Can you rel8 to this?
I’ve been pondering this topic for a while and I finally decided to do a little probing on the Internet to see what was out there. I wondered if I could present it in a manner that would be received maturely and with grace. I found this information and I thought it spoke pretty eloquently to the subject matter.
The reason I think it’s an important topic of discussion is because many Christian men and women struggle with masturbation. Others find the touching of ones own body completely repulsive – dirty if you will. The two are at complete odds with one another, creating a chasm that is often left unchecked. Interestingly enough, many people (women especially) are accused of not knowing what makes their own bodies work, which ultimately causes major frustrations in their sex lives. Why? Because women have long been blamed for pretending to reach their climatic end and I believe a part of that is because they (we) have never learned who we are.
To be a Christian isn’t to be confined to some dark aged perspective of life. We are human – with urges that are birthed out of the sin nature that we have all inherited. So…when I read the information, as you will, I found it profoundly interesting because it really made clear our propensity and desire to sin. It’s who we are and masturbation is simply a bi-product.
Anywho…I hope you enjoy!
Repost from Acts 17:11 (Dean and Laura VanDruff)
The Scripture is strangely silent about this universal issue, while not shy about all sorts of other sexual situations and perversions… in great detail concerning sex with animals, etc. Yet the Bible says nothing about masturbation. This is odd, don’t you think?
Some, mistakenly, cite Onan in Gen 38:9 as suggesting that masturbation is a sin. In fact, “onanism” has become a synonym for masturbation. But this is obviously an error, and a rather daft one at that. We know what Onan did, for it is spelled out for us in lurid detail; and we know why it was a sin: he was maliciously using and cheating Tamar in way that was wrong. In any case, what Onan was doing was certainly not masturbating, and you have to be pretty dimwitted to miss this.
In fact, there is no place in scripture where masturbation is even mentioned, much less forbidden. This is a very odd situation since it is so common a human experience, and given that scripture speaks of other sexual sins (some fairly perverse and rare) without any shyness at all.
Since scripture does not forbid masturbation directly, neither should Christians in general. “Nothing beyond what is written” in terms of how we should help lead others to the Lord is the rule. But since you asked, or clicked, as the case may be, we will give you the best answer we can using what we do know from scripture as our guide. We should stick to emphasizing the things God has told us are important, and not be teaching things that the Lord has never expressed His opinion on.
To be sure, it is clear from Scripture that illicit sexual fantasies are forbidden, and this is a significant issue with masturbation.
Matt 5:28-29 (NIV) [Jesus:] “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
But what if no illicit fantasies are included in masturbation? Is the act then sinful? By scripture, there is nothing to indicate that it is. Specifically, if the act is done merely as a hedge against temptation and as the body requires then there is no need for the above sinful “crutches”. This is hardly exciting, and a rote act of keeping the body in submission. It cannot be done often, as the body is not that demanding if left alone by a perverted imagination. On the other hand, if we attempt a pent-up self-sex life, then we find that the body needs help from the soul through illicit fantasies, and then sin is clearly being committed.
