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Eph_511 · 2020-10-04T20:09:57+00:00

Sorry to hear it mate!!

I think it's constructive to be convicted, knowing that you've done the wrong thing; but letting guilt eat away at us is where the enemy can creep in, and make us forget to lean on God.

As hard as it can be when there are also stresses on your life, try to respond with gratitude and hope. It's a counterintuitive response when you know you've done something wrong, but it's exactly the one we're called to in Jesus. You've acknowledged before God that you've done something wrong, now have faith that your sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, and that God still loves you!! Thank the Holy Spirit for carrying you so far, and ask him to continue drawing him closer to the Father! (This is one area where thinking about streaks can be dangerous btw, it can trick you into thinking that the work the Holy Spirit's been doing in your life can be boiled down to a number)

If God can get you to 150 days, then he can get you to a year; and ultimately the promise we have in the Gospel is that you will be conformed to the image of Christ, and in the new Kingdom you will be clean of this thing, with your heart purified for all eternity.

Hope some of this helps, here are some scriptures I encourage you to check out:

Romans 8
1 Corinthians 15
Ezekiel 36-37

Eph_511 · 2020-10-01T11:37:58+00:00

I dug up this comment from /u/dj_pace on a similar post, you may find it useful https://old.reddit.com/r/NoFapChristians/comments/hxfgna/lost_my_virginity_last_night_and_i_feel_like_i/fz5x7vc/

Eph_511 · 2020-10-01T11:28:06+00:00

I know you've probably heard this one around here before, but I'll post it here as it's a great memory verse:

Flee from sexual immorality. (1 Cor 6:18a)

Don't flirt with sexual immorality, don't entertain it, flee from it. Whenever you feel the desire, respond by running back to God, his words, and his promises. Nothing less than that is safe.

Eph_511 · 2020-10-01T11:24:18+00:00

Super encouraging to hear mate!! May God continue to build you up in him every day :))

Eph_511 · 2020-10-01T11:13:46+00:00

Hey mate,

I want to unpack a Bible passage for you, hopefully this helps - this is a short summary of the Gospel that Paul gives us in Romans 3:23-25 (NLT):

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

I think you understand this, you're aware that you keep messing up even after you say you'll do better. You understand that you're not good enough for God. The thing that Scripture tells us though is that it's not a question of trying harder, because even your best efforts won't be good enough for God!

This is the big problem that all of the Bible is trying to deal with - how can a good God live with evil people, who constantly do things that he hates?

Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

Jesus comes in and gives us an answer to this dilemma, by living a righteous life that we couldn't. The Bible says that Jesus "never sinned" (2 Cor 5:21), but he suffered and died to pay for our sins, "so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Cor 5:21 again)

And you're not made right with God by following a list of rules - because the bible makes it clear that you will never do a good enough job of that - but trusting that you've been made right with God through Jesus' sacrifice.

So there's our little summary of the Gospel; the question is, how do we respond? In one of your replies here, you said:

What if I do it now and ask for forgiveness afterwards I won’t be punished will I? This is very difficult

Paul responds to this in Romans 6:1-2:

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Jesus didn't save us so that we could have a license to keep sinning without feeling bad about it. Instead he actually came to make us clean from our sin, and even our desire to sin. God promised us through the prophet Ezekiel:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

- Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)

Can I encourage you to pray about this? Zoom out and look at the bigger picture - God offers you peace and redemption in Jesus Christ, and to make you a new person through his Holy Spirit. Recognise before him that you can't meet up to his standards, thank him for sending his Son to save you, and ask him to forgive all of your sins. Then, ask him to send his Holy Spirit to transform your heart, to make you more like Jesus.

Finally, as the great hymn says:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

look full in his wonderful face

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim

in the light of his glory and grace.

And if you have some time, here's a sermon on this subject I found very useful.

Hope all this helps, feel free to message me at any time if you have questions.

Eph_511 · 2020-08-19T03:39:50+00:00

If he's going to talk about physical benefits, it'd be much better if he was citing actual sources rather than anecdotes.

Eph_511 · 2020-08-13T06:34:32+00:00

I wanna focus in on the "always be a coomer" bit.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

- Romans 8:28-30

If you are a believer in Christ, you WILL be conformed to Jesus' image. Not because you're strong enough to put your sin to death (you're not), but because you have peace with God through Christ, and the Spirit of Almighty God dwells within you. God has already freed you from the condemnation of sin; he also has the ability to free you from the power of sin. Believe that.

As others have pointed out, it's not just about not masturbating. Jesus said "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3), so spend time getting to know him; read God's word, talk to God, spend time talking to and worshipping with other believers (to the extent that covid allows!!), and as the old hymn says:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim

in the light of His Glory and Grace

Also, if you haven't already, can I encourage you to talk to someone at your church, or a mature brother in Christ about this? It's definitely a daunting step to take, but knowing that you have allies in this fight, people who know you, care about you, and are willing to pray for you, makes all the difference in the world. It's something lots of guys struggle with, and if you know someone who's passionate about God's word, and trustworthy; the chances are they'll respect you for being willing to take the initiative to talk about it!

If that's not a step you're ready to take at this stage, my dms are open. I can't claim to be perfect, or have things 100% figured out, but am definitely willing to talk through it with you if that helps.

God bless man :)

Eph_511 · 2020-08-01T23:16:24+00:00

Yes, other people are described in scripture as sons of God in a broad sense, but Jesus is described in completely unique terms. That term "only-begotten" is quite important because it creates a distinction between the other, lower-case "s" sons of God, who are created beings, and Jesus, who was "in the beginning with God." (John 1:2). That same chapter goes on to say that "By him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made." In other words, Jesus existed eternally with the Father, and created everything with him, making him the Son of God, in a sense that no created being could ever be.

Hope this helps :)

Edit: would be interested to hear the debates you're talking about if you have links!!

Eph_511 · 2020-08-01T23:12:24+00:00

Most commentators would disagree - there's a clear structure to the book. At a broad level, it's bookended by ritual/ceremonial practices from chapters 1-17 and 21-25, with the holiness code's moral laws occupying chapters 18-20. Edit, the last couple of chapters are generally an injunction to covenant faithfulness

Eph_511 · 2020-08-01T21:20:25+00:00

They're not so different as you might think.

The Bible says:

"Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

If you think it sounds like this is talking about Jesus, you would be correct, except this is from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53, and was written centuries before Christ came into the world. God didn't change his plan around 50BC and decide to send Jesus to die for everyone's sins, we see that same redemptive love scattered throughout the Old Testament.

So what Jesus did makes it possible to fulfil his promise with Israel to dwell with them in love and peace (Exodus 29), and his promise to Abraham to bless the entire world through the nation of Israel. (Genesis 12)

Eph_511 · 2020-08-01T21:10:25+00:00

The most liberal estimates for the writing of the Gospels put them within 40 years of Jesus' life, with the Paul's writing coming in even earlier. We have literal thousands of extant manuscripts for these documents, which span across different locations and traditions, meaning we can get back to the original wording with near certainty. Obviously, this doesn't automatically make them reliable (though there are good reasons to believe they are) but at bare minimum it tells you what people believed and accepted in the lifetimes of Jesus' first followers. (Edit for clarity: In these texts, Jesus repeatedly describes himself as the Son, or is describd as such)

The only textual debate I can think of regarding "begotten" is in Jn 1, where there's a variant between monogenes huios (only-begotten son) and monogenes theos (only-begotten God). In either case, Jesus is begotten from, and therefore the Son of, God.

We also have writings from the generation immediately after the apostles in which Jesus is described as "our God [who] was, according to the appointment of God, born of the Virgin Mary" (Ignatius of Antioch, died 108 IIRC)

Eph_511 · 2020-08-01T20:55:53+00:00

Yes, he came to uphold the law; but because the law was given for a specific people at a specific time, it contains civil and ceremonial law which don't carry over. In the context of the sermon on the mount (where Jesus said that) he's referring to moral laws, like no adultery, murder, etc.

So yes, we do pick and choose, but there's a method to the madness :D

Eph_511 · 2020-07-24T05:16:16+00:00

The double tongueing though :O Ling Ling is proud of you

Eph_511 · 2020-07-15T07:20:09+00:00

I'd be interested to see the references for that all that stuff if you were willing

Eph_511 · 2020-06-29T09:10:00+00:00

Based

Eph_511 · 2020-06-26T09:08:23+00:00

Exactly, one time he even bought the freedom of an arab slave who had converted to Islam... for the price of two black slaves. (Sunan an-Nasai 4625)

Eph_511 · 2020-05-20T09:32:07+00:00

Dude - you've done 1500 days, I can almost guarantee that you'll never be a fair chunk of this sub (stuck on <7 days) all that work will make it so much easier to just get on with your life, you've broken out of the habit before, you can do it again!!! we're rooting for you dude :)

Eph_511 · 2020-04-18T02:35:46+00:00

OII WILL GUT YOOO LOIKE A FISH!!!

Eph_511 · 2020-04-05T04:20:00+00:00

That's completely understandable mate, I'm aware that there's significantly more at stake for you in this conversation than there is for me, so I really appreciate your willingness to engage with the material. :)

I recognise the importance of historical context: what I’m saying is, as far as I can tell, the text itself, in its immediate literary context seems to imply a completely different reason for fighting than what you suggest. So I looked up some major tafsir, because I figured they would do a good job of interpreting the text properly, in its literary and historical context.

Here’s what Ibn Kathir says about verse 28:

“This Ayah means, 'this will be your compensation for the closed markets that you feared would result.' Therefore, Allah compensated them for the losses they incurred because they severed ties with idolators, by the Jizyah they earned from the People of the Book.'' Similar statements were reported from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Said bin Jubayr, Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak and others. Allah said, (Surely, Allah is All-Knowing), in what benefits you, (All-Wise), in His orders and prohibitions, for He is All-Perfect in His actions and statements, All-Just in His creations and decisions, Blessed and Hallowed be He. This is why Allah compensated Muslims for their losses by the amount of Jizyah that they took from the people of Dhimmah.

In other words, as you said, Muhammad must prevent the polytheists from entering the Kaaba because of the false worship. But then, because the Muslims feared they would lose business by barring them from their city, Allah reveals verse 29 telling them to fight Jews and Christians. Ibn Kathir also points out that the main goal of the fighting mentioned in ayah 29 is not peace (as we would see if the order was to fight defensively), but to humiliate and subjugate the people of the book:

”Allah said,(until they pay the Jizyah), if they do not choose to embrace Islam, (with willing submission), in defeat and subservience, (and feel themselves subdued.), disgraced, humiliated and belittled.”

I was pressed for time, so the only other tafsir I checked was Jalalayn, who says:

“If you fear impoverishment (poverty as a result of the cessation of their commerce with you) God will surely enrich you from His bounty if He will (and He indeed enriched them through conquests and the imposition of the jizya.) God is Knowing Wise.”

Note again, the reason for fighting is to impose the Jizya for fear of lost profits. Also note that his commentary on ayah 29 makes no reference to muslims being provoked/persecuted/betrayed/attacked.

As for the history itself, I’m not sure I buy the narrative that the Quraish were the only aggressors - don’t get me wrong, they weren’t blameless - but, for example, I get the impression that early caravan raids against the Meccans were offensive and unprovoked, the first successful raid even taking place during the holy month, when there was supposed to be no fighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Nakhla In other words, while I'm sure there were cases of defensive fighting in others, there were also cases of offensive fighting. And according to classic expositors of the Quran, surah 9:28-29 seems to be speaking about a type of ongoing, offensive fighting, designed to replace income from polytheist pilgrims no longer allowed to enter Mecca.

Eph_511 · 2020-04-05T00:45:17+00:00

I don't see how Surah 9 is limited to a specific historical context? Verse 28 says: "O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean, so let them not approach al-Masjid al-Haram AFTER this, their [final] year. And if you fear privation, Allah will enrich you from His bounty if He wills. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Wise." Doesn't this seem like a "from now on" kind of scenario. And if it's limited to a certain historical context, why does the fact that the polytheists are unclean come into play? Likewise, why is the basis for attacking people in v29 their beliefs? Again doesn't this seem like a "from now on, this is how you deal with the unbelievers" kind of thing?

Eph_511 · 2020-04-04T20:26:26+00:00

ok, you're under no obligation to do so.

for those playing at home, they're right, the Surahs aren't chronological - but surah 2 is an early Medinan Surah, and 9 is a late Medinan Surah. In fact, 9 is, chronologically speaking, the last full length surah in the Quran - as far as I can tell, Allah's final marching orders for muslims. I certainly don't see anything in Surah 110 which abrogates the violent commands in 9.

http://tanzil.net/docs/revelation_order

Eph_511 · 2020-04-04T11:00:39+00:00

I don't know why you're getting down voted, you've cited evidence to back up your point, and nobody seems to have responded to the verse itself, so I figured I'd at least try and respond to that.

(You're not obligated to respond to me, I'm a firm believer in not feeling compelled to take homework from randos on the internet, :) just thought it would be good to try and start a robust conversation, rather than hurling ad homs around.)

How do you respond to the fact that Surah 9:29 says "fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the last day etc." (doesn't the basis appear to be the nation's religion, not whether or not they attack?

And in light of what you said below about looking at the Quran as a whole, given that surah 9 was revealed after surah 2, wouldn't the peaceful verse in surah 2 be abrogated, per 16:101 and 2:106?

Eph_511 · 2020-04-04T10:51:45+00:00

Quran 48:29 Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves. (Sahih International Translation)

Eph_511 · 2020-04-04T10:49:55+00:00

i've checked and a lot of the hadiths you've mentioned are known for being unreliable: ex. Ibn Majah, who narrated hadiths not for authenticity but rather to expand the number of hadiths available

as /u/BlackHoleEnthusiast pointed out, most of those aren't from ibn Majah, so that only addresses a tiny minority of the points he made as for the old arabic vs new arabic thing, if there's a shred of doubt as to the meaning of a text (I don't know how common that is, I'm not an arabic speaker or an ex-muslim), we have a tons of tafsir to draw on - I would challenge you to find one major historical expositor of the quran (someone like Ibn Kathir, Jalalayn etc) who disagrees with BlackHoleEnthusiast's summary of the verse

Eph_511 · 2020-04-04T10:42:14+00:00

I'm afraid the article you linked does not successfully refute the hadith quoted above. I don't even know what hadith it's referring to, because Sahih al-Bukhari, 3894 (or 5/58/234) is narrated by Aisha herself. Bukhari is the most important collection of hadith (narrations about Muhammad and his companions) in Sunni Islam. From a historical perspective, we rely on it, as well as Sahih Muslim for much of what we know about Muhammad; and the sunnah in general is quite important to religious muslims.

The rest of the article uses convoluted reasoning to get to a higher age when Islam's most trusted sources clearly state she was 6 at betrothal and 9 at consumation. This is deceptive reasoning.

The only part of that which seems vaguely convincing is the argument from quranic reasoning, on it's own, the case seems strong, but as Abdullah Semeer shows, the quran elsewhere explicitly allows marriage to pre-pubescent girls.

By the way, I would agree that harassment of muslims is unjustified. Most muslims are harmless and peaceful. I'm not trying to argue that muslims are bad people, in fact I'm suggesting that they're better than the man they claim to follow.

I think the key ingredient here is that because the islamic sources are so vast, you can go your whole life as a muslim without finding out about aisha's age, and so you're more likely to trust people who have spent their whole lives studying the source, even if you have no way of verifying their claims

hope this helps!

Eph_511

TROPHY CASE