I was looking at the 7 deadly sins poll and it got me thinking, my biggest downfall is lust. I know its a horible sin and sometimes I dont know how to control it and I feel im going to go to Hell for it, I truly try my best to fight it but sometimes I just give in.
Anyone have any advice?
Drew, you are not alone. I would guess that most guys today have a problem with this, but I am going to tell you how you can overcome it.
Firstly, you need to realize that it is indeed a very serious sin, and it could certainly lead you to hell as you suspect. Our society is so saturated with sexually explicit images that it is nearly impossible to completely avoid it. At Fatima, in 1917, the Virgin Mary said that most people went to hell for sins of the flesh. How much more so today with our sexually saturated society?
Now I am going to tell you how you can overcome this vice. It is going to take an effort on your part, but you can do it.
The first thing to do is to make a firm relosution that if you fall into the sin of lust, you have to fast the next day: no food at all - none. That will be the penance that you impose upon yourself. If you do that faithfully, and pray the Rosary daily for the purpose of overcoming that sin, I predict that you will overcome this vice relatively quick. You will also need to avoid the near occaision of sin, such as the internet.
Needless to say, you also need to go to confession right away if you fall into the sin. I would do a little research and find out if there is a Church in your area that has confession daily. There may be. You should also get in the habbit of going to confession every week, even if you have not done anything too bad. There are always faults that we can find to confess, and you can always reconfess sins of impurity. When you receive absolution, you not only have your sins forgiven, but you aslo receive grace to strengthen you against what you confessed. So, even if you are not guitly of any sin of impurity, you can always reconfess a previously confessed sin, and thereby gain grace to strengthen you in that area.
You can overcome this vice. God will help you, but you must do your part. Your part will be the self imposed penance of not eating the following day after you fall into the sin. That, combined with the Rosary and avoiding the occaision of sin will do it.
Please stay in touch and let us know of your progress.