannot fap and pray at the same time. Eventually God will help you if you prove to be strong enough in your efforts. I think that prayer, communion and confession are essential. The most essential.

The last thing: Work.

You need to limit your temptation time. You can do so by doing something productive, hobby, whatever. It will keep you busy and on the top of that it will produce something good and also if will as well drain your energy. You will not feel the need to fap any longer.

Tl dr: Prayer, fasting, work