Re: Question About Sexual Sin

[OnlySunshine]

Sorry I keep posting on here, but I was wondering how do you know if you willed the thoughts or not? Sometimes I wonder if I made the thoughts begin. The time it happened, I was not doing anything (idle). I think boredom brought the thoughts in. I also discovered that what I was doing at the time was an occasion of sin and I will try hard to keep myself busy.

I often second guess myself and I think I might be a bit scrupulous since I've been dealing with this issue of chastity for a while. I talked to my therapist about the issue, too, so hopefully, I'll be getting help for it. I probably shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I really don't want to offend God. As I said earlier, as soon as I started getting aroused, I changed what I was doing.

Thanks again. I hope this will be the last question. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/blush.gif[/img]

Edited August 15, 2011 by Lil Red

[CatherineM]

Purposely bringing on such thoughts means things like watching movies that cause you arousal, reading books that do the same. Those don't necessarily have to be to the level of pornography. If we have sexual fantasies involving a certain actor or actress, then just watching one of their movies while alone might set something off. People that have fetishes for something bizarre like teddy bears shouldn't watch Winnie the Pooh, which certainly isn't porno. Pornography would obviously be something to avoid. Just sitting in boredom shouldn't be an issue, but if you are in an active fight with this kind of stuff, boredom is something to avoid. The Shakers had a nice saying, "thoughts to God, hands to work." There are reasons that we have sayings like "idle hands are the devil's playground." It's because experience has told us that boredom can lead to trouble. Once you have your issues into a more maintenance stage, then quiet time may not cause a problem. Our society has trained us that quiet time should be filled at all times. We really have lost the idea of quiet time as a time to listen for God's voice. Even if God tried to talk to us, most of the time our homes and environments are so loud, we wouldn't be able to hear him. However, if quiet time is hard for you right now, make a list for yourself right now of 10 things you can do when confronted with the same tempting down time.

One last thing. Relax. If you have to wonder if you have brought these thoughts on yourself, you haven't. If you had, you would know you had because you would have made a conscience decision to do so.