Dear vincent:

You are welcome and thank you for your kind words.

You asked me earlier: “can you please tell me do I deserve forgiveness?”- from all that you shared, I believe that you deserve forgiveness and that you are a good person.

You wrote: “getting away from porn and masturbation is not going to be easy but with the grace of god, I think I could do anything.. I can (be) able to stop feeling guilt and shame about this by thinking how much good  man I am and I am going to be”-

– here is my concern, vincent: you will not be able to behave perfectly at all times, no human is able to be perfect. When in the future, you behave imperfectly in small ways, please don’t think something like: oh, this is proof that I am a bad person!

Not all imperfections/ wrong behaviors are the same: there are degrees of wrong-doing.

* I believe that watching pornography is wrong behavior because (1) it supports the pornographic industry, and (2) for many viewers, it increases the chances of wrong behaviors in real-life.

* Regarding masturbation being a sin: outside religion- it is not considered a sin or a wrong behavior,  and it is often viewed as healthy behavior, when done privately and in moderation. In regard to Catholicism, I read that there has been some change in the view of masturbation- you may want to investigate that.

anita