Is Masturbation a sin?

DaveW-Ohev said:

So clearly unclean is NOT the same as SINFUL.

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I have said the same. Nocturnal emission was involuntary so it was not sinful but it made the man unclean.

Now you need to look deeper to see why an activity made a person unclean and you might learn how God sees that activity.

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ken777 said:

Now you need to look deeper to see why an activity made a person unclean and you might learn how God sees that activity.

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I'm curious what your own theory of ritual impurity is?

ken777 said:

I have said the same. Nocturnal emission was involuntary so it was not sinful but it made the man unclean.

Now you need to look deeper to see why an activity made a person unclean and you might learn how God sees that activity.

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Only be sure your deeper look includes the unclean act of giving birth and the unclean act of burying the dead and the unclean act of unknowingly touched a dead body.

Open Heart said:

I'm curious what your own theory of ritual impurity is?

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Everything God does has a meaning. For example, circumcision was an act of obedience but why that particular act. I believe it goes back to original sin. When Adam & Eve realized they had done wrong, they made aprons to cover their genitals. And part of the curse of sin was the pain of childbirth.

Uncleaness (or ritual impurity) was caused by sex. Through sin, sex had become a source of death (evey child born would die) but God condoned sex between a husband & wife to populate the earth. So on one hand sex that God has condoned is a beautiful thing, but sex God has not condoned is sinful.

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Paul of Eugene OR said:

Only be sure your deeper look includes the unclean act of giving birth and the unclean act of burying the dead and the unclean act of unknowingly touched a dead body.

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That is a good point. Why did contact with the dead make a person unclean. Again it is related to sin because death was caused by sin.

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ken777 said:

Everything God does has a meaning. For example, circumcision was an act of obedience but why that particular act. I believe it goes back to original sin. When Adam & Eve realized they had done wrong, they made aprons to cover their genitals. And part of the curse of sin was the pain of childbirth.

Uncleaness (or ritual impurity) was caused by sex. Through sin, sex had become a source of death (evey child born would die) but God condoned sex between a husband & wife to populate the earth. So on one hand sex that God has condoned is a beautiful thing, but sex God has not condoned is sinful.

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I don't agree with you, but I still find your reasoning very interesting.
Thank you for replying.

Open Heart said:

I don't agree with you, but I still find your reasoning very interesting.
Thank you for replying.

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You're welcome! Just mho

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ken777 said:

Uncleaness (or ritual impurity) was caused by sex.

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Really? Most cases of tamay, or ritual uncleanness, had nothing to do with sex. Most cases were from running (infected) sores, mold issues and proximity to a dead body.

DaveW-Ohev said:

Really? Most cases of tamay, or ritual uncleanness, had nothing to do with sex. Most cases were from running (infected) sores, mold issues and proximity to a dead body.

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Did I say "only" by sex ... or even mostly by sex?

The question I am addressing is WHY an activity made a person unclean, not which activities caused uncleanness. Are you arguing that is was only a matter of hygiene?

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ken777 said:

Did I say "only" by sex ... or even mostly by sex?

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No you did not. You said: "Uncleaness (or ritual impurity) was caused by sex." PERIOD.

ken777 said:

Are you arguing that is was only a matter of hygiene?

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No. Uncleanness had little to do with hygene in many of the cases.

DaveW-Ohev said:

No you did not. You said: "Uncleaness (or ritual impurity) was caused by sex." PERIOD.

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Are you saying the statement is wrong?

DaveW-Ohev said:

No. Uncleanness had little to do with hygene in many of the cases.

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So why did nocturnal emission make a man unclean?

Winepress777 said:

Such a thing need not "to be taught" as though a person isn't capable of utilizing such a release without running to some teacher. God is my teacher. I am confident HE doesn't consider masturbation a sin in the least. And that is all that is important. What He says or doesn't say is the only Word to hear. Not a man's ideas about it.

(Rom 3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

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Then tell me what God has taught you about what uncleanness is as listed as a work of the flesh and among the sexual sins of the N.T.

It is one thing to say that it is my private interpretation, but yet it is another to show me what it actually means in according to what God has taught you. You have not yet told me anything about what God has taught you on what that uncleanness means in the N.T.

Ritual uncleanness often had to do with contact with vital fluids. That is one reason the ingesting of blood was prohibited, even from a kosher animal.

DaveW-Ohev said:

Ritual uncleanness often had to do with contact with vital fluids. That is one reason the ingesting of blood was prohibited, even from a kosher animal.

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Why?

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Smidlee said:

The scriptures doesn't mention it nor does it mention any details what allowed in marriage. In marriage, which is a love relationship, you should ask your spouse what they are comfortable with. It's totally between you and your spouse and no one else. Without a spouse it's totally between you and God. No one can answer that for you.

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Why should my husband have any control over what I do with my body if it doesn't affect him?

StephanieSomer said:

The problem is NOT that I, or anybody else, hasn't defined "uncleanness". The problem is that you have declared yourself the authority of what it DOES mean. And you have NOT offered any justification whatsoever for your definition. You claim it means what you say it means and your only justification you have offered is "what else could it mean?". There is no Scriptural basis for your definition, only your own thoughts on the matter. ANY argument based on a non-existent thing is inherently riddled with human reasoning, not apologetics.

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Uncleanness from a man in the O.T. is when he has an issue. ( sperm ) One can argue the point that it only means hygiene instructions as far as the marriage bed goes.

But now in the N.T., uncleanness as listed as a work of the flesh and among the sexual sins, it cannot mean anything else except masturbation when listed with fornication and lasciviousness which means sexual excessiveness.

So the problem IS avoiding defining what that uncleanness is because the believers that are engaged in it, do not want to believe that it is a sin when it has a hold on them like that, but that is one of the sins that Jesus came for to deliver us from; that infirmity in the flesh to not obey it to fulfill the lust thereof. Do not gloss over verse 19 below.

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you:........... 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Now try to explain how that cannot mean masturbation at all, but then again, only God can help you see the truth here as well as our need for Him to overcome this sin & to keep us from it.

Romans 12:1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

ken777 said:

Ritual uncleanness often had to do with contact with vital fluids. That is one reason the ingesting of blood was prohibited, even from a kosher animal.

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Why?

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Does it really matter? God said it and that should settle the issue. The bible NEVER says why. It is the height of arrogance to think that we can mind-read God to get all of his motivations and reasons.

Indeed, does He not tell us that His ways are above our ways and His thoughts above our thoughts?

KTS said:

Why should my husband have any control over what I do with my body if it doesn't affect him?

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It is a matter of authority. And you have that exact same authority over him.