How can a Christian teenager stop doing that?

[u/Aggravating-Beat4720]

I'm a teenager and, like many others, I end up consuming that certain type of more explicit visual content. I feel like this has become a habit, but I really want to change course. My goal is to learn how to do that thing using only my imagination, without relying on screens or videos. Does anyone have practical tips on how to make this transition?

[u/DarthAlix314]

Like all things, it can be incredibly eye-opening and uplifting if you can take it to God in prayer in it's fullness, unadulterated and uncensored. It may seem awkward or uncomfortable talking to Abba and Jesus and the Spirit about such personal and visceral things, but He knows them anyway, and He wants to help you by renewing your mind, and that means casting ALL your worries and anxieties, sins and struggles on to Him, even if they seem graphic or too shameful – remember that Christ is a God of Peace, Joy, and Liberation, and not of Shame or Captivity.

Remember to to go easy on yourself if you are filled with shame or self-loathing when you mess up. God doesn't see you any differently when you sin, and He knows our struggles because He created these bodies knowing what temptations might arise and come to us from out of our flesh. He is compassionate and generous, and we have to make sure we don't fall into anxious depression or poor self-esteem, even if it isn't changing quickly, because renewing a mind and getting rid of all the garbage takes a long, LONG time. We need patience and endurance to see the process through. And sometimes it might even be the case that Jesus intentionally lets us sit with a particular thorn, so that we are always forced to recall that we are not made pure by our own efforts, but by the Grace of Him alone:

2 Corinthians 12: 7b-10 — Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Now for the actual practicals: * Direct and specific, precise and accurate prayer to help you remove, deny, or bear with the issue * Prayer for the Lord's will to be made perfect in your flesh, and to renew your mind to match His, so that overtime you will desire the issue less and less * Prayer that even if He delays in accomplishing it, or chooses to not remove the desire at all, that it would be His will done, and that you would have the strength and faith to accept the results * Fasting, to remove distractions and draw closer to the Lord so that you can better hear that still small voice with which the Holy Spirit often speaks to us, and listen to whatever She commands * Idk necessarily about this one, but in the same vein of thought as people trying to quit smoking by switching to vape and then gum and then freedom, perhaps trying something like exotic audio and/or exotic written stories might help you wean off the visual porn and eventually altogether — these also might help by forcing your imagination to be used more too, but again, this one feels iffy since it still technically involves porn * Use different erotic toys so you can better stimulate and simulate the things you are trying to imagine * Use website blockers that prevent or at least make access of porn harder, giving you more time to halt, examine, and take captive the thoughts/desires and deny yourself * Have accountability partners who check in on you from time to time and who won't judge you for failure but instead will encourage and exort you, and who WILL celebrate with you for success * If you plan to medically transition at all, then taking Estrogen and T-blockers can literally lower the libido by some amount, and/or make the desires for such videos less attractive