Response: Masturbation, that popular pastime, the one never mentioned in polite public chat…and especially never at church, masturbation is the question of the day! What does the Scripture teach about masturbation? Directly, it teaches nothing, nada, goose egg (Stop me! I ‘m running out of clichés!) But this has not stopped religious people from making far ranging statements (which I assume must reflect their own personal struggles with the issue). The Quran never mentions masturbation. Yet all Muslims understand it as horrendous sin. Buddhism, often thought of as the world’s most tolerant religion, denies a Monk the pleasure of masturbation. It stops the spiritual progression needed to reach the next level of spirituality. Another way a Buddhist looks at this is to always reach UP, don’t reach DOWN J. Judaism and Christianity, who look to the Bible for guidance, struggle to find enlightenment on this topic. For example, in an obscure and never preached passage in (Genesis 38:8-10) a man by the name of Mr. Onan, practices what can only be referred to as an early form of “safe sex” when he pulls out of the woman just before orgasming. He “spills his semen on the ground”, thus preventing an unwanted pregnancy. Orthodox Judaism takes this biblical reference and somehow construes it to apply to masturbation (that’s how desperate these people are to address this “sin”. Tracey Rich, who writes an excellent online reference work for the non-scholar, called Judaism 101, says the following: Although Onan's act was not truly masturbation, Jewish law takes a very broad view of the acts prohibited by this passage, and forbids any act of ha-sh'cha'tat zerah (destruction of the seed), that is, ejaculation outside of the vagina. In fact, the prohibition is so strict that one passage in the Talmud states, "in the case of a man, the hand that reaches below the navel should be chopped off." (Niddah 13a) Fortunately for women, there is no “seed” spilled when they perform masturbation. So Scripture forbidding masturbation based on “seed-spilling” isn’t applicable. Unfortunately for the religious zealot, this makes forbidding it an even more difficult assignment. I have to ask myself, why, when there are detailed passages explaining yeast infections and sex, mold and sex, gay sex, straight sex, animal sex, etc. ad nausea….WHY did God forget to “mention” masturbation? Maybe it hadn’t been discovered yet? Maybe in the evolution of the human body, the arm had not grown to just the right length for genital persuasion? Hmmm. I think a more logical reading of the Bible leads one to conclude that masturbation is a far bigger problem for the religious conservatives (among whom I number myself) than it is for God! Don’t you think God could have been as clear in his instructions against masturbating (were it as horrendous as some would lead us to believe) had God wanted to? Yet, with hundreds of verses detailing sexual purity, there is none to be found directly mentioning masturbation. What are we to conclude from this? One possible conclusion, the one all the men are rooting for, is that God couldn’t care less what you do in the privacy of your own home with the privacy of your own hand. In other words, masturbation is never sin, according to this view. Here’s the problem I have with that view. You already know I don’t think masturbation is a “capitol crime”, worthy of offing one’s hand. But is it a problem?” I believe masturbation, becomes a problem when it controls you, you no longer control it. Any habit over which you have no control will diminish the quality of your life. I will always remember one of my Young Life adult leaders warning his teenagers that when he got married, he thought he would automatically stop his habit of masturbating. He was shocked that he still needed to masturbate as much after he married as he did before. Why? It was a habit, something he had lost control over. Masturbation has little to do with sex. If anything, the habit of masturbation will teach you that sex is primarily about satisfying your needs, not satisfying your mate. But that is a view of sex which will lead you to an unhappy marriage and a very unsatisfying sex life. The bible teaches that God is to control all aspects of our lives: Do not let sin control the way you live;do not give in to sinful desires. – Romans 6:12. Masturbation can be done without thinking of anyone one in particular. In fact, if a male does not masturbate, Gods will help the process along through “wet dreams”. And during the dream, you have no control of what happens. At least in self imposed masturbation, the person can control his thoughts to avoid focusing on a person they know or have seen. When does masturbation become a habit? Like most things in the Bible, I would recommend the biblical mandate to do it in moderation. If you are masturbating several times a week, you are in addicted. If you need help breaking this habit and gaining control over your thought life during masturbation, you need to be part of a discipleship group (same sex only) who will help you, encouraging you while also holding you accountable. You can check out the helpful moderate views of James Dobson and other Christian leaders, as well. Their writings can help relieve you of the guilt and help restore the control you need over your own hand. CommentsKatherine 12/13/2009 19:33
so... do you think there is a way to masturbate while keeping "pure thoughts"? or could it be that the sin behind it is all the sinful thoughts that acompanies it? I struggle with this topic 'cause I have felt guily all my life as a dirty, nasty person for doing that... so your answer should leave me at peace...but it doesn[t cause deep inside I beleive it is wrong, even if I struggle with it... what do you think? we can do it "purely"? Rodrigo 12/16/2009 10:52
You shouldnt feel guilty, guilt might be psycholically conditioned by social taboo, or by external influences. It happens to people when theyre changing religions all the time, is not easy to adopt new values, so everytime you feel guilty it might not be the holy spirit convicting u, it might be the devil trying to make u feel guilty. Pastor Dave 01/04/2010 07:12
Katherine, Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply | AuthorPastor Dave Ginter. When commenting, please add your Country of Origin. Thanks. CategoriesArchivesDecember 2010 |
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