/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

I also struggle with masturbation, i just broke my nofap and repented today. I would say work on removing porn from your life and then removing masturbation from your life before confessing. Once you have a good time of not doing it, then confess.

The benefit of personal confession is the accountability it brings. If it really gets your stomach in a knot just know that confessing to the Lord for forgiveness does not require a human mediator.

When you do go just say "I struggle with masturbation" or you could say "sexual sin". Most western you g men have this problem and your minister will understand.

Some anons here recommend the easy peasy hackbook to get off it. The bible also says you should get married and have sex if you can't control these strong urges.

>>852317

i was planning on not masturbating and prayng the rosary daily until my next confession (around two months probably) and hope i get the strength to confess it. If i confess to God then stop masturbation and pray more will that be enough? im just worried ill chicken out and not say it

>>852317

I think you're on to something. I struggle abstaining from masturbation. Today, I said a girl looks cute and someone made fun of me for saying that but I instinctually immediately replied "it's God's will" without knowing why. Maybe I should start asking girls out. God wants me to get married and raise a strong Christian family.

>>852318

>If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

What effect are you expecting from praying a rosary?

>>852319

Its healthy to date women but I wouldn't read that experience as a revelation from God

>>852320

I'll take that as a sign it's definitely a revelation from God.

You can say you sinned against purity if you dont want to say the word.

Priests hear about that sin often so no point being anxious.

Even if the anxiety doenst go away before the deed, you'll feel very relieved after confessing so its all worth it.

>>852324

But I still haven't fought the Pure Vessel in Hollow Knight.

>>852309

Listen anon, you're wrong if you think you need to wait several months before going to confession. You must do everything you can to regain your state of grace, because masturbation is a mortal sin. If you jack off everyday, then go to confession everyday. Eventually your priest is going to give you advice on changing your life around. Going to communion a lot helps too.

As for being too shameful, I understand. In my language I usually say "incontinence" (though I'm not sure if it makes sense in english), and the priest knows what I'm talking about. What really helps too is confessing to a TRAD priest. Other anons can seethe all they want, a trad priest will see you in an old-school confessional where you can't see the priest's face.

Praying the rosary everyday is very wise, you're gmi. And as someone wiser than me said once on this board: YOU CAN'T FAP AND PRAY AT THE SAME TIME!

What church does face to face confession? Catholics can do a confession like that, but the norm is to use the confessional.

You would say "you masturbated 19 times". That modify that are using porn, or masturbated while thinking of someone married or ordained or a relative or the same sex or underage, etc.

It's habit difficult to break. I don't think I could have been Catholic when I was a teenager.

I really hate the internet now. You all transformed into demons sometime early 2019. I have permission to since I'm affected by their sin so I damn the brainwashing discord server and all the agents who caused this evil to hell where their wickedness belongs.

>>852334

So leave

>>852330

i agree accept i dont think its a mortal sin, i never felt completely turned away form God after masturbation. I just think its very very hard to completely turn away from God. Its still a serious sin but i dont think a big majority of humans are completly turned away from God along with most Catholic men. The reason i didnt want to go to confession yet was that i wanted to wait until i could control my self. Thanks for the response

>>852348

>i agree accept i dont think its a mortal sin,

By decree of the Holy Office (Pope Pius XI) August 2, 1929, even masturbation for medical reasons i.e. a gonorrhea test is a mortal sin.

If the church says it's a mortal sin, it's a mortal sin.

No one can feel the presence or absence of sanctifying grace. That's why frequent confession and penance is necessary.

>>852348

>The reason i didnt want to go to confession yet was that i wanted to wait until i could control my self.

You will never be able to achieve anything if you don't rely on God. Stop trying to prove to God that you're worth anything, just repent (i.e. go to confession).

Also you're mistaken on mortal sin, see >>852359

>>852348

>The reason i didnt want to go to confession yet was that i wanted to wait until i could control my self. Thanks for the response

Sometimes I think the same thing. No confession than no communion. No communion no gift of grace from communion.

May as well confess, get the priest's instruction, take communion, and keep working to avoid the sin and praying for grace. The worse case is that the sin is held in confession and you're then no worse off than you are now and that is very unlikely tho' it has been known to happen and if it did, you might consider finding a different confessor.*

* This last part isn't clear to me. This is the advice I heard from a Priest, but there is the little matter of jurisdiction!

>>852371

> No confession then no communion.

fixed

Cont…

Eventually I mustered enough courage to go in. If I remember correctly, I asked God to help me. I was pooping my pants from sheer nervousness. I didn't know what to say, or do, or think. The first time I went in to see a priest, I asked the secretary if I could speak to one, and she led me to him. I've seen him around the university before, but I never met him. I told him my story, and how I've never confessed before (he then told me what I said above; that we confess before receiving our First Holy Communion). I explained to the priest that I don't know how to confess: what to say, or do, or things like that. If I remember correctly, he told me to just say all the bad things I've done. He gave some examples. I confessed everything. AND THIS WAS FACE TO FACE. It was his in office, and we didn't have any confessionals. If I'm speaking plainly, I was scared. I was shy to tell him that I masturbated because I didn't know what he would think of me. I later learned that he's heard much worse confessions, and that masturbation is one of the many common confessions he's heard. I confessed everything I could remember. I remember us speaking for an hour/hour and a half. Usually he's busy so it was great that he had that much free time for me to just pour everything out. I believe it was God's work. After that, I kept on going to confession for less serious sins (I was still chaste after the first confession). After your first ever conscious confession, the fear of it just goes away. You no longer feel shy or anxious or nervous about it like the very first time.

I eventually fell back into masturbation after a good streak of not doing it(masturbated 6-7 times in one sitting). I went to confess to him again, telling him that I did it for that amount of times. After that session, I told myself that I will never do it again.

Fast forward to today, and by the Grace of God, to Him be Praise and Glory for ever and ever unto ages and ages, I have been clean from this repugnant sin for nearly 3 years now. I apologise for the wall of text anon, but I wanted you, and any other anons hesitating to know that IT'S OKAY TO FEEL THIS WAY BUT THAT YOU MUST DO IT BECAUSE IT MUST BE DONE. DO NOT FEEL DEFEATED BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID. INSTEAD ASK OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR TO GIVE YOU THE GRACE AND THE STRENGTH TO APPROACH THE PRIEST TO CONFESS.

Do not be afraid. The "first time" confessing is always the scariest. But know anon, please, to pour out everything. Confess all your sins. Every sin you can remember. Believe me, trust me, you will feeling tremendous after it. You feel as if an immense weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You will be able to shed your old skin and become anew: cleaner.

Ask Our Lord for His help to confess. May Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

If you or any other anons have any questions, please ask away.

>>852309

I disagree with the other posters about couching your deeds in fancy language like "sexual sin" and "incontinence". I believe you should just state these things plainly.

Also, in accordance with the Council of Trent, you must not only confess what sin you committed but also how many times you did it in order for the confession to be valid. Fr. Ripperger says that it's acceptable to just try and estimate the number if you don't know it precisely.

Anyway, from all eternity, God knew every sin man could commit so He won't be shocked into disgust and, as they say, your priest has "heard it all before".

I think another way to rid yourself of your anxiety is to consider the end-game. In the end, at the end of time, everyone who ever existed will be raised from the dead and God will reveal the lives of every person that ever existed to every other person that ever existed. There will be no secrets left. In your eyes, going to confession right now would cost you respect right now. But, your deed will be exposed anyway. What will also be exposed is whether or not you confessed. Ultimately, as a recipient of His mercy or sufferer of His justice, you'll be glorifying God one way or another.

It's possible though that no amount of talk will help here. By sheer brute force of will, you might just have to do it.

>>852374

>>852375

Blessed posts. We're all gonna make it.

>>852377

That pill is hard to swallow anon. Also I remember when I said "incontinence", the priest nodded, but at the end he asked me how many times etc just like you said. The shame in that moment was so overwhelming it was funny. I knew he was right though. I should add that only a trad priest will ask you this in my experience.

Is masturbation actually a sin?

I know having lust in your heart is a sin, akin to adultery.

What if a guy masturbates with a totally clear mind, not thinking of naked women?

Don't resist anxiety, just let it pass through you.

>>852482

Exaltation is the problem, not the image by itself

>>852309

Become Protestant and confess your sins to the Father Almighty, ask him for forgiveness.

>>852482

The Church condemns masturbation, yes. It's a sin against one's own body.

The Church's stance is that if you're unmarried, you should never deliberately indulge in anything that will sexually excite you, not even in your thoughts. The experience of sexual desire is a right restricted only to the married. The unmarried should be perfect in chastity.

If you're masturbating, even with no images in mind, you're still sexually stimulating your body despite being unmarried and so it's still wrong.

In fact, I think St. Thomas Aquinas actually teaches that masturbation is worse than fornication. His reasoning was that fornication is a natural act taking place in illicit circumstances whereas masturbation is a fundamentally unnatural act. From the beginning of time, while man was meant to experience intercourse, he was never meant to masturbate.

If you want to understand Catholic Sexual Morality, I recommend Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body but you can also just listen to Fr. Ripperger's talk on "Conjugal Chastity".

>>852936

>In fact, I think St. Thomas Aquinas actually teaches that masturbation is worse than fornication.

This just in from the Catholic church:

Don't masturbate when you can just commit the lesser sin of adultery.

>>853069

>raping a child is worse than raping an adult

>wow literally advocating raping adults!

Brilliant.