God condemned them [Er and Onan] to death because of thier SIN and perversion. And yes, masturbation is a sin. Sure is.
Why is it that we think that since God "forgot" to tell us that masturbation is sin, that we can just write it into the margin of our Bibles and call it "inspired"?
The primary error of the Pharisees was not that they secretly didn't want to avoid sin, it was that they created a whole list of man-made rules by which they could ensure for themselves that they were not in sin... and at the same time, measure (and judge!) everyone else on whether
they were in sin or not.
This is precisely the error that so many make on the issue of masturbation.
They correctly understand that lust is against God's moral law. They observe that masturbation often accompanies lust. They conclude that the way to know if you're lusting or not is to ask if someone is masturbating or not.
The problem is that God didn't establish that measure... man did.
Is it possible that masturbation simply did not exist when Scripture was written, so that would explain why God "failed" to forbid it? I don't think so.
Some point to the story of Onan who "spilled his sperm on the ground" as God's hatred of masturbation. It doesn't work. Let's take a look at why...
Gen. 38:8-10 NIV
8 Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his sperm on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also.
The text itself tells us what he did and why.
- What? Spilled his sperm on the ground.
- Why? To keep from producing offspring to his brother.
But why did God consider it a "wicked" thing that he did? Was it the "what" or the "why"?
Well, we know that God values obedience above sacrifice (
1 Sam 15:22), it is easy to check whether there was an issue of disobedience or not.
- Is there any Scripture that forbids masturbation? Is there any scripture that forbids a man from allowing his sperm to go anywhere but inside a woman's body? No.
- Is there any Scripture that requires a man to raise up children to bear the name of his dead and childless brother? Yes.
Deuteronomy 25:5
When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6"It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
Admittedly, this law as given
after the events happened in Genesis 38, but clearly the social custom was already established before God wrote it into Scripture...
and... it demonstrates pretty clearly
why God considered what Onan did to be "wicked."
Here's the funny thing about trying to condemn masturbation... there's no Scripture that clearly condemns it, so instead, passages like this one are bastardized in the attempt to find
any Scripture to support the predetermined conclusion.
In the frenzied effort to find a Scripture that condemns masturbation, we have completely passed over the one passage that (I believe) clearly
does speak about masturbation! In my opinion, it gets passed over for the simple reason that it does not condemn it (
therefore it must not be talking about masturbation, 'cuz we know it's wrong!).
Here's where the Bible describes masturbation:
Leviticus 15:16-19
When a man has an emission of sperm, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 17 Any clothing or leather that has sperm on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18 When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of sperm, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 19 " 'When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
There it is... verse 16.
Of course, some say that this is just a "nocturnal emission" or "wet dreams." while a man is asleep. Indeed, that situation is addressed in
Deut. 23:10 ("nocturnal emission" is actually translated from words that literally mean "nighttime occurrence")
But that's not what we have here. This is how I know.
I've quoted 4 verses, and in them there are three situations mentioned that will make someone ceremonially unclean.
- The emission of sperm alone.
- The emission of sperm with a woman.
- The blood flow of a woman's menstrual cycle.
Starting with #3, clearly, there is no sin in a woman having a monthly cycle. God designed her that way. But, still, it made her ceremonially unclean. That was not punishment, nor was it an indication that her condition was sinful nor that the reason she was now unclean was sinful.
Moving on to #2, there is no sin in a man having sexual relations with his wife. Obviously, the emission of sperm was inside the woman, because there is no concern about the bedding getting soiled with the sperm. Again, No sin, but still the consequence was that they both be ceremonially unclean for the day. And, for the record... the man was awake when it happened.
Finally, we look again at #1. Is this only a "nocturnal emission"? Well, was the guy asleep? There's no basis to claim so... no more than the man and woman were in the next verse. But even so, it doesn't matter because even if it applies while the man is asleep, it must
also apply if the man is awake. Therefore, this verse
must also cover seminal emission by masturbation. So... what is the "penalty"? Where is the condemnation? The "consequences" are
exactly the same as for sex with one's wife, or the "sin" of menstruating. In other words, masturbation is
not condemned. Well, there is one more thing the masturbating man is told that he must do...
clean up your mess! But even the soiled bedding is not forever ruined.
The Scriptures do not have a word for "masturbation." But, the concept is right there in Lev. 15. We do not need to find out God's perspective on it any further than that. Scripturally, masturbation is as much a natural part of the human condition as menstruation and marital intimacy.
But... you can't touch without LUST!!!
You can't? Says who? The Bible? (well, no...).
Those who say they can't touch without lust are only admitting that
they cannot touch without lust. Well... they shouldn't touch (because lust
IS forbidden by God).
But they have no business creating man-made rules to use to assess righteousness before God.
Col. 2:20-23 (NASB) says this (emphasis mine):
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
We must reject man-made rules...
no matter how much they seem to "make sense!"...
But there's something more here... we are also told here that the man-made rules are of absolutely
NO VALUE against sin!
Actually, when we invent man-made rules of righteousness which God has not declared, we actually serve the enemy instead.
- First of all, by declaring a man-made rule to be God's, we are lying about God. That's a bad start.
- Secondly, we are giving Satan a tool by which he can cause otherwise healthy and God-pleasing people to feel shame and guilt over something that is of no consequence to God.
- Thirdly, we allow Satan to tie a natural urge and normal behavior (just as normal as marital sex and menstruation) with a genuine sin against God (lust) so that after a brutally difficult battle to stave off the natural, when finally giving in, there's absolutely no thought of resisting the temptation to lust, too. In fact, the victim was convinced that simply by deciding to touch, he has also decided to lust... and so he does.
Man-made rules for righteousness
never help in the life of righteousness. They
always serve to thwart it.
This post is not a promotion of masturbation... it is an absolute rejection of a man-made rule that has been elevated to be equal with God's Word.
God said, "don't lust." He didn't say, "don't touch." It is we who have made them inextricably linked. And it is a mistake.
Pastor Ed
P.S. My apologies for continuing a topic which is outside the scope of the OP, but this needed to be said.
