Masturbation as a sin

[salt-n-light]

The question is: Is masturbation one of those things the Bible means when it talks about sexual immorality? The question seems easy for you to answer and for some others, but to me it's not that obvious. If you can show it by scripture, it would be great. It's not that I in any way try to defend sinful living. I want to get to the truth about the matter.

It’s easy for me now, because I’ve faced its dangers and measure it up with what God’s end goal is for me. It doesn’t full erase the temptation forever, but I know to flee from it. At the end of the day, me masturbating wasn’t bringing God’s glory. For several reasons. Before the act, it’s starts with the mind and what my intentions are.

Which bring me back to the questions I’ve asked in my first post before it became a big old technical debate, in post #7.

Why is it a go-to for you to touch in terms of stress? Knowing the addictive nature and how easy it is to be swayed to think sexual thoughts, why is it the favorable option? Why is there a dependency on it on a weekly basis? Again, all the scriptures in the world wouldn’t matter if you can’t discern your thoughts and feelings. The Word can’t think for you, you have to examine yourself. It’s less about whether or not you do it, and more about why you are doing it.

People can give suggestion on situations where it’s deemed pure, but have it ever been an act with pure intentions for you? Were your intentions into pleasing God? Does it strengthen or take away from His Glory? Is it a picture of someone who has taken up the cross and follow Him? Even if it’s lawful to do it, would you do it?

Gotta work out your own salvation man.

 

[Devin P]

We must realize, that in Biblical times, it was believed that the father, and the father only, contributed what we would today call the genetic make up of the child. What they called the male seed was regarded as containing an entire nascent human being. As a consequence, they regarded any wastage of the seed as tantamount to murder. This explains why masturbation, coitus interuptus and even wet dreams were considered to be serious sins.

Wet dreams weren't considered sins. The dreamer of the wet dream would be considered unclean until after he bathed himself and offered up the sacrifices, but it wasn't regarded as a sin that was held against him unless he outright refused to cleanse himself within the allotted day given for his cleansing, and refused to give the offerings needed as well.

 

[JackRT]

Wet dreams weren't considered sins. The dreamer of the wet dream would be considered unclean until after he bathed himself and offered up the sacrifices, but it wasn't regarded as a sin that was held against him unless he outright refused to cleanse himself within the allotted day given for his cleansing, and refused to give the offerings needed as well.

I don't know why this thought just now came to me ---- the priests had quite a system working for them: turning a profit on natural functions like menstruation, birth and wet dreams.

 

[Devin P]

I don't know why this thought just now came to me ---- the priests had quite a system working for them: turning a profit on natural functions like menstruation, birth and wet dreams.

Yes, and no.

Yes, but only because the levites were the only tribe out of Israel that didn't get any land inheritance. Their primary focus was serving God, sustaining and maintaining the temple and the priesthood. Since they didn't get land, they were to get their riches, housing and food by serving God.

They definitely got a lot of food, and a lot of shekels, but not in the same way catholic priests did during the last 1500 years or so. It was much less ridiculous and blood thirsty. But they didn't get money for these functions, like menstration, birth and wet dreams. They had to work for the people by sacrificing the animals they brought.

There were functions that they did get paid for though, like whenever a census was taken for example, just not in this case is all.

 

[Gottservant]

Lust is sin.

Masturbation is not.

He that masturbates (without lust) is free.

 

[Tropicalbaby]

Its not about the masturbation that is bad, its the lust filled thoughts that go with it that might convict you on judgment day.

If you can find a way to relieve your self with out the lust filled thoughts then you will do just fine in life.

We are to clean our hearts and minds from lust.

My advice? Find a woman then Get married ........

My husband is married and he still masterbates. It's not like I am turning him down or anything but just because he finds a wife doesn't mean that he won't ever do it again ....

 

[zoidar]

It’s easy for me now, because I’ve faced its dangers and measure it up with what God’s end goal is for me. It doesn’t full erase the temptation forever, but I know to flee from it. At the end of the day, me masturbating wasn’t bringing God’s glory. For several reasons. Before the act, it’s starts with the mind and what my intentions are.

Ok, what were your intentions?

Which bring me back to the questions I’ve asked in my first post before it became a big old technical debate, in post #7.

Why is it a go-to for you to touch in terms of stress? Knowing the addictive nature and how easy it is to be swayed to think sexual thoughts, why is it the favorable option? Why is there a dependency on it on a weekly basis? Again, all the scriptures in the world wouldn’t matter if you can’t discern your thoughts and feelings. The Word can’t think for you, you have to examine yourself. It’s less about whether or not you do it, and more about why you are doing it.

The best reason for not doing it I think is that it may increase lustful thoughts. That you start to think about these matters when you talk to someone from the opposite sex. In the end it may lead to sinful living. We are to see our neighbours as brothers and sisters, and of course not have unpure thoughts about anyone. But how can that be accomplished? Only possible through the Holy Spirit, to really love Jesus in the heart. It's not possible by our own strength.

People can give suggestion on situations where it’s deemed pure, but have it ever been an act with pure intentions for you? Were your intentions into pleasing God? Does it strengthen or take away from His Glory? Is it a picture of someone who has taken up the cross and follow Him? Even if it’s lawful to do it, would you do it?

Gotta work out your own salvation man.

What do you mean by pure intentions? Do you eat an ice-cream to please God? We don't do everything to please God, do we?

Does it strenghten or take away from His Glory? I don't know.

Is it a picture of someone who has taken up the cross and follow Him? It may be, or may not.

Even if it’s lawful to do it, would you do it? I don't know.

 

[salt-n-light]

Ok, what were your intentions?

The intentions on masturbating, is to pleasure myself. And also to play out fantasy in my head. What was your intention in your weekly masturbation?

The best reason for not doing it I think is that it may increase lustful thoughts. That you start to think about these matters when you talk to someone from the opposite sex. In the end it may lead to sinful living. We are to see our neighbours as brothers and sisters, and of course not have unpure thoughts about anyone. But how can that be accomplished? Only possible through the Holy Spirit, to really love Jesus in the heart. It's not possible by our own strength.

I agree with all this, but what happens when you do have unpure thoughts? Because that temptation may come, our thoughts are never 100% pure all the time. But people gotta make the decision on whether or not they run towards it, or away from it. If I'm asking God to not lead me into temptation, but yet I'm insisting to run towards temptation, it becomes counterproductive.

What do you mean by pure intentions? Do you eat an ice-cream to please God? We don't do everything to please God, do we?

Does it strengthen or take away from His Glory? I don't know.

Is it a picture of someone who has taken up the cross and follow Him? It may be, or may not.

Even if it’s lawful to do it, would you do it? I don't know.

If you want to decipher if eating ice-cream pleases God, you can make another thread for that. But since you choose the topic of masturbation, since thats the thing that pressing your heart, I'm gonna only address the case of masturbation.

And those are important questions to ask yourself. Or at least be able to actually examine your heart. Reading your OP, there are mixed tones of " I know that God wouldn't like it" and " Well other people have done premarital sex so I'm not the only one...and the doctor said its healthy...and I don't truly see it in the Bible as truly a sin...common sense is that its ok...", so your awareness of the danger is there. People in the thread can only give you answer based on what they speculate your heart is towards, but at the end of the day, God knows if your heart was towards lusting or not, which will tell you if you masturbating is a wise move, which my guess is it wouldn't be because based on what you said in your OP, it's becoming a dependency for you.

Kinda surprised that you still haven't answered any of my questions on why it's becoming a go-to for you.

 

[ThisIsMe123]

My husband is married and he still masterbates. It's not like I am turning him down or anything but just because he finds a wife doesn't mean that he won't ever do it again ....

In this case, this may be one of the worst kind of sexual sin in the world, because he has a wife he should be doing this with (being sarcastic) and is instead choosing to "spill his seed".

 

[ThisIsMe123]

If you want to decipher if eating ice-cream pleases God, you can make another thread for that. But since you choose the topic of masturbation, since thats the thing that pressing your heart, I'm gonna only address the case of masturbation.

Well, I think the poster that point was making is that every action we take doesn't have to necessarily glorify God. Eating ice cream is just another example. I could say, "eating pizza" or "playing Golf"....does playing golf glorify God?

Point here is, you can glorify God in other ways like giving to the poor, volunteering time to the homeless, etc. Of course, masturbation, eating ice cream, watching a movie, just may not be included in that.

I mean, we have murderers and thieves out there, but yet we have law abiding masterbators that are being put in the same severity of sin?

Also, if you're going to abstain from sex until marriage, shouldn't you be at least entitled to touch in the interim?

Because that temptation may come, our thoughts are never 100% pure all the time.

Right, I mean, there's a stat out there that's common sense where a man thinks about sex every X amount of minutes. Right there, he's having lustful thoughts..which is natural and works when it comes to being attracted to and coupling up with women.

 

[zoidar]

Kinda surprised that you still haven't answered any of my questions on why it's becoming a go-to for you.

How do you know that it is a go-to for me? I never said it is.

 

[zoidar]

If you want to decipher if eating ice-cream pleases God, you can make another thread for that. But since you choose the topic of masturbation, since thats the thing that pressing your heart, I'm gonna only address the case of masturbation.

I'm not here to discuss if you can eat ice cream in a sinful way. But i brought it up because you said that masturbation is sin because your intentions isn't to please God, to show you how that argument isn't a good argument.

 

[mama2one]

My husband is married and he still masterbates. It's not like I am turning him down or anything but just because he finds a wife doesn't mean that he won't ever do it again ....

agree ^
came home early from work/walked in on husband
it was during first two yrs of marriage and we were working different shifts and hardly saw each other

we were BOTH very embarassed and he apologized to me

 

[zoidar]

I agree with all this, but what happens when you do have unpure thoughts? Because that temptation may come, our thoughts are never 100% pure all the time. But people gotta make the decision on whether or not they run towards it, or away from it. If I'm asking God to not lead me into temptation, but yet I'm insisting to run towards temptation, it becomes counterproductive.

I agree on this.

based on what you said in your OP, it's becoming a dependency for you.

Have you mixed me up with the OP?

 

[salt-n-light]

Have you mixed me up with the OP?

Yeah my apologies

@Lots of Questions you can read post #73 and see if it’s useful.

 

[salt-n-light]

I'm not here to discuss if you can eat ice cream in a sinful way. But i brought it up because you said that masturbation is sin because your intentions isn't to please God, to show you how that argument isn't a good argument.

By using an arbitrary example to make it look like a dumb statement?

It’s all about intentions, the Bible focus on the heart more than anything.That where your arguement falls short.

Even with ice cream, inherently not bad desire. But if I’m stuffing my face with ice cream, if I know being around ice cream triggers something in me to binge, if I intent to abuse my freedom, then yes even as arbitrary as eating ice cream can be a sinful act. It shows a heart that lacks self-control. That’s the point.

It’s not a “ if you do this you go to Hell” message. It’s a “ is this temptation worth going to Hell for?” message. Jesus went as blunt as if your right hand causes you to sin, not put the hand in your pockets, but cut it off.

 

[zoidar]

Yeah my apologies

@Lots of Questions you can read post #73 and see if it’s useful.

No problem!

I do at times struggle with lustful thoughts, especially when I'm at the gym. I'm not very happy with that. I haven't really found a good method to deal with this.

James 1 says:

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

As I understand James he says first we are temped - by lustful thoughts, then we are enticed - we take the bait, and when lust has conceived - when we are taken as prisoner under our lust, then it gives birth to sin - we indulge in the lust ... when sin is accomplished - the deed of lust leads to death.

I know when Jesus talks about looking at a married woman with lust, we have allready commited adultery. What kind of lust are we talking about here? The word used for lust is epithyméō which has following meanings:

1. to turn upon a thing
2. to have a desire for, long for, to desire
3. to lust after, covet
   a. of those who seek things forbidden

Is Jesus talking about have a lustful feeling or is he talking about to lust after, to covet?

 

[zoidar]

By using an arbitrary example to make it look like a dumb statement?

It’s all about intentions, the Bible focus on the heart more than anything.That where your arguement falls short.

Even with ice cream, inherently not bad desire. But if I’m stuffing my face with ice cream, if I know being around ice cream triggers something in me to binge, if I intent to abuse my freedom, then yes even as arbitrary as eating ice cream can be a sinful act. It shows a heart that lacks self-control. That’s the point.

It’s not a “ if you do this you go to Hell” message. It’s a “ is this temptation worth going to Hell for?” message. Jesus went as blunt as if your right hand causes you to sin, not put the hand in your pockets, but cut it off.

My intention was not to make your statement look dumb. You can change the ice cream comparison to massage therapy or something else.

Ok, I understand your point. Of course we are to have self control ... that I think is a good argument.

 

[salt-n-light]

No problem!

I do at times struggle with lustful thoughts, especially when I'm at the gym. I'm not very happy with that. I haven't really found a good method to deal with this.

James 1 says:

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

As I understand James he says first are we temped - lustful thoughts, then we are enticed - we take the bait and when lust has conceived - when we are taken as prisoner under our lust, then it gives birth to sin - a lustful deed.

I know when Jesus talks about looking at a married woman with lust, we have allready commited adultery. What kind of lust are we talking about here? The word used for lust is epithyméō which has following meanings:

1. to turn upon a thing
2. to have a desire for, long for, to desire
3. to lust after, covet
   a. of those who seek things forbidden

Is Jesus talking about have a lustful feeling or is he talking about to lust after, to covet?

To lust after, which would mean you reasoned with it, as oppose to the initial realization of the feeling. I may feel tingling sensations, and it can mean different things for different reasons, but when I start to reason with it, what it means, if it’s desirable or not, if its something I’m open to or not, that’s where you lust after.

That’s why I’ve realized that anxiety over initial feelings is deadly, anxiety is a killer, it puts you in a place where you dwell and self-guilt and replaying stuff to the point where it’s easier to fall. It offers no solutions, as oppose to striving to trust in God’s promises. I felt that in the person’s OP, masturbation is just how it’s being express but the core of it is really the anxiety more than anything. When I dealt with the anxiety, the urge or the need to pleasure myself started to diminish and I don’t fear about the thought of those feelings coming back anymore.

When Jesus faced his temptation, He squashed them rather quickly, and I feel like that how we should be striving to approach these temptations.

 

[zoidar]

No problem!

I do at times struggle with lustful thoughts, especially when I'm at the gym. I'm not very happy with that. I haven't really found a good method to deal with this.

James 1 says:

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

As I understand James he says first we are temped - by lustful thoughts, then we are enticed - we take the bait, and when lust has conceived - when we are taken as prisoner under our lust, then it gives birth to sin - we indulge in it, when sin is accomplished - the deed of lust leads to death.

I know when Jesus talks about looking at a married woman with lust, we have allready commited adultery. What kind of lust are we talking about here? The word used for lust is epithyméō which has following meanings:

1. to turn upon a thing
2. to have a desire for, long for, to desire
3. to lust after, covet
   a. of those who seek things forbidden

Is Jesus talking about have a lustful feeling or is he talking about to lust after, to covet?

I had to add to the part explaining James 1

As I understand James he says first we are temped - by lustful thoughts, then we are enticed - we take the bait, and when lust has conceived - when we are taken as prisoner under our lust, then it gives birth to sin - we indulge in the lust ... when sin is accomplished - the deed of lust leads to death.