Why the Lust!?

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YosefYosep

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Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn’t, because every time I tried to I would get these flashes of lustful images of women in my head. I almost fell to these temptations by trying to relieve this stress through pleasuring myself, which I haven’t done ever since I devoted myself fully to Christ. Fortunately I resisted pleasuring. I prayed over an over in my bed “Michael the Archangel save me and protect me.” Eventually I fell asleep praying this, but when I woke up in the morning I felt very disgusted with myself because of these thoughts. I can’t focus today and I’m depressed, because for some reason I feel incredibly guilty about almost succumbing to these temptations. I feel distant from God. Please help.
 
If you resisted the images and did not succumb to temptation, you did not do wrong. 🙂
 
My friend, we all have our crosses to bear. Like you, I suffer from lusting for women. Money, power, possessions, etc. don’t interest me at all. Show me a beautiful girl, and I’m all agog.

I’ll pray for you, and please pray for me.

As a word of advice, have you a girlfriend? Get one, and then marry her. A lot of this “lust” is just the typical male drive to procreate and having a wonderful woman who you can spend your life with and love make this not only easier but holier. 👍
 
Why the lust?

Look around us. Look at our society. It’s so sexually charged and hyper-sexual, that it’s almost hard for a man not to have lustful feelings today. Society has told women that they can dress in any manner they wish, and it is the man’s problem if he can’t handle his lustful feelings. Well, that is true to a point, but women, and this society, do bare some of the blame for these impure thoughts. Women do have a responsibility here to. They should not dress in such a provacative way, yet they do so knowing that they will lead men astray - and then blame the men! :rolleyes:

I didn’t live in the 1800’s or early 1900’s, but I have to think that men didn’t lust after women the way they do today. A women’s appearance was far different then, with less make-up, simpler hairstyles, and clothes that didn’t show very much skin, and I believe women were treated in a far more civilized, and gentler way by men than they are today. Oh, and they didn’t have pornography then either, did they? Pornography has become so obscene over the years that it completely debases a women where she is simply an object to quench a mans desire. TV and the movies aren’t doing society any favors either these days.

A man must work harder today to control his lustful desires than ever before, but it can be done! Prayers to the Virgin Mary are a very good start. She understands, she knows the world. Join an organization like the Knights of Columbus and fill your life with wholesome activities. You can get through this problem!

But also know, that temptation will be with us to end of time. We will slip, we all do. Confess and move ahead, confess and move ahead and just keep going! Your doing fine!🙂
 
OP you did nothing wrong. You did what God calls you to do. The only reason why you might be feeling guilt is that you know from the Bible we are told that God does not tempt a man, but that every thing that temps a man comes form his own desires. Impurity comes from the inside.

Yet the Lord has let the devil now tempt you to getting discouraged over the fact that you were tempted. Instead of letting the devil tempt you to feel sad about this secondary attack, instead thank God that He has shown you a weakness that needs a bit more attention, or one can put it this way too" a ‘dirty room’ inside of yourself that needs a bit more cleaning. If you were a doctor trying to make sure all the cancer was out of the body, you would be thankful you found a little something you missed! So rejoice in the Lord always!
 
According to Fr. Antoninus Wall, an 88 year old Dominican mission preacher, survival (eating) and reproduction are the two most basic human urges. We are programmed for both. And, precisely as is being said here, those two desires will tempt us our entire lives. It is what we do in response to those basic desires which defines us. To use them at the proper time and in the proper context and amount is our test. He teaches that, to be subject to them - even bothered by them - simply means that we are still alive.
 
Having the thoughts is not sinful, staying with them is, so keep turning your thoughts to something else positive. The devil often places the thoughts, then trys to make us feel guilty for having the thoughts. God is never closer to you than when you are fighting these battles. He will help you win. It is possible, even in today’s world to stay pure. I did it for a very long time before I was married because God put it in my spirit that He had the perfect wife for me and He wanted me to be perfect for her. I have been married for almost 45 years and have been blessed with 10 great children, and now 12 grandchildren. We have never been unfaithful to each other. So persist in your battle. Look for and enjoy the Presence of God Who is with you in this. God doesn’t change, and purity never becomes old fashioned. God bless you!
 
I don’t think you did anything wrong if you didn’t entertain those thoughts. If it helps maybe go to Confession. Hopefully you’ll be more at peace.
 
You did not succumb. You overcame the temptation. You did the right thing by praying and have no reason to be disgusted with yourself. That too is a temptation. The important point is not to dwell on the images. Dismiss them. My priest told me to pray immediately when they come and to also ask Mother Mary to help. I have found that works really well.
 
I sturggled for many years with pornography, and as of today, praise God it’s been over 3 years since I have purposely went looking for it. I have no desire to jump online and search for those websites anymore. That does not mean my struggles have completely ended. In fact, I still struggle with images in my head and I will probably continue to struggle for the rest of my life. These images are not your fault, or my fault, they are a side effect of our overly sexualized society. Where we need to be careful is where to draw the line as well as what we do with the images.

For me personally, there’s nothing like a Hail Mary to help wash the images out of my head. In fact, I would consider strengthening your relationship with our Blessed Mother. She will help you to resist acting out when these images show up. It’s kind of hard to expain all of this to “mom”. She will help. Don’t beat yourself up over this. If you’re really concerned, I would bring it up in confession to be safe.
 
OP I hope you’re no longer feeling depressed or estranged from God because of those images/feelings. As everyone has said you have nothing to be ashamed or depressed about, so I hope you have a blessed day.

:irish2:
 
Thank you to all. It means a lot knowing that I have the support of others in prayer. The primary reason why I felt ashamed and distant from the Lord was because the thoughts were in my head in the first place. I made these thoughts, thus I am guilty of even thinking them.
 
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