Originally Posted by
DogOfDanger
Lets be clear that it's only Catholicism that expects / enforces this, it isn't Christianity itself.
I think this whole philosophy stems from a very serious misunderstanding of human instincts.
Natural impulses fundamentally arise by virtue of you being a living breathing animal. You can't "overcome" a natural physical impulse altogether anymore than you can overcome being alive. The impulses can get derailed... but you have to distinguish between the impulse itself and the derailment of it.
Overindulgence has a very direct relationship with deprivation. A good example of this is obesity - it is counterintuitive, but obese people are often malnourished due to the type of food they eat. I have a sister who's 350 pounds, she also has scurvy due to extreme vitamin C deficiency... obese people typically don't eat their vegetables, fruits, etc. - people aren't aware of it but there are all sorts of nutritients beyond simple vitamins / minerals that you get from eating fruits & vegetables. What's driving the hunger is actually the body demanding nourishment. The hunger is unsatiated, or only slightly satiated, due to the diet itself.
Casual excess can cement itself into habit too... That's a derailment of the impulse, but you wouldn't try & repress the whole impulse because of that, you'd just reign it into a healthy state through exercising will. To recenter yourself in this way requires that you acknowledge the need, and alot of people won't acknowledge that... so this is another way people go astray.
The way to be most resilient to temptation is not to try & completely repress the instincts. Besides being impossible, noone is more tempted by the smell of pepperoni pizza than a person who is starving. The best way to control the instincts is to fulfill them in a way that is whole and natural. For obesity this would not mean quitting eating, but eating alot more fruits and vegetables. For sex this means engaging with other real living, breathing humans.
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