gregg70
Full Member
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Posts: 248
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Post by gregg70 on Sept 25, 2007 19:20:41 GMT -5
Why do we seem to forget that point so often? We try to fix ourselves and rely on our own mental capacity without ever asking for help from God. When we fail miserably, we then turn to him.
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gregg70
Full Member
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Posts: 248
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Post by gregg70 on Sept 25, 2007 19:34:54 GMT -5
I also think Christians forget a few things about prayer. I know I do from time to time. First, many times we pray and pray to God and get everything out and ask for everything we need BUT we forget to listen to what He has to say. So many times we are so busy telling him about us that we forget about Him.
Secondly, when we continue to sin the same sin again and again once we have already asked for forgiveness for that sin, we cause "static" to appear on the prayer line if you will. We need to be conscience of the choices we make daily to keep the lines "clear". Yes God forgives but we hurt our prayer life when we act irresponsibly as Christians when we come before the Father.
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gregg70
Full Member
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Posts: 248
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Post by gregg70 on Sept 25, 2007 19:36:39 GMT -5
Fantastic! I have a 20 month old daughter that can facilitate my Barney the dinosaur self help program!
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Post by nurlond on Sept 28, 2007 9:14:17 GMT -5
I found two fantastic sermons on the healing that comes through the grace of Jesus Christ. They are not about porn specifically, but are just about the grace of Christ in general. Inspiring words - I hope they inspire you as they did me! His grace is sufficient for us! Broken Things to MendHe Heals the Heavy LadenThe second one mentions porn specifically. Here's a quotation I really liked: A woman whose marriage was threatened by her husband's addiction to pornography wrote how she stood beside him for five pain-filled years until, as she said, "through the gift of our precious Savior's glorious Atonement and what He taught me about forgiveness, [my husband] finally is free—and so am I." As one who needed no cleansing from sin, but only sought a loved one's deliverance from captivity, she wrote this advice: "Commune with the Lord. . . . He is your best friend! He knows your pain because He has felt it for you already. He is ready to carry that burden. Trust Him enough to place it at His feet and allow Him to carry it for you. Then you can have your anguish replaced with His peace, in the very depths of your soul" (letter dated Apr. 18, 2005).
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Post by MrOuch on Oct 18, 2007 12:23:04 GMT -5
1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life-- when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. 4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
Psalm 101
I found this particularly helpful lately, especially "I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing." I succeed in doing this with a little help from the man upstairs. I hope to set a good example for my own children to follow.
MrOuch
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Post by MrOuch on Oct 25, 2007 12:42:45 GMT -5
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 19 - 23
Paul's words ring true today. How much did we pour ourselves into sinful ways? Are we pouring ourselves into righteous ways with the same gusto? I know I for one have some gusto catching up to do..
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Post by MrOuch on Oct 29, 2007 12:24:18 GMT -5
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
-----Romans 8:5-6, 12-13
If you read "porn" here for "sin" you get a pretty clear picture of where we are headed if we continue our hedonistic ways. I fell back into this trap recently, but I'm clawing my way back. I want life and peace again. I don't want the death caused by sin. Prayer is my way out. Join me and let's all walk out of this mess together.
MrOuch
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DennisW
Full Member
Love God Hate Sin
Posts: 226
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Post by DennisW on Oct 30, 2007 7:55:36 GMT -5
Galations 6:1-5
1 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5 For each one will bear his own load.
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Post by MrOuch on Oct 31, 2007 8:54:10 GMT -5
Guard your eyes that they may not look upon anything contrary to purity; your ears, that they may not listen to evil conversation; your mind, by banishing from it all suggestive thoughts; your heart, by stifling impure desires at their very birth.
-- St. John Baptist de la Salle
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Post by rockwell on Oct 31, 2007 9:05:05 GMT -5
I was reading the first few chapeters of Genesis recently. This metaphorical story is loaded with symbolism that applies to us today. Although the story is not a true historical fact, such as the order of the creation, or a serpant actually talking, there is so much spiritual reality, and that is the point of the creation story and the fall of humankind.
First of all, what I get out of this story is that God created everything. That is the first point. Even though the "order" of how things were created is clearly not a scientifc fact in the Genesis account, that is not important. The point is that God created the universe and the writers of Genesis are conveying this.
Secondly, humans sin. They are self centered no matter where they lived. In all parts of the primitive world, where man began to understand moral consequences, we all have failed the "fruit of the tree" test. In our own lives we have made choice we know are against Gods will. And we also get "banished from Eden." And we blame others, like a "serpant."
Boy, that allegory of a serpent tricking us. We find that same serpant later on in Scripture, but he has grown immensely and is now a Dragan (book of Revelation).
As Christians, lets keep seeking the truth in these amazing and telling stories. Think about their point. What is the spiritual impact of these stories? How do they speak to me today?
rock
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az
New Member
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Post by az on Oct 31, 2007 9:24:57 GMT -5
Some sad facts about me I am ashamed of. Cutting to the chase. I consider myself an internet porn and masturbating addict. I am 32, have a beautiful wife, son, and soon to have daughter in December. I am the son of a pastor which causes my guilt to swell. I am a Christian, a hippocrate, and I need help. The latter reason is what causes me to write on this site. I think the internet takes away the personalization of relationships through blogging, etc and is a good hiding place for people like me, so the only thing causing me to write this is my overwhelming desire for help and support. Usually, during this time in the morning before everyone wakes up I log on and masturbate. Since last Sunday (after logging on here) I haven't. It's taken a few days to muster up enough guts to write you all. I wish I could pin-point what causes me to do it then I could stop it. I have tried cold turkey, reading scripture, etc. but always seem to relapse. Here are some possible explanantions. I grew up primarily as an only child (sibblings way older) so mom wanted to make sure I was around enough friends for the social component. At a very young age (9-10?) this young boy and I were in awe of each others errections and fondled each other to the point of orgasm. I didn't know at the time, but later realized those were homosexual acts and not cool. I wonder if it's because of those orgasms that I started masturbating so early (must have been 13 or so)? I would masturbate constantly to swimsuit issues, tv shows, and even my own fantacies. Some people might argue that is normal teenage hormone activity, so why am I doing it still at 32? I say that I saved myself (intercourse) until marriage, but did I really? Another component is my identity crisis I am going through with my job. My self-esteem is very low because I am in a completely new industry where I am starting from scratch and I don't have many clients that want to use me for my financial services yet. I know masturbating makes me feel good and the job bad, so guess where I escape to? I have told my wife I masturate to internet porn, but I have not revealed the frequency. She was alright with me doing it because she justified its 'normalcy' by saying she uses her vibrator. Neither in my mind is o.k. We have been so blessed by the Lord in our marriage, our children, our families, our jobs. I can't let go and let God. I need help. I need support. I've said these two sentences over and over in my mind for years and didn't know who to turn to. As soon as I saw this site (and its anonymity) and this particular Christian Men thread I knew right away you and I have some things in common...good and bad.
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DennisW
Full Member
Love God Hate Sin
Posts: 226
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Post by DennisW on Oct 31, 2007 10:11:44 GMT -5
az,
Coming out of hiding is a good step. I also am the son of a father who was a pastor (was is used because Dad died 2/11/07). I understand the guilt. I understand the shame because I have those too.
You have some pretty good insights into why you are masturbating like you are. I had reasons like that too. but what is boils down to is that I just wanted to masturbate. I rationalized or justified doing this for a variety of reasons. None of them matter. I just wanted to do it.
Stopping then, becomes another matter. Why do you want to stop? Focus on that and see what happens. Keep posting. I just prayed for you, brother. Keep in touch.
God bless,
Dennis
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Post by MrOuch on Nov 2, 2007 9:54:00 GMT -5
Here's a pearl from Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph. D.: It’s fascinating to remember where some of the better known saints started out and how their lives proceeded. St. Matthew was a tax collector. St. Mary Magdelene practiced the oldest profession in the world. St. Peter was impetuous and something of a blowhard, and he had to be pressed hard before he’d let gentiles become Christians unless they first became Jews! The whole lot of the Apostles ran for the hills when Jesus was taken captive in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that was just a short while after their robust promise that they’d follow Him anywhere and die with Him if need be.
The list could go on and on, but the point is a simple one: none of these great saints started out as saints. Quite the contrary was true. They slowly and painstakingly evolved into holy men and women, with many starts and stops and numerous temporary reversals. And very often, as many of them have testified in their diaries, they suffered from deep discouragement at their lack of progress and their frequent mistakes. St. Paul spoke for them and for us all when said in anguish, “The good that I would do, I do not.” Isn’t it the truth.
There’s a lesson in all this for us who are still struggling along our own roads: Growing up into God’s image and likeness takes a long time. It’s a lifetime work, and God understands that. After all, He’s the one who put us together.
So take heart. Rejoice in the little triumphs as they happen. Each one brings you a step closer to home. Each one brings you a step closer to the embrace of our Father. None of us here started as saints, and I am FAR from being one. But it's somehow comforting to know that everyone struggles at times. I choose today to rejoice in the littel triumphs of my day and the great victory over P--at least for today. MrOuch
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Post by MrOuch on Nov 5, 2007 11:20:10 GMT -5
16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
-----1 John 2:16-17 Grant me the ability to resist temptation in all its forms today. MrO
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