Getting baptized and confirmed into the catholic church next saturday. I keep telling myself I will stop masturbating...

… I mean a life confession. That is, a confession of all the sins you can remember doing in your life, up to that point. Normally done when someone comes over to Orthodoxy from atheism, or another religion, or a Christian sect with no sacramental grace, but again I don't actually know if Catholics do it, I just assumed.
So are you supposed to do a life confession or not? Because, again, if so, you will have to confess that you masturbated, even if you somehow manage to be free of this passion before your baptism (but that shouldn't be expected of you anyway - it's like expecting someone to win the gold medal before they enter the race).

All sins pre baptism are forgiven from baptism. So no I guess?

Wait a minute, if all your sins are forgiven by baptism, why wouldn't you just do whatever you like all your life and then get baptized on your deathbed and go straight to Heaven?

...

Most Protestants don't even think baptism is necessary.

Christianity isn't a matter of being in one or two states - "forigven" or "not forgiven" - and going through the necessary prodecures to be in the former category before it's too late.
Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we seek to be united to Him through the sacraments principally because we love Him.
Baptism forgives our sins, and yet (at least for the Orthodox) we also receive the sacrament of Chrismation and the sacrament of Repentance and the sacrament of the Eucharist right afterward, even though those all forgive sin too.
God isn't a vending machine where you put a baptism and receive a salvation. He knows the contents of our heart. Will He be tricked by somebody who purposefully delays their baptism until their last day so that they can live in debauchery?

On another note, it happens that the practice of delaying baptism until one's death bed was common in the early Church. Most famously, this is what St Constantine did. Because of theological confusion, no one was really sure whether grave sins could be forgiven after Baptism, and so people who had faith in Christ but were caught up in things that would make them sin often (being a government official, being a soldier, going from one opinion about Christ's nature to another, etc) delayed their Baptism until the end of their life. As a result, infant baptism was rare, frequent communion was rare (because those who aren't baptized can't commune, obviously), and even highly educated theologians like St Ambrose of Milan were not baptized yet but were still on the forefront of defending the orthodox faith (in fact, in his case, everyone wanted him to become a bishop but he wasn't even a layman yet).

What is up with people accusing Catholic/Orthodox beliefs of being Protestant, recently?

I'm going to say this up front; I'm not a good example to follow.

However I tried something new recently, and I think it has promise for both scientific ans spiritual reasons. St. Paul of the Cross says that whenever you are assailed by thoughts of sin, cry out to God for deliverance (inwardly obviously in public). He says especially do not hesitate in doing so. This seems to make sense because of how strong our impulses are, the way the brain works it seems that strong desires put you into an autopilot mode towards fulfilling them.

Effectively, the way it seems to work is that if you let it slide, you give your assent, and thereafter you are in the grip of the enemy until the desire is satisfied. So you need to do something to reassert control from the start; demand the demons to leave and implore God to save you from the second your mind starts to wander towards sin.

If you really don't want to fall into sin it should work. Knowing that if you fail, you have to go to confession is nudge in the right direction, since presumably it's embarrassing.

Hey user! Just did my first confession today actually since I’m also joining the Church. It felt GREAT, I honestly felt a huge spiritual shift. I wasn’t a perfect guy the rest of the day(looking at women, etc), but my Priest suggested praying the Sorrowful Mysteries and really putting myself in Christ’s place, especially the prayer in the Garden when Jesus asks the Father to take the burden from Him. I’d also like to suggest praying a Novena to St Joseph, considering that he didn’t violate our Lady’s chastity, he’d understand and is all around a good role model(in addition to being the “terror of demons”, like lust). In regards to doing a first confession as an adult, I used a checklist as a guide and tried to remember my sins(since Baptism), the main thing is to not hold back stuff you can actually remember. Another suggestion for fighting masturbation, visualize the demon trying to coerce you into giving in, think about how much that evil mothersucker hates you and wants to destroy you. The Screw Tape Letters is good for this. Also, if you do give in, think about what Fulton Sheen said about Satan, he gets you to sin and then immediately accuses you of the sin he goaded you into, think about that after you fail, you’ll see that it’s true. Best of luck brother! You’ll feel much better after confession, I promise!

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Don't do it. The pope is the false prophet of the book of revelations and even if he weren't, why would you want to raise your kids around a bunch of pedophile priests?

Think about the embarrassment of having to confess it, that's strong enough to make me stop. Getting baptized and confirmed soon also.

Confess to God, not corrupt hierarchies of man

Isn't that one sword too few?

God bless you user. Very great message to help me try and stop.

Now that’s some low quality bait

Shit b8.

If you're baptized before confirmation then all those sins are forgiven and not needed to be confessed. But if you were baptized as an infant, like in a Protestant church for example, you would still need to do a life confession.

With time you will understand. Once you have to confess it you will feel the shame of your sins and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you once more upon absolution. This is not to say you will not stumble any longer, but you'll definitely feel the difference. It will take time, user, but with God's grace you will grow to detest sin and lose all affection for it. I recommend pic related, St. Francis de Sale will scare the shit out of you. He will put the fear of eternal damnation into your heart until you detest all your sins.

baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=63#tab=tab-1

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That's what people used to do. It is definitely ill advised today, especially since baptism is a permanent mark of the Holy Spirit that allows the recipient extraordinary grace to life a holy life.

They are. Is your catechism this poor?

t. Constantine

What? Adults usually get baptized on Easter day, why not you?

Thje best things are mental prayer using the passion and the 4 last things

alphonsianum.blogspot.com/2010/07/22-habit-of-sin.html

The habitual sinner may say: Is my salvation then hopeless? No, you are not beyond hope: if you wish to apply it, there is still a remedy for the past. But a certain author says, that in grievous maladies very severe remedies are necessary. If to a sick man in danger of death, and unwilling to take medicine, because he is not aware of the malignity of his disease, the physician said: Friend, you will certainly die unless you take such a medicine: what would be the answer of the invalid? He would say, “As my life is in danger, I am ready to obey all your directions.” Dearly beloved Christian, if you are an habitual sinner. I say the same to you. You are very ill; you are one of these invalids who, as St. Thomas of Villanova says, are seldom cured;32 you are on the brink of perdition. But if you wish to recover from your illness, there is a remedy for you; however, you must not expect a miracle of grace. You must on your part labor hard to take away the occasions of sin, to avoid bad company, to resist temptations by recommending yourself to God as soon as you perceive them: you must adopt the means of salvation, by going frequently to confession, by reading a spiritual book every day, by practising devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and continually imploring her to obtain for you strength not to relapse into sin. You must do violence to yourself: otherwise the threat of the Lord against obstinate sinners will fall upon you. You shall die in your sin. And if you do not adopt these means now that the Lord gives you light, you will scarcely adopt them hereafter. Listen to God calling you to repentance. Lazarus, come forth. Poor sinner! you are long dead: go forth from the dark grave of your sinful life. Respond at once to the call, and give yourself instantly to God. Tremble lest this should be the last call for you.

But you will get extra grace from baptism and confirmation and if you go to confession, will be much easier then

not easter vigil seems to be more common atleast from my experience and people i've talked too
kind of easter day technically

I'm going to be confirmed in a month or so, and I've relapsed terribly with masturbation and porn over the last week. I was doing good for a while… never give in to temptation, anons.

My parish (if not the entire diocese) baptizes on the Easter Vigil (i.e. Saturday evening). It varies from place to place.

segregating yourself away from so much lewd exposure makes it much easier to quit.

Basically if things seem too difficult, you're doing it wrong. You're probably much too surrounded by lewds.

There is such a thing as a "General Confession".

This. Back when I was first giving up smut I had about 30k images on an external drive, so I took that drive and buried it in the deepest corner of a closet in a room separate from my computer. It sat there for a month or more until I finally worked up the courage to delete everything. Props to you if you can delete everything immediately, but do whatever you can to separate yourself from the smut.

I've been in a war with masturbation for the last 6 months. Confessing weekly or each 2 weeks. I'll have my confirmation in a year, let's pray for our success

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Same here, but with videogames. I wasted a lot of money on lewd games and was taking all my time and energies; I gifted away my account, deleted steam, sold my ps4, and gave away my TV. I basically went monk mode with technology and use it just for college essays or this board
Sometimes I find myself in porn pages but the need it's going away.
Technology aimed towards leisure is a mistake

I am sorry for you.
Become Orthodox.

I admire you user. I wish I had the willpower to get rid of my technology like that. I struggle very greatly with lazyness

I tried that and it didn't work, nothing worked until I cane home to Rome and started to pray the rosary.

OP, first of congratulations on getting baptised in God's church. Second off, if you haven't started praying the rosary on a daily, start doing that right now. You'd be amazed how effective it works killing your vices. It helped me kill my porn and drug habits whats the difference, amirite? and I know it will help you too. For our lady will pray for you and keep you close to her Son, Jesus.

God love you, OP. Stay strong and pick up your sword! You are a soldato for Christ now. Have no fear for Jesus and the rest of the Holy Family are by your side.

I would argue the Jesus prayer is better for these situations as it is simpler, easier to recite and reminds us to be humble, the one thing devils cannot imitate according to St. John Climacus.

It is not Rome or Constantinople or some other bishopric we need to find but Christ himself. It is he who we need to get closer to.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

The problem with that is that it needs to be said constantly over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Not everyone has all the time in the world like a monk to do so. The rosary takes at a minimum 20 minutes to recite and contains the Gospel in it, while the constant Jesus Prayers do not.

Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful prayer and I still keep my prayer rope around from my Eastern days, but it could never prevent me from my porn or drug habits like the rosary does.

If anything, doing both rosary and jesus prayers is the best solution to OP's problem.

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Me too, I struggle still with laziness, but getting rid of unnecessary technology was a great help indeed
Become pragmatic.
It all depends, I have a religious vocation so I'm cutting on everything to purely loathe God; if you're called to live in the world, technology is certainly not a bad thing on it's own, it is sin that corrupts it. Let's say you like videogames. You can make a moderate use of them and balance daily life and prayer with them? Good
They are in the way of your obligations, in the way of your prayer? You have to change. Get rid of the obstacle or learn how to dodge it (put a timer, use them as a reward for something…)