Help for pornography
I often give in to the sin of watching porn and feel bad and pray to God apologizing and get Communion, then end up falling into temptation again and repeating. I know if you ask for forgiveness but repeat it then it's not being truly repentant. I want to stop and feel super bad if I don't take Communion, but know I will sooner or later fall back into my old ways. What should I do? I don't feel right talking to my pastor about it either.
If you do not feel that you can talk to your pastor about this, I would encourage you to check out the resources, including counselors, available through Conquerors Through Christ, an agency within WELS. Conquerors through Christ website serves those affected by porn use. You may subscribe to the CtC e-Newsletter and visit CtC on Facebook.
As with any sin, we confess our sins to God, we receive in faith God’s forgiveness of our sins and we resolve to fight all the more against sin and temptation. Your words indicate you recognize this. Your words also reflect the ongoing battle that goes on within Christians (Romans 7:15-25).
The website can provide you with practical resources to assist you in your battle against temptation. What follows is one of their FAQs:
“OK – so maybe I am addicted. Now what do I do?
1.Pray. Tell God about what you have been doing. It shouldn’t be all that hard, after all, He already knows. He’s just waiting for you to come to him so he can tell you that he loves you and has forgiven you.
2.Watch our videos and explore the web site— they summarize the steps to follow to get porn out of your life.
3.Take the hardest step—tell someone—your pastor, a trusted friend, your spouse, or a Christian counselor. This is a sin we can almost guarantee you will not be able to ‘fix’ on your own. You will need help. But the good news is there IS help available. But you must seek it out. Satan will seek to keep you isolated and weak. Don’t let him.
4.Seek ongoing support in the form of counseling and accountability. This is a battle and Satan will not let his grip on you go without a tremendous struggle.
5.Thank God for the victories and cry for mercy for any failures along the way.”
God bless all your efforts in saying “No” to sin and “Yes” to godly living (Titus 2:12).