You Are Not A Sinner

#1

The rise of Christian nofappers has brought with it the ideology that you are a sinner and that PMO is evil. They are wrong. You are not a sinner and using masturbation is a technique for most human children to find their bodies and express themselves sexually for the first time. This is not inherently evil, however over the years one should develop a mature sense of willpower and moderate all pleasurable behavior.

Christian nofappers will want you to believe that you are a sinner and that PMO is not part of God’s plan. They will assert that even one relapse in your life is going against His will and should be stopped. You then must report your “relapse” to the group and end up in a never-ending cycle of guilt and oppression. This is false.

I realize now that those young boys in this community have become overrun with this ideology of addiction, as if masturbation could actually be a serious addiction compared to heavy narcotic use. YBOP, the popular “science” reference of this community is most likely a byproduct of the Catholic agenda and using pseudo science to get their message across.

You are not addicted to porn or masturbation and you are not an addict, nor are you a sinner and you do not have to repent for weakness and idle behavior that simply wastes your precious time. They are making themselves known in subtle ways but these Catholics eventually use the name of Jesus in a chat or post and claim that this is the only way. Do not listen to their proselytization. You are free to make your own choices and be your own person.

Now that you have found a community of like minded individuals, most anyway, you can use the secular character developing tools to nurture yourself. You are a man in the making and you don’t have to feel guilty at all for losing the small private battles of sexual expression. You simply lack purpose, meaning and willpower—but those traits can be gained as quickly as they are lost.

I have faith in you because I have been in your shoes. However if you manage to succumb to pornography or masturbation as little as once a week you are in my opinion getting stronger and doing well. You are certainly not damaging your brain or central nervous system and you are not failing at anything. As a man you can be sure you will have pitfalls, shortcomings and mistakes—but that by no means makes you a failure or sinner. There is no original sin. The idea of original sin was developed by followers of Christ to keep people down. Just look at that religions priesthood and their reputation. They may not use pornography, but they continue to rape young boys of the Church.

I believe in you, I trust you and I know that you can use critical thinking to find your way out of the community that you found solace in. My only hope is that you don’t get swayed by the subtle and conniving tactics of the Abrahamic faiths.

Get a grip on some daily discipline, attempt to help others and build character together. Avoid spending too much time on a computer and get plenty of sunshine. That recipe is enough to eventually find your peace, and get back on life’s track.

#2

This reads like an attack on Judeo-Christian values. If there’s a religious approach to the topic I think it should be allowed to be what it is without you and others calling people liars and telling them their core beliefs about the purpose of sex and what we ought to do with our bodies are all wrong and a product of a somehow inherently flawed system (which you haven’t actually proved to be inherently flawed so much as assumed it to be). Let me explain proper JC conceptions of sex and masturbation so we’re all on the same page as to what Christians (like myself) really believe. (note: This isn’t any kind of proselytizing comment. I’m not saying this is what anyone who isn’t a Christian should or must think. I’m just trying to clear up blatant misconceptions of what we actually believe so that people don’t just read your post and become erroneously misinformed)

Firstly, for a Christian, “sin” is anything in which one’s action, thought, inaction, etc. ”misses the mark” (it’s actually an archery term) of what God says (typically in the Bible) is ultimately “good.” For is, the purpose of our sexual desires is that they are set towards (aside from procreation) being fulfilled in the context of a marriage “covenant” or agreement. So, for a Christian, any sexual activity that occurs outside of that covenant is to miss the mark of standard of sexual purity which is found inside that covenant.

Secondly, since masturbation is in effect an attempt to satisfy sexual urges in a manner that is exclusive of the aforementioned marital covenant, Christians generally consider masturbation to be ”sin.” In other words, for a Christian, masturbation “misses the mark” (again, sin is an archery term) of the divinely set standard of marriage for human sexual fulfillment.

Thirdly, the issue of shame and guilt. For Christians, guilt and shame aren’t things that should be encouraged. So systems and discussions in which the object of those discussions is to encourage shame and guilt in another believer is nothing more than Christianity done wrong. Good intentions, poor execution. We believe that the Spirit of God (Im not going to go on a tangent explaining trinitarian theology because it’s not the focus rn, and there have been books written on the topic the size of my head) live in every believer and inspires feelings of conviction and Contrition… NEVER guilt and shame. This is because we also believe that Jesus died to remove the stain of the things we’ve done and will do that ”missed the mark.” This excludes shame and guilt because, as a Christian, you’re no longer judged by your own merits or lack thereof. You’re judged by the merits of Jesus who we believe was a perfect man and God in flesh.

Fourthly, the question of addiction. That’s not really a Christian concept at all. Are we living in a broken world as broken people? Yes. Is addiction part of that reality? sure. But addiction isn’t a Christian invention. It’s really quite a secular one. So the suggestion that scientific data concerning pornography and masturbation being addictive is somehow a Christian interference is baffling to say the least. Let people believe what they need to believe to beat this thing. If it’s not an addiction it sure feels like it. I don’t think it’s okay to consider this to be “not a real addiction.” If it weren’t one, this site wouldn’t be a thing, would it?

I find it particularly disrespectful that you think it’s okay to outright attack people’s religious convictions like you have in this post. Especially when you so obviously don’t understand them. Telling people that Christianity and it’s teachings are false is A. Patently untrue for a variety of reasons I’m not willing to get into, and B. Just plain irreligious proselytization. And yes, humans do have a sin problem… we miss the mark of proper self-fulfillment all the time. We miss the mark of goodness constantly. Thems the facts. Don’t attack my faith if you know little to nothing about it.

#3

We’re all siner bro. There’s no one that it’s Good or bad. We’re all bad and God is righteous, merciful to forgive us through Jesus Christ. Bless you brother :pray::sunrise::heart:️ We need to repent through Jesus Christ everyday

#4

KJV Matthew 5:28-30
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should perish, and not that the whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Yes. PMO is, in fact, a sin. I’m sorry, friend, but you’ve been seriously misguided if you honestly believe that it isn’t going to land you in hell. I say this not as a “holier than thou art” comment, but as a warning against this kind of thinking. Are you a bad person for PMO? No, I don’t believe so. You’re a lost child who has made poor life choices (as am I). But you did make that choice, and it’s time to start making the opposite one.

It’s also an addiction; PMO has been proven to have the same long-term effects on the brain as using hard drugs, as far as the size/strength of your prefrontal cortex is concerned. The good news is, that the human brain is incredibly resilient and can bounce back. Former addicts, of any kind, are proven to have larger and stronger prefrontal cortexes than people who have never struggled with an addiction.

I’m Lutheran, by the way, not Catholic.

Much love, and prayers, to my fellow NoFap soldiers. See you all in the barracks. I believe in you all, and I know we can do this, together. In God, all things are made possible- remember that.

#5

This is just your opinion… Why should anyone listen to you? You haven’t posted any evidence or proof for anything you said, just said a lot of things very confidently…

#6

If you were curious enough, you could find the evidence/supporting science with a few quick google searches. I’m not going to do the groundwork of finding/posting something that I’m 99% sure you’re not going to even click on anyway, since you already so clearly and vehemently disagree.

If an individual or group, disagrees with another individuals or groups world view, that’s fine. But they don’t need to shitpost about it. OP is kind of an a$$hole. He automatically assumes that anybody who disagrees MUST be, what he makes out to be, “a filthy Catholic”.

If OP, or anybody else who happens to read my comment, isn’t a Christian, then they are free to disregard it. But, if the individual reader is, then they’re pretty much required to accept God’s word as Law. And to disobey that law is sinful. Period. According to the Bible, PMO -IS- a sin. There’s no way around that.

And, now that I go back and reread OP, he actually says word for word;
“You are not addicted to porn or masturbation and you are not an addict”

-Hang on… The entire point of this website is that you admit you -ARE- an addict, and to use it as a tool to get clean of your addiction (whether that be PMO, smoking, drinking, etc). This guy sounds like a detractor. And based on his post, I’d say that he’s probably an Atheist who’s just trying to spread his own agenda. Probably got “tickled” by a Catholic priest growing up. And if that’s the case, my heart goes out to him and other vics. But to use that as an excuse to spread hate and detract others from their faith or from using it, and this site, as a tool to become healthier human beings is just plain evil, IMO, and not at all helpful to this community as a whole.

Peace.

#7

The original term sin was an archery term. When Christ was alive this term simply meant “missing the mark.” (The word sin meant this in both Hebrew and Greek)

I agree that many people (regardless of their faith) need to drop the guilt they wrestle with and put effort into loving and powerful self-development. That being said, I won’t argue with someone else’s oncology over the internet.

I have put myself through both narcotic abuse and PMO habituation. I am no longer on narcotics, but I am still learning to find a healthy relationship to PMO and intimate sex.

I personally feel that the consequences of my slow-burning PMO addiction has caused more damage in my interpersonal life and mental state than previous drug use. Everyone has their own experience.