But how do you know if when you feel guilty about something it's the HS and not just obsessive worrying?
Not always easily. But, guilt goes when we confess. if guilt hangs around after confessing its most probably false guilt, not from the HS
So it's wrong when christians teach that christians must not go to a disco or to a cinema because this is what the world does?
Yes, most times.
Not quite. My problem is I can't imagine what's allowed and what is not allowed. I do not walk around outside looking for women to look at but my problem is that sometimes even 1 image of a half-naked model or even only a picture of a woman's face which somehow looks tempting or aggressive kinda like the women in porn usually look is enough and then I'm directly turned on or horny or whatever one calls it and I don't know if that's already a sin or not. But even if that's no sin then it still sucks because then what do I do when I see something which turns me on and then I cannot get it out of my head especially when masturbating is also forbidden then it's really a never ending torture and you better lock yourself in your room to not be tempted by something tempting but that's also not realistic cause nobody can stay in his room forever.
I really ask myself how would it have been in a world without sin. All these distinctions between lusting and desiring and wanting but not sinning are so vague and complicated.
Ill stick my neck out and answer pretty directly.
The opposite sex was designed to be attractive to the other. That gets us thinking about sex and marriage. Sin is when we take that natural interest and misuse it.
Sexually mature people are very interested in sex and thus are drawn easily into sexual thoughts. A pretty girl can result in a pretty rapid response from a guy. But that is not in itself wrong, that's just everything functioning properly and requiring a moral framework to contain it. That containment can be uncomfortable, but its not sinful to be sexual as a single person.
A sexual stimulus can result in a sexual (ie physiological) response. Nothing inherently wrong with that. Sin requires desire, intent and an actual commitment. An all but automatic,invluntary, maybe eveb unwanted reastion is not sin, just being a sexually matured being.
To me it seems like married christians have a license for everything and they can have lustful fantasies about their partners all day and imagine everything they want but when you're not married then you have to function like a machine and you must control your thoughts and also deny your sexuality 100% in fact if you could get a bladder catheter then you'd never have to touch your private parts at all. I really don't know if that is healthy or if this will not drive a person insane sooner or later and then lead to religious people becoming disturbed or perverse. How's that a normal attitude towards the body? I think most non-christians would say this is extreme and while I don't care what they think I also think that it's somehow extreme but at the same time I don't know what's allowed and what's not allowed.
Some Christian teaching virtually implies that terrible dilemma. Singles are implicitly to live as asexual beings. What nonsense. What we do know is that our sex drive has one of its biological peaks mid teens for most people.
But with this definition it's only sin when you imagine somebody as an object but according to what I was told it is already a sin to have thoughts about sex with another person unless this person is married to you this means that no thoughts about sex with a person must ever enter your brain but how in the world is this supposed to be accomplished? I can't control myself in such a manner.
There is a huge difference between a guy seeing a lovely woman and responding:
a) How can I get into bed with her? Wow, sex with her would be ....I would get her to do.... and
b) She is really attractive. Lucky guy who marries her. She is so perfectly shaped. Wow.
Engaged couples need to talk about sex. Any sensible person will read good material about sex, very necessary for developing sensible attitudes and values.
That's the stuff I'm talking about. When I read such things I feel guilty for everything which is enjoyable cause no matter what it is wether it's chocolate or something else then it's always vain pleasure and the best would be to live totally ascetic and deny yourself everything which you enjoy. I bet that many christians in the past lived this way.
That comes from pagan beliefs, not accurate Christian teaching
God promised Israel and land: Ex 3:8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey NIV There are many scriptures with similar content.
But the bible talks about being lazy and such things or also about rewards and talents which need to be used. When I read such verses then I always feel pressured and I'm never satisfied with myself and I also don't do much to be honest. I haven't read in the bible for months and I don't miss it either because reading it always dragged me down. It was never rewarding or fulfilling to me. That's like being a guitar student who goes to his teacher week after week and never gets better. This is how I feel. I simply feel like I can't understand the bible and it also intimidates me. I totally hate sitting in front of a book like romans and wrestle with single verses and have no freaking clue what they are supposed to mean. This really hurts because I think how can I be a christian and still not understand it? An unbeliever who read it might be able to draw more from this than me and at the same time it's always like "as a christian you have fellowship with the author and this means you will understand it and he teaches us and yadda..." but I also always prayed before reading and still hardly understood anything. After a while you just get tired of this and also tired of those standard christian advice like "Oh, just pray before you read the bible" lol, as if I didnt do that.
I rather listen to teachings about certain biblical topics than to "study" the bible alone because then I don't get so frustrated.
But what it all boils down is not knowing how God really is. Many times when I feel bad I ask myself wether God's angry or disappointed and I don't know how he "ticks" I simply have no clue and from reading the bible I only get a negative picture of God because of all the scary verses in there even the NT has a lot of scary verses about the lazy servant or the wine branches which are cut off and burnt. For somebody like me who already stuggles with anxiety such things aren't healthy at all.
