tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post2660976642885283502..comments2023-12-22T19:01:28.512-08:00Comments on Holy Nativity Orthodox Church: Talking About Sexual ImmoralityFr. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-40353460876984435002014-12-15T15:56:40.628-08:002014-12-15T15:56:40.628-08:00Dear Fr.Michael, thank you for this post.I was won...Dear Fr.Michael, thank you for this post.I was wondering what sexual actions are considered sexual immorality in marriage?Are you allowed to do anything as long as you are married?And how did married saints have an active sex life and at the same time a pure heart without lustful feelings?How can you make love with your spouse if there is no desire?I think you get the point of my question.Thank you!Eirininoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-53925465563884523682014-02-14T14:32:31.455-08:002014-02-14T14:32:31.455-08:00Dear Anonymous struggler,
I do pray for you. Stru...Dear Anonymous struggler,<br />I do pray for you. Struggle with sexual sins is a furnace that burns away pride and forges humility. Our deliverance only comes from God as we guard our eyes and heart, attend to our thoughts, and resist physically. The struggle itself reveals to us our brokenness and our dependance on God for salvation. When we see ourselves as weak, then we see God as strong. Keep confessing—it is your priest's job to hear you and pray for you. Your struggles are similar to the struggles everyone experiences. For some people the struggle is sex, for others it is food or alcohol or drugs or arrogance or depression or any of a hundred possible passions. We are broken, and our struggle is how we find healing in this fallen world. God is with us even, maybe especially, when we fail. God came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I know what you are going through. If you fall, get back up again. Fr. Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-38546453941292560732014-02-10T20:36:44.523-08:002014-02-10T20:36:44.523-08:00I posted some time ago about my struggle with lust...I posted some time ago about my struggle with lustful passions. Shortly thereafter, I felt that I had managed to control my sin with myself, for I abstained from such sins for months. However, a single inappropriate text that was not even supposed to be sent to me reintroduced the temptation to my heart. Since then I have struggled again with the sin, this time perhaps being worse than my first struggle. For a few weeks I confessed the same sin week after week, for I kept committing it, but now I fear inconveniencing my priest with the constant fall back into sin. I feel like he would think I am not trying to repent and follow his council. I wish that I could stop this, and I am filled with regret every time I fail at my resolve, but within a short time my repentant spirit is put aside and I fall back into the same sin. I am beginning to become discouraged, for I have prayed for God's help and strength, but I have not felt it strengthen me, even when I try to push myself away from the sin. I do not know how to keep myself from sinning in the same way over and over again, but I want to end it so desperately. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-43817477208505208392013-08-02T21:58:49.559-07:002013-08-02T21:58:49.559-07:00Father bless. I am an Orthodox teenager struggling...Father bless. I am an Orthodox teenager struggling continuously with the lustful sin of sexual immorality. For years now I have fought vigorously with temptation, but I always seem to fall back into the same sin from which I have been trying to escape. I am constantly sickened by the world's advertisement of sex as a pleasurable shameless ordeal, yet when the time of temptation comes, I myself fall victim to it. Thank you for your encouraging words, for you provided a sense of hope and courage for me just as I was getting discouraged. Please pray for me as I work to overcome this demon, and ask that God may grant me strength to face temptation, along with remission of sins and life everlasting. Amen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com