http://www.theology.edu/faq08.htm

Quartz Hill School of Theology

8. Is Masturbation a Sin?

The only mention of masturbation in the Bible would possibly be Lev. 15:16-18, 32-33; 22:4 and Deut. 23:10-11. It is interesting to notice that none of these passages refer to the emission of semen as a sin. In fact, such an emission has fewer consequences than a woman's menstruation.

Thus, I tell people if they don't feel guilty about doing it, then it is not a problem. On the other hand, if they do feel guilty, then perhaps they shouldn't. The principles of Romans 14 come into play: on matters of individual conscience, if the conscience is not clear, then for that individual it is a sin.

..........Anyway.....the topic of masturbation has been a question of mine for a lonnnnnnng while. As others have mentioned(not to justify), I too haven't seen scripture specifically state where it is wrong. My wife knows that I have a strong sexual drive and it needs to be met in some form or other (excluding the porno world) and she has told me that if she had to do it for me every night then she would do it. I know that she can't be expected to have intercourse all the time(although our 1st year of marriage was everyday) but she is to be pleasing to me and I am to love her as Christ loved the church....

Pietro

I'm sorry, this topic is just too funny. Besides, if masturbation were in actuality a sin we'd all be burnin' in the

lake of fire. And don't deny it!

Jeffrey

Lord's will for our lives, how would we advise men in this specific position? JB

From Bill----

Much like we clip our toenails otherwise they get long, sharp and ragged. Then at 3am we roll over and slice and dice our spouse's leg.

PTL

Ricky

Here are some more tidbits to think about that have been passed out by Christian counselors and psychologists on this issue.

Is it lust when there are no faces in the fantasy but only thought of two people making love. Not you having sex with the individuals.

This is not just a man's problem or issue. Women also practice this. Does this degrade the man? Not very many men will say they feel degraded if their wives masturbate so why should women feel degraded?...

...There are personal convictions given by God to different individuals. Certain people can do certain things and it does not effect their walk with God where others are weaker.

Why does not God convict everyone that this is sin?

If we use Jesus as an example for everything we do then everyone of us should fast 40 days in our Christian walk. We should all be preaching the Good news in a ministry. We should all have apostles. We should all die for the gospel.

Ricky -

Bart:

As the writer I quoted stated and I believe you have confirmed, the Catholic church tells the men who are members of the church that it is sin to masturbate but because priests do not marry the church outwardly condemns this practice even for priests but out of the view of its laity it is acceptable.

Trials for priests who have molested altar boys and other young men have brought this also to light according to another writer. The church outwardly says it is wrong but in the secret places it is acceptable because at one time there were problems of priests raping nuns and this was a solution that was decided.

Yet the writer was not just saying the Catholic Church is guilty of this. There are a lot of denominal preachers and non-denominal preachers who say that this is a sinful practice but practice the act themselves.

This is why I said beforehand that I was going to share tidbits from books written by Christian counselors and Psychologists.

Personally on this issue I state the following: "Unless the Bible can be re-written to state that this is a sin explicitly then it will always be debatable one way or the other and without written proof from the

Bible not everyone will stop."

Ricky

I apologize for I was not trying to argue any point but only trying to share some views from books and Christian talk shows that I have listened to.

I have not read one persons take on the Christian counselor who said that in his counseling sessions when the subject of masturbation came up, When he asked the question if the husband and wife fantasized while mutually masturbating the majority of them said yes. His question to the listening audience was this, "If masturbation outside marriage is sin because men or women fantasize then how can it not be sin if the married couple fantasizes while mutually masturbating?

The other point made by this counselor is if this is sin in God's eyes, then why in the world did he not come right out in plain language and say so since this act has been practiced for thousands of years? You cannot categorize this as something that just came up in the last 100 years or so.

Ricky #46

Most men will experience problems with their prostates somewhere in life. The problem is that most people have been educated poorly on this subject and believe this is an old man's disease. It is not. Young boy's even before puberty has had prostate problems.

These problems that effect men and boys of all ages is called Prostatitis or Prostatosis. At times it can be caused by bacteria or germs which come from the bladder or kidneys or from intestinal infections. Due to the location of the prostate it can be inflamed when a person is constipated or has problems such as lactose intolerance, food allergies and even stress has been proven to cause these problems.

If the prostate is boggy or inflamed and there is no bacterial infection present you can have the same symptoms as if you do have an infection. At one time the solution was a prostatic massage by a qualified physician. Now they have discovered this can cause other problems so the solution is to empty the prostate of its fluids. Doctors will tell the patient to have frequent intercourse. What does a person do when he is not married or if he is married and his wife refuses anymore to have sexual relations with him. Doctors will tell the patient to masturbate.

Many will say that nature takes care of this problem through nocturnal emissions but it is proven that not every man has them on a regular basis and some have never experienced this or maybe once or twice in a life time because not everyone has sexual dreams. Will God condemn these men to Hell for bringing themselves relief from this affliction? I don't think so. Yet, I know there will be people out there who will condemn even this and tell the men to suffer but if they were in that boat I think they would change their tune quickly.

This is why I don't believe this subject is sin because why does God allow men to suffer this if ejaculation is the only relief for it. I would rather know a man handled it this way instead of committing fornication or adultery.

If you want to know how I know about this is because I have suffered with this for 25 years of my life and so have the majority of males on both sides of my family. I know what urologists have told me so I will not condemn men who practice this for whatever reason.

Ricky

Even sexual failures and sins can be forgiven. I know. I have lived through it and have forgiven and stayed with my spouse and I admit my short comings and weaknesses and know where I failed but it was not through masturbation or any thing sexual but because I did not have demonstrative parents who showed me emotional love like holding etc that I could not always show that nurturing care to my wife. The holding etc that most women need. Yet, I admit to that and am trying to work with it.

The church has hurt people on this

Ricky

I said I was not going to respond again but I was wrong. I think the previous writer keeps missing the point. Masturbation is not always part of a sexual experience. When men have their sperm count tested that has nothing to do with sex. When a man masturbates to release built up sperm that causes him physical problems and granted only few men suffer this but there are those who do this is not sexual.

How can anyone say it is alright for married men and women to mutually masturbate each other when they fantasize and declare that a single person doing this is sinning? Just because the Bible says the marriage bed is honorable are we going to say fantasizing is alright for the married one and sin for singles. I think if you say it is sin it is sin period.

Like I said before people who claim to overcome something that is not really sin seems to beat everyone else up in the process and goes on what they think is a saving mission but really is nothing but them venting their frustration. This is a personal conviction of yours Jerry and that is fine but writing on this forum and accusing people of not wanting to overcome something; when have you become the almighty to see inside anyones heart. that is a brash and bold statement to make. Really should not we work on the beam in our own eyes before taking care of what we perceive as a speck in our brothers eyes?

Something put the knowledge of masturbation in those young boys mind who don't even know about sex.

We take a lot of things and make them sin because someone else says it is sin. We let our pride get in our way because we don't want to feel duped so we get on a high horse on something and (I am speaking from experience because I used to do the very same thing to people) or we cannot admit we are wrong. I am just saying I do not find it spelled out in the Bible and please don't quote to me from a chapter on marriage because that has nothing to do with singles. Where Paul says it is better to marry then to burn used to mean to burn in Hell now

today they have changed the meaning to mean burn in lust....

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 says: It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; [4] that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, [5] not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; [6] and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. [7] For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. [8] Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Ricky

Mrs. Ax (since I don't know what your first name is) the theory that you have to lust to masturbate is not true. Again, why do children who know nothing about sex masturbate?

I am not giving your husband any license to sin. If he is using masturbation as an excuse from his marital duties then he is in the wrong. If he looks at other women and wants to have sex with them then he is sinning. If he is using porno or pictures of women in lingerie or bathing suits then he is sinning.

Again I will repeat myself. There are people who cannot do certain things like use a computer because they will go into the porno. There are people who cannot masturbate because it leads them to look at porno or it keeps them away from their marital duties but again I know of a lot of wives who have no problem with this because they have no desires for sex. They are physically and emotionally incapable of lovemaking and they would rather their husband masturbate (not using porno etc) as a release instead of having affairs.

I think you need to take a course about men's anatomy before you make a brash statement that it is impossible to do without lust. Again a lot of married men don't have willing partners and when they masturbate they are thinking about some time in the past when they were having sex with their wife. I am sorry I cannot say they are sinning.

Again I will bring this subject up./ A lot of women think they have had nothing to do with any sexual problems in their marriage but statistics show both from secular counselors and Christian counselors unless the man is addicted to sex (difference then addicted to porno etc) most of the problems in the relationship that are sexual are caused by the female.

I know some that threatens their husbands that if they don't get their way they will cut them off or if they don't buy something they want again they will cut them off. To me that is marital prostitution. (I am not pointing my finger at you because I don't know all the issues but I just don't want the wrong message to get out to women so they can always blame the male instead of taking some of the blame)

If your husband uses this act and you find it wrong then it is wrong period because we are to do nothing that offends one another.

Jerry I think if you think you are going to make Heaven and make the rapture criticizing people and condemning them you are going to find out it won't happen either. Judge not lest ye be judged. Paul himself wrote that you must be careful lest you fall into condemnation also. You don't know what my life is like or what I do or don't do. Your zeal won't set people free but the Holy ghost is the only true convicter and making brash statements that if a person wants to be free of something it will happen is challenging God's sovereignty. God does not have to heal someone nor anything else. That is his choice not yours or mine and just because it is in the covenant does not mean he has to do it. God does not have to do anything. The Bible plainly says he saves whom he chooses to save and hardens the hearts of those whom he chooses to harden.

Lee

Lee

I respect your opinions but I feel that all of us are arguing over weather its a sin or not. When we should really be going on our convictions. Some people have a conviction not to eat meat on Friday. I don't have that conviction but they do. I still stop by McDonalds on Friday, they don't.

Like wise some may think its wrong to masturbate while others may not. Believers DO have different convictions . Also in these verses it says that Different Convictions can be equally acceptable before God...

~Lee

ricky

A statement of righteousness. I find that a little arrogant since no man is righteous but through Jesus Christ. Maybe self righteousness.

Jerry you sound like the Pharisees everytime you write in this forum. It seems like you take glee in the thought that people go to Hell when God said he is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. Yet repentance of true sin not man made sins.

The Pharisees took every law and rule and regulation and added to them. They made their own versions of what was right and wrong and what was sin. Jesus called them some pretty unflattering names such as Child of Hell. Brood of Vipers. Snakes, and serpents. Whited Sepulchures full of Dead mens bones.

The idea that all masturbation is sin did not come from this generation nor from the last but from the generation called the Victorian Age and what is so remarkably ridiculous is Queen Victoria who outwardly seemed so moral and pious was an out right adulteress. She had affairs with soldiers and guards and palace boys while putting on this front of morality and purity. This was the age of the puritans. They taught that all sexual contact except for pro-creation was sin. I am talking about between married couples.

Again I used to be just like you. Quick to say it was righteous indignation and had the same Pharisaical attitude until God knocked me down a couple of pegs. Let me reiterate this one final time. There is cases where masturbation is sinful and cases where it is not.

Ricky

I think that people take a stand against something because it was a true sin in their life and they cannot tolerate it in any one else's life even if in reality it is not all sinful. This was an issue in Paul's day. The gentiles did not refrain from eating certain meats and even things offered to idols. The Jewish members were offended by this.

No one who has written in has really been convicted of this by God. You read it somewhere or some friend or relative told you it is sin because the Bible does not say it is sin. As far as saying well the Bible does not tell me not to shoot someone that is such a lame thing to use when the Bible does tell us in black and white that murder and injuring someone is sin. Read the Old and New Testament.

To be blunt infants masturbate by rubbing on their mattresses. Toddlers do the same thing by rubbing their genitals on pillows and other things. I guess if one of them died today and just did this not knowing anything about lust or porno or sex they would burn in Hell. It feels good to the baby or child and that is why they do it. Nothing sexual. Where does this come from. How is a baby aware of how to masturbate. No one teaches it. It is a natural instinct and science has proven this over and over again.

1) Lust: It all depends on how you define it. Is lust being aroused? Is it being aroused by a person? Is it desiring a person you're not married to? There are many more definitions, it seems everyone has their own for lust. And, not surprisingly, it's very hard to convince someone that my particular definition is the right one so I'm not even going to try. (Of coarse I believe I'm right, but I also except the possibility that any one of you could be right and not me, but then the question is, which one.)

Most people here seem to think that you have to lust after someone to masturbate. Not so. I've been masturbating since I was a child, and have never fantasized while masturbating. I was a kid, I knew nothing about sex, what would I fantasize about?

I hope what I've said actually made sense (it's late :)) and caused some of you to think, even if you decide you original opinion is the correct one .Considering mine with an open mind will only reaffirm your opinions, if not lead you to the truth.