Purity Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter PurityReigns
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PurityReigns

Guest
So I am a 16 year old boy who struggles with mastrobation and pornagraphy for a very long time. I started without know it was a sin. Then I found out but it was too hard to stop. I have been really praying and trying to stop. I went a month, and I have a question. So I look up sex scenes in movies without any nudity, would that be a mortal sin? I also did not intentionally mastrobate. Please Help!
 
The only way to battle habitual sins against purity is frequent recourse to the sacraments, particularly penance. It is good to have a regular confessor who knows of your struggles, and to obey his counsels always.

Anything that tempts you is a proximate occasion of sin. To tempt yourself by watching films as these breaks the resolution to avoid the near occasions of sin you make in your act of contrition every time you confess.

Considering your young age, a word must also be said about the great dangers of bad associations. In your case, we’re likely talking about your schoolmates. Young men can often be very randy and obscene in their speech. If they are having a bad influence on you, you might then want to speak to your parents about transferring to a Catholic school.

God bless.
 
I will pray for you. Stay away from those movies, as the other poster said they are near occasions of sin. Focus instead on things that are good, holy, and true.
bardegaulois said:
If they are having a bad influence on you, you might then want to speak to your parents about transferring to a Catholic school.
Click to expand...
😦 you wouldn’t believe some of the things I hear at my Catholic high school. Plenty of apostate and heretic students… Not to mention the poor catechesis and liturgy…
 
It is a blessing that you are trying to stop this at your age. Fight hard now and it will pay off a thousandfold later. Such habits become exponentially more difficult to break as time goes on. Several of my college buddies had a hard time with such things, it was difficult to watch. It destroyed their relationships with really wonderful young women.

To reiterate what the poster above me said, avoid anything that might even slightly tempt you, even if it isn’t a moral sin. I had to give up most popular movies for that exact reason. It doesn’t take much to tempt us!

What worked for me:
  • Prayer
  • Be extremely physically active. I can’t emphasize this enough. Play sports. Run. Falling asleep the second you hit the bed makes a big difference.
  • This is difficult in high school, but surround yourself with good friends. Positive peer pressure can work wonders.
God bless your endeavors. Pick up your cross, brother!
 
Can I add a little info to myself. I do go to a catholic highschool, 90% of them are lets just say, not persuing holiness. Anyway I server on my parishes YET team, we put on retreats and youth groups and stuff. I am consecrated to Mary through 33 days to morning glory and have the most amazing friends who also strive for holiness. and one friend that I can speak openly with about this and also struggles with the same thing. I go to weekly confession even if I did not fall. Now that I added a little depth, anymore advice? Also did I commit a mortal sin? (I dont want to receive the Eucharist then)
 
Sounds to me like you have a healthy spiritual life.

And to answer your question, you haven’t committed mortal sin from what you described. The very fact that you are asking the question says so. Two of the conditions are “full knowledge” and “deliberate consent”, and it doesn’t sound to me like either condition was met at the time. Whether or not just viewing such a thing is a “grave matter” is also debatable.
 
But I also did slight mastrobation, I slightly touched myself and jiggle my pants a little bit. I did accidently “release my fluids” now in that case is it a mortal sin?
 
It’s grave matter. Addiction MAY mitigate whether it was mortal sin due to the freedom of your will being impaired - I really don’t know in your case. Again, you have to ask your priest in confession.

Also, sorry to say this but the details were really not necessary to mention!
 
PurityReigns said:
But I also did slight mastrobation, I slightly touched myself and jiggle my pants a little bit. I did accidently “release my fluids” now in that case is it a mortal sin?
Click to expand...
Given these details, yes. Go to confession.
 
It’s not a mortal sin and you’re not going to hell because you masturbate. But fight your pornography addiction. I think God is very patient with us but he surely wants us to struggle against sin.
 
strange_guy said:
It’s not a mortal sin and you’re not going to hell because you masturbate. But fight your pornography addiction. I think God is very patient with us but he surely wants us to struggle against sin.
Click to expand...
According to the CCC, masturbation is a mortal sin.
 
The way the male brain works, anything remotely sexual can flip that switch. It is very hard when aroused to stop yourself, so the best you can do is avoid as many situations as possible that could make you aroused. These situations are your near occasions of sin. Let’s say you view porn from your computer in your room. You can avoid that situation by moving the computer to another room, cutting off internet access to that computer, or worst case, getting rid of the computer.

Some near occasions will be harder to deal with, such as trying to sleep at night. I regularly have to deal with temptations during sleep. I made a rule if I can’t fall asleep after 15 minutes, I get up and do something productive. I could have gone to bed at 2am and it’s only 5am, but I get up anyways. I avoid the near occasion. Some days I will be all worn out from lack of sleep, but it has to be done to limit the chance I commit a sin. I can offer up the suffering. It also helps me become closer to Jesus. We are united in our suffering for good.
 
Just two comments:
  1. Excellent, blessed idea to fight this fight now (at 16!) when the time of acquired habit is so short. It is far more difficult to stop habits after 5, 10, 20 years of doing it! Keep up the fight- pray like crazy.
  2. Jared’s comment is quite true. With us men, it’s darn near impossible to “turn off the switch” once it has been hit. In my own experience, I find I am fooling myself if I look at something bad, then try to forget it and not go to the “next step.” The temptation happens before the first look and if I don’t resist that first urge, I’m in trouble. It could be ten minutes or it could be the next day, but that initial bad move will keep simmering.
Fight the good fight men. It’s hard, don’t we all know it!? But read your Bible; Christians shouldn’t be misusing our bodies. Amen?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top