Hi Tylyr,
I don't see God saying anywhere that some logic is bed/evil so anything that follows that pattern is wrong.
I, for one, do not believe God is illogical. God has given us the gift of logic as a grace we receive through faith. Faith and Logic are not at odds with each other, rather, they are in perfect harmony!
I do understand where you are coming from, because I dealt with this same issue you are dealing with right now (trying to discern whether masturbation is a sin our not). It was a very tough process, but if your reasoning for justifying a certain act is the same reasoning someone else justifies an act you
know is immoral, logic would tell you that this is not a good reason to justify that specific act. Like I said this was a very tough discernment process for me, but at the end of it, I came out knowing for a fact that, objectively speaking, masturbation is an immoral act.
However, I must point out that there is a lot of truth in your reasoning though. "...the teaching that masturbation is a sin because it caused me to feel false guilt and shame". This is where the struggle comes in. This is why so many people want to morally justify the act of masturbation; because of all the feelings of false guilt and shame.
But here is the thing, you are right when you say this is
false guilt and shame, but you are not right when you say that masturbation is not a sin.
To understand this, we must understand the theology of
addiction and
habitual sin.
Masturbation can literally be addicting (you get addicted to the release of the chemical oxytocin in your brain). Because of this addictive nature, for some people, masturbation tends to be a habitual sin. In this state of being, we should
not let ourselves be overtaken by feelings of guilt and shame. Are these actions objectively sinful? Yes, and we are right to feel guilt and shame,
however,
it is a mistake to let these feelings overtake us. It is absolutely essential that we know that God forgives us, and that He understands the state of our addiction, and by His grace He will
always forgive us as long as we are moving in the right direction.
With this being understood, it is so much easier to accept the truth that masturbation
is a sin. See, the devil likes to lead us into falsehood by making us
feel that there is no other way but to justify the morality of sin. But we cannot base our faith on feelings, we must base our faith on logic. We must strive to win the battles against the devil in every way possible. The answer might not be easy, but it is essential; to
not let the devil overcome us with feelings of guilt and shame, but to
Trust in God's
grace and
power to forgive!
Now, this my humble advice, so you are certainly welcome to take it or leave it. But I hope you do consider it, and I hope this might help you in your own discernment process! My prayers go out to you!
Could you give us a crib notes version, please?
Sorry, I'm not sure I know what "crib notes" are, haha
You aren't speaking "objectively" about morality because morality is not an objective principle
I think this might be our fundamental point of disagreement then.
I believe morality can and needs to be spoken about objectively. Otherwise, we cannot judge actions based on their intrinsic moral value.
For example, I would say that the act of rape is objectively, intrinsically immoral. Under
no circumstance can this act be justified as moral. Are you saying you wouldn't agree with this?