I didn’t realize what masturbation was until I was 13 and went to church. It began at the stake center, when I attended the audio portion of a general conference priesthood session. This was in the days when it wasn’t broadcast on TV. One of the speakers described a terrible, vile practice. Slowly I realized…
I remember having to decide whether to confess to masturbation at my baptismal interview a few months shy of my eighth birthday. I decided to confess, since it was what god wanted, but chickened out when I was actually sitting in a room alone, across a heavy desk from my childhood bully’s dad, in my…
When I was 16, I was dating my first real boyfriend. We would make out often and each time got more intense. When we began touching under our clothing my boyfriend decided we needed to go talk to our bishop (we were in the same ward). We went together and our Bishop reacted surprisingly appropriate.…
I began masturabting when I was six years old and somehow already knew that I was “filthy” and “unloved by God”. I didn’t know it was called masturabtion until I was 17 years old, at which point I went and confessed to my bishop whom I loved and adored. I was terrified and although the…
I attended the Provo MTC in July of 2007. I had a past that others in my life were unaware of and I was under the false assumption that I could fake my way through a mission. Feelings of guilt immediately overcame me after being there for a few days and I came clean to…
Growing up, I was not talked to about my sexuality in what I would consider a healthy way. I don’t fully blame my parents, because I was not an easy child to have serious or deep conversation with. I was the oldest and always felt it was my responsibility to be the example my family…
When I was seventeen years old, and dating my boyfriend, later to be my husband, I knew that I wanted to be married in the temple. I had been taught all my life that this is the ultimate goal, to be married for time and all eternity in the house of the Lord. I had…
As a teen, I remember being asked if I masturbated in bishop interviews and these questions continued through the mission, my years at BYU, and singles wards after. I became accustomed to the questions and feared every invitation to meet with the bishop, suspecting I would again be asked. In my youth, I lied about…
I lost interest in the church when I was a freshman in high school and began hanging out with the wrong crowd. I ended up drinking and smoking marijuana with a boyfriend I began dating my sophomore year. I lost my virginity to him when I was 17 and shortly after I had my heart…
I was asked by my bishop, since age twelve, if I masturbated, looked at porn, or broke the law of chastity in any other manner. At twelve, I didn’t even know what masturbation was and I became very uncomfortable when the bishop explained the definition. I lied to my bishop every yearly interview. These interviews…