Congratulations, Prodino. It is amazing that this addiction can actually be overcome. Women probably don't understand the allure of pornography at all but I'm pretty sure most men know just how maddeningly addictive it really is.
My mom, who was a schoolteacher, told me about a little boy who had to be punished for looking under girls' skirts. When my mom admonished him by saying that he would find the same sight under each skirt, he said "I don't care, I want to see them ALL." Unfortunately, most men, being evil as Christ Himself called us, are naturally made like this.
God does give graces to those who want to be freed of this vice, in that he truly FREES you. Knock and He will answer. Like you, Prodino, I no longer even want to look at smut, and if someone forced me to look at it, it would bore me. I literally see with different eyes, they have been wiped clean, only women in a state of grace have any visual appeal for me ( and they usually wear dresses down to their ankles
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There may be a tendency among some to think it's relatively okay, to say "At least I'm not cheating on my wife." Maybe they might even say "It KEEPS me from cheating on my wife." I don't know, I'm not married, but I can imagine myself thinking like that, good at making excuses as I am :scratchchin: Of course your conscience and Christ told you otherwise and you did the right thing.
You're also so right that trads are just as prone to this as anyone else. Until Vatican II, "trads" were the only kind of Catholics there were anyway, and lust is not a new invention. We have to deal with all the new problems, the new heresies and new controversies, while still dealing with the old problems ( our own propensity to sin ). Meanwhile, since Vatican II, pornography has risen exponentially, as have all sins. We truly are besieged by Satan. Those who pretend that they are super-Catholics who are above all of this are riding for a fall.
When I wrote the above post I was describing how I battled an addiction to pornography in the years leading up to my baptism. For someone who is already baptised, they also have recourse to the Eucharist and the timetable of Sunday masses. Because, after each confession, you should show the Lord some improvement, you could space out my "resensitivity" technique from week to week. Just as long as you don't become like Luther who rebelled against the Catholic Church because he found confession too embarrassing... It's safe to say that the Protestant "Church" was begun by a ritual self-abuser. That's how serious this is! ( Womanizing, though gravely sinful, is hardly embarrassing since most men are not even capable of it and those who are are looked at as studs ).
Once you are no longer looking at pornography, the fight is only beginning. You then have to remain on the defensive for the rest of your life. And anything could make you slip up. You have to protect yourself from the train of thought that leads to pornography and that means looking away INSTANTLY from any undressed, half-dressed or provocatively posing female.
Once that slip-up happens, I imagine heavy despair could set in. I will pray Prodino that you keep the course.
P.S. DeMaistre, since you are a Michael Dimond supporter and probably a home-aloner, you are cutting yourself off from sacraments. Be careful that God doesn't abandon you to your own self-righteousness by abandoning you to pornography. It's easy to imagine this happens often to extremely self-righteous and overly strict Catholic communities. They fall into sin and then despair and this leads to more pride and more self-righteousness, to cover up for their own sins, etc. I'm not saying this has happened to Michael Dimond since I don't know him, I'm saying it's a possibility you should be on guard against.
Topic: Conquering pornography (Read 4104 times)