People's beliefs very upon denomination. Catholics are strong with the belief that it is sinful. Others will differ. I personally believe that God tells us, through the Bible, that it is wrong to do it because, if I can recall correctly, it is almost like worshipping yourself over God, and therefore breaks the commandment of 'Thou shall have no other Gods before me.'
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Now then, get your weapons"”your quiver and bow"”and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
Genesis 27:3
Masturbation is a very touchy subject for many so don't be suprised if you get into a vast array of answers.
You have to look at the issues as a whole against the Bible to see if something is right or wrong.
There are 3 issues involved with masturbation that you have to look at. The physical act. The mental act. And a control issue.
The physical act:
The Old Testament is the only place in scripture that discusses masturbation and even then it is a little obscure. In levitical law, the Bible tells us that if a man has an issue of semen, he is to wash and will be unclean till evening. Then after stating that it then says if a man has an issue of semen with a woman, they both shall wash and be unclean till evening. So it is making a distinction of ejaculation by ones self and with a woman.
It should also be stated that being unclean did not mean that you had sinned. An example of that would be that a woman on her period was considered unclean, but no one would state that she was sinning during that time because of it.
So as far as we can look at the physical act of masturbation, there is nothing indicating it is a sin or is wrong.
The mental act:
This gets a lot more tricky. The new testatment raises the bar when it comes to behavior concerning sexual issues. However it still never states anything regarding masturbation. However, Jesus very clearly stated that the OT told us that we shouldn't commit adultery but now that has changed to where even if you THINK of a woman with lust, you have committed adultery.
This is where the sin part of masturbation comes in. Not from the physical act as stated above, but rather the thought process that comes along with it NORMALLY.
Now I emphasised the word normally above to state that there can be exceptions. It is usually difficult to masturbate without some type of fantacy or thought process about a sexual scenario, and therefore, if one can NOT do it without having those types of thoughts going through their head, it would be my advice to abstain from masturbation. However, the Bible does tell us to bring our thoughts captive. That we have the control over our thoughts if we excersise the strength over them. The problem though is that most of us are not strong enough to do it on a regular basis.
So you must be able to bring those thoughts captive and control them. That is a real test.
The control issue:
This is also something that a lot of people have a problem with. As with any type of thing we do in our lives, we cannot allow anything to control us. Alcoholics allow alcohol to control them (I speak from experience because I am one), drug addicts the same, the same goes with food or any other thing we do or stimulation we have. TV is a big one as well.
However, sexual issues seem to have a much larger capacity for control over us that we often want to realize or admit. There is something in the neighborhood of 75 to 85% of men frequent some type of pornography at least once a month and for most, it is on a much more regular basis.
So knowing that sexual issues have a much stronger capacity to control us, you must always be aware of the possibility of masturbation to control you as well. You might be able to masturbate a couple of times while controling your thoughts but if you let the issue of masturbation control you, soon you will lose the capability to control your thoughts and thus, something that was not sin, has now become sin for you. And you can get caught up in a vicous cycle where you repent, live right for a few days at a time and then fall into the same sin again and again.
In conclusion, I believe it can be said that Masturbation, in and of itself, is not a sinful thing. However, must of what can come along with it proves that it CAN be a sin if you can not control your thoughts, nor if you are someone that has a hard time controlling your actions.
With that said, I believe if you are able to control your thoughts and have the ability to not let it control you, then masturbation can be something to relieve the natural build up of semen in the body. As well as relieving sexual tension.
So as you can see, you are going to be the only one that can tell how you can mentally handle masturbation.
Above all things, pray that God will guide you and direct you in this issue and you will not go wrong.
Fred... Get off the booze and porn....that will take care of alot of the problem.
I remember asking that question to a young black man who was really close to God. I said "Marvin what do you do about sexual desires." And this light skinned ,soft spoken annointed young man said, " Chuck, when Satan tempted me like that, I reminded him that my body no longer belonged to me..it was now Christ's temple." I resisted him and he fled." I will say this. Everytime Marvin prayed for you ...you could sense the presence of God.
And sure enough Marvin was blessed with a wife within a few months. He was the first of us new Christians to get married. He was also part of the black church I attended.
That may be true, but to spank once in a while and not think of a woman gets me sack unloaded. If not, I would have big rocks. LOL
It is like drinking. The bible doesn't say not to drink, but don't get drunk. It is more concerned with the tempatation that spanking the monkey leads to rather than the act.
Fred go to this website. Fred Stoeker has an amazing ministry dealing with Sexual Impurity. I've heard him many times on the radio I believe this site will help you with your questions.
Oldmanhunter, please choose your words wisely as we have women on this site, and your choice of words is rather offensive!
1 Thess. 4:3-5 - "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God."
I would submit that this passage does teach us to abstain from Masturbation. Sexual immorality includes stimulating yourself.
Guys have at it. But this question has been asked before along with the same set by the same poster. I think he's having fun at your expense and the same poster on here acting foolishly. To each his own.
sexual activity?
