As a Catholic, masturbation is a mortal sin. I struggle with this issue myself. I decided to give it up cold turkey as it was taking over my life. I have done it since I reached puberty as a young teen. I am now 33 and I was still addicted to it. Doing it several times a day. I was not aware that this was a mortal sin and when I found out it is I had to do something. It has been a struggle and I have only been about a week without masturbating but Jesus and Mary have helped me through this.
Here is a great web site about why masturbation is a mortal sin. Even if you aren't Catholic it explains why masturbation is a serious sin in God's eyes...I posted a little bit bit of the page here...
http://www.newjerusalem.com/bepure.htm
1) MASTURBATION IS DEFINITELY MORTAL SIN! FIND OUT WHY!
[font=Arial,Helvetica]2) THE REALITY[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]3) THE ANSWER![/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica][size=+1]Why Is Masturbation Sin?[/size][/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]
Masturbation is a sin because a person consents in their own heart to take sexual gratification from impure thoughts. It is sinful to indulge in the sexual pleasure that is derived from the satisfaction of using one's imagination to
FIXATE upon obscene images, or obscene actions, or forbidden sex. Lustfully fixating upon genitals, or sexual acts, is idolatry. This is called: the worship of obscenities. This is the sin of those addicted to pornography. That's often a "guy" thing. Alternatively, taking delight in the lust of another, or consummating a fantasy of forbidden sexual romance,
is the sin of adultery in the heart. That's often a "girl" thing.
The act of masturbation is an outward act that confirms that one's heart and mind has consented to an inward act of impurity. Only by consenting to an imagined act of impurity can one attain [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]. To attain sexual release, a person's will consents to LOVE something that is sexually impure.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]A sin consists in loving something that God hates, or in hating something that God loves. Because God is pure love, in one sense there is no hatred in God. But there
are actions that God regards with a
COMPLETE ABSENCE of love. There
are many things that men can do that God does
not love. In so far as God
does not love a human action, according to our way of thinking it can be said that God hates it. These actions are sins. They are often as hateful to men as they are to God! What are some things that God does not love? What are some things that, according to our human way of speaking, we might say that God hates??[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]Above all, God hates falsehood. God hates any form of lie, rejoicing in cruel lies, or in telling harmful lies about others. He hates any kind of injustice perpetrated upon his children! God hates cruelty, or the defrauding of a worker of his just wages. God hates it when one person entices another person to do something harmful to himself or others: like to worship evil, or to steal, or to lie, or to take drugs. God also hates impure sexual lust
because lust is a false pretense of love. It is a gross and disordered counterfeit of what should really be a sentiment of holy love. Lust consists in fixating on the body of another human being as a sexual object - solely for sexual gratification. When a person lusts, he is making no lasting commitment to the other human being.
He is regarding the other human being's body as a sexual object to be used for his own gratification -
but nothing more! Outside of marriage, a person who lusts is acting as if he would take another person
sexually to be his spouse: but he has absolutely
no intention of actually doing so.
That is why LUST IS A LIE.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]When the subject of masturbation arises, it
always refers to stimulating one's self for the gratification of sexual lust, or in stimulating one's self sexually while fantasizing about the lust of another person. In impure sexual fantasy, a person uses his own imagination as a pornographic
tool to give his body the ability to attain sexual gratification. In reality entertaining lustful fantasy is embracing a falsehood of the heart and mind, in an act of abuse of his own body in order to attain selfish sexual gratification. This is sexual idolatry! God hates falsehood -
especially worshipping a false god!
This is why God hates impurity in all it's forms.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]God hates the worship of ugliness, or obscenity, or bestiality. A person who might sexually gratify himself while looking at bestiality is
acting as if bestiality is a good thing -
when it is a hateful thing! In the same way: lustfully fixating upon lurid sexual pornography is a behavior that pretends that some obscene sexual image, or a lurid posture, or an obscene action is a
good thing,
when they are nothing but obscene and hateful images! These images are used as objects of false worship. These obscene images, be they real, photographic, or imaginary, are the objects of the
"worship of obscenities" specifically referred to in the Bible. Do not be deceived! Those who willfully, and habitually indulge in these acts of impurity, without repentance, will incur eternal damnation. (Rev. 21:8)[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]God hates pornography because it is used to degrade human beings: both men and women. The sole purpose of hard-core pornography is to create and inflame degrading sexual lust, or to invoke
unholy gratification by the enjoyment taken in the degradation of another person. Indulging in impure lusts, or taking delight in the lust, or degradation of another person constitute the sins of impurity. Masturbation severely damages a person's ability to accomplish the intended purpose of loving marital sexuality.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]Holy sexuality is the loving
donation between a man and wife of their own bodies to one another. In marriage it may be enjoyed for holy procreation, or to express romantic love, or simply for the delight that the freedom marriage affords the spouses to release the tensions of life. It may even be an act of charity! But it is always a privileged act of special intimacy reserved for spouses alone. Masturbation, by it's very nature
clouds and degrades the purpose and privilege of married sexuality. Masturbation is a solitary act of gratifying one's own physical urge. Performed as a solitary act, even in the married state, it degrades the place of honor of the spouse!
It often serves to sexually replace the spouse entirely! This is because masturbation trains a person to abuse his own sexual powers outside the intended order of God, in a selfish solitary way.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]If a Catholic has committed sins of masturbation, he must confess these sins in the confessional in this way:
"I have committed sins of impurity with myself (mention a specific number)." If a non Catholic has committed sins of masturbation, he must humbly kneel down and beg pardon for his sins, and pray to be delivered of such temptations in the future. Preferably, he would seek out a trusted person who understands this sin: and confess this sin or habit: as is appropriate.
"Confess your sins one unto another, and you shall be healed." One must NEVER describe his sexual sins in such a way that it might be an occasion of sin to the confessor!
One must never mention names, or details: just the generic name of the sin: and nothing more. If there are circumstances which make any sin more especially grievous, then one must mention WHY his sin is more grievous - but must
never he be graphic or explicit about the acts themselves.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]One must never provide images which would pollute the soul of a confessor. A trained confessor has heard these sins tens of thousands of times. He does not want graphic details:
nor is the divulging of details appropriate at all! Rather -
the confessor is there for the sinner who must honestly accuse himself before God, by submitting in humility to the witness of the confessor. Here, honesty is critical. Intentionally withholding any grievous sin renders a confession null. It is only the sinner who is healed by his forthright admission of his sin in the presence of a person who only acts as a witness of his remorse. There are many sins which, at first, seem to be most embarrassing to confess. But there is no sin that in it's nature is not common to all men. Every confessor has heard every variant of every sin hundreds, if not thousands, of times before. Absolution, and sacramental forgiveness comes only from Christ. For Catholics this is always assuredly accomplished by sacramental absolution given by the priest, who speaks not for himself, but for Christ - as an assurance to the person that his sins are indeed forgiven by his humble confession, and by the power of this sacrament.[/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica]This particular sin is the most frequently mentioned sin
by men in the confessional. It
IS a very common sin.
Usually, it is a mortal sin. If a person is in a state of grace, and is striving to remain pure, it
may not be a mortal sin if suddenly, almost spontaneously, one looses control at a moment of weakness. In such instances a person may not have given
"full consent of the will." These unplanned venial wounds, however, are often followed by acts that
ARE mortal sins. Once the spontaneous physical impulse has passed, a person may continue to touch
only to satisfy unnecessary carnal lusts that are intentionally entertained! If these acts are done with decided forethought, then
the will has certainly fully consented to commit them. As such, they are
definitely impure and mortally sinful. Therefore, ordinarily, if Catholic people have committed sins of masturbation, they should
NOT receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion until they have gone to Confession.[/font] [font=Arial,Helvetica]Holy Communion is a very private thing - and no one should ever feel compelled to receive Holy Communion: no matter what the circumstance. It is
most inappropriate to ask another
"why did he not receive communion?" Such questions are ignorant, inappropriate and absolutely outside the bounds of
any relationship whatsoever. Such matters are between the soul and God alone. Even wondering about such things is absolutely ignorant and inappropriate. A teen who feels he should decline to receive Holy Communion in the company of nosey parents performs an act of heroic virtue! Attending weekly mass is always an obligation. But, receiving Holy Communion is not! In Hispanic communities, usually only about 1/4 of the assembly actually choose to receive Holy Communion. It is more ordinary for Hispanics NOT to receive communion, than it is to do so. Their reasons are their own: and
their reasons are absolutely private and of no concern at all to anyone else.[/font]
Darryl
