Masturbation - fine, porn - bad

[Strider]

Look I've read a couple of articles on a Christian site that helps deal with pornography addiction, but the author of the site seems to insinuate and state that masturbation is somehow wicked. Personally, from what I've read and learned at my church, masturbation is normal, but becomes a problem if it becomes an addiction. But, pornography on the otherhand is straight up bad and leads down a nasty path. I'm curious as to what other people have been taught?

 

[TheJesusFreak]

Well my personal beleifs are the title.

Because the bible spoke seperatly about a man and wife having intercourse and a man spilling seed (not talking about Onan that is completly irrelevant) and they both made you unlcean. BUT being unclean was not nessecarily bad because a married couple having intercourse is not bad.

The Well Jesus Wouldnt Do it Argument
And at another point in the bible it talks about how having a wife/husband is not nessecary but if it will keep you from sinning in other ways than do it. I beleive the same in this point.

If SOMEHOW it can be used to control your carnal thoughts throught the days, not become an addiction, and you can keep your mind pure while doing it then I think this is fine.

I may be wrong but thats what I think/know so far.

 

[VikkiKate89]

I believe masturbation is natural and not wrong. Porn on the other hand I've done enough research to see that it does not in fact lead to a warped mind, like many Christians claim, however that doesn't change it's content from being what it is, which would still make it wrong from a Christian standard.

 

[jimmydiggs]

Alright, now I can chase desires of the flesh!

 

[juliet84]

masturbation is normal, but becomes a problem if it becomes an addiction.

Consider this:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2)

What "normal" today is not accepted to God's principle. The evidence is clear as above.

You wouldnt just masturbate with void thinking (without having a thought of a female/male figure in a lustful way), would you? You dont make any sense to me.

 

[edge]

romans 13:11-14

11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.


14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfillits lusts.

The bible seems to be pretty clear here...do not give in to the lusts of the flesh. Make NO PROVISION.

Galations 5:16-25

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 

[VikkiKate89]

You wouldnt just masturbate with void thinking (without having a thought of a female/male figure in a lustful way), would you?

While it is highly unlikely, it's not impossible.

 

[juliet84]

While it is highly unlikely, it's not impossible.

Can you, in all honesty, masturbate without sinning against the clear commands of Christ? If yes, then we are never told that the act itself is impure or forbidden. But let us be honest and admit that it is not so easy to do if we are committed to avoid mental sexual sin

Eph 5:3 (NIV) "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people"..

 

[VikkiKate89]

Again, it's unlikely, but not impossible.

 

[FrankensteinGirls]

I was raised to believe that masturbation is healthy and natural in moderation.

 

[Maddog]

I was taught (in school, no less) that masturbation was good, normal, healthy etc. In this same institution I was also taught 'your body is yours to share with whomever you choose'.

Now that I'm older, I believe both these teachings to be wrong, though the damage has already been done and now I'm pretty much addicted to masturbation.

My main reason for deciding it was wrong was Natural Law. Thinking about the purose of sex, what God intends for sex and marriage, and then applying it. It is by Natural Law that we know homosexuality to be disordered. If that weren't enough, St Paul even spells it out for us and states that it is unnatural (see Romans 1). Well, why is homosexuality unnatural? And do the reasons for condemning homosexuality also logically require us to condemn masturbation? I believe they do.

The primary purpose of sex is procreation. It is not pleasure, stress relief, fun, because you feel you love the other person or anything else. All of these things can exist within a homosexual union, so on what grounds does St Paul say it is unnatural? The only substantive thing that homosexual sex lacks is the procreative element, which is why it is unnatural, and why it is therefore wrong. And so, by exactly the same reasoning, we must also deduce that masturbation is unnatural and wrong, since it is by its very nature, infertile.

 

[wolfywolfs]

I was taught (in school, no less) that masturbation was good, normal, healthy etc. In this same institution I was also taught 'your body is yours to share with whomever you choose'.

Now that I'm older, I believe both these teachings to be wrong, though the damage has already been done and now I'm pretty much addicted to masturbation.

My main reason for deciding it was wrong was Natural Law. Thinking about the purose of sex, what God intends for sex and marriage, and then applying it. It is by Natural Law that we know homosexuality to be disordered. If that weren't enough, St Paul even spells it out for us and states that it is unnatural (see Romans 1). Well, why is homosexuality unnatural? And do the reasons for condemning homosexuality also logically require us to condemn masturbation? I believe they do.

The primary purpose of sex is procreation. It is not pleasure, stress relief, fun, because you feel you love the other person or anything else. All of these things can exist within a homosexual union, so on what grounds does St Paul say it is unnatural? The only substantive thing that homosexual sex lacks is the procreative element, which is why it is unnatural, and why it is therefore wrong. And so, by exactly the same reasoning, we must also deduce that masturbation is unnatural and wrong, since it is by its very nature, infertile.

so people who cant have kids are unatural and there fore shouldnt have sex because they would be only be doing it for love and fun

 

[Timofree]

Again, it's unlikely, but not impossible.

True, but when you love God, you don't want to justify sin on a technicality......I battled for a few months as a Christian. As a non Christian I never considered giving up a possibility, but I never counted upon help from Almighty God......not easy, but my conscience never allowed me to rest with masturbation.

I remember a thread on here from a while ago, titled 'does God want me to masturbate'......it sounded like a strange title, but my initial reaction on reading it was, of course He doesn't!?!? And there was my answer

 

[Timofree]

so people who cant have kids are unatural and there fore shouldnt have sex because they would be only be doing it for love and fun

homosexual/hetrosexual, good/bad, black/white, married/partners, don't believe upon Jesus redeeming sacrifice, and repent.......no doubt upon the eternal consequence.......

However if God didn't exist..........then anyone can do anything, well at least to the boundaries of their God given conscience. Heads up though, God is real

 

[wolfywolfs]

homosexual/hetrosexual, good/bad, black/white, married/partners, don't believe upon Jesus redeeming sacrifice, and repent.......no doubt upon the eternal consequence.......

However if God didn't exist..........then anyone can do anything, well at least to the boundaries of their God given conscience. Heads up though, God is real

you say god exist but people are doing what they want soooo rephrase your statement

 

[Timofree]

you say god exist but people are doing what they want soooo rephrase your statement

Ok, good point. If God exists, people need to be brought to the place where they realise just how important it is to be saved, and that has to overcome their love of sin (I say has to, we have the choice).............I loved sin more than wanting to know God for many years, just over a year ago that changed.........not easy though, and if I said I wasn't a sinner now Id be lying :/

 

[TheJesusFreak]

Well good thing I know none of you.

For those of you who are talking about lusts and such.

Some people do it because they get lustful thoughts the longer they wait and such and then there comes the lustful dreams that they try to avoid.

So if someone can work to do it without lust and therefore prevent lust twofold then yeah?

(By the lustful dreams I mean wet dreams, and by the thoughts I mean the longer the testosterone and such builds up the more vulnerable people are to lustful thoughts)

We have no right to tell someone they cant do it without lusting.

Maybe some do it to avoid the other two involuntary lusts.

(and by lustful thoughts I dont nessecarily mean dwelling on it but it could be. Just the lustful stuff that POPS into your mind not the stuff that you can really control)

 

[Maddog]

so people who cant have kids are unatural and there fore shouldnt have sex because they would be only be doing it for love and fun

There are two questions here. The first is 'is infertility unnatural?' And the answer is yes, in the sense that it is not part of God's design.

The second is 'should an infertile couple refrain from sex on the grounds that they cannot have children?' The answer is no since there is no positive intention to avoid conception (as would be the case with artificial contraception), and the procreative nature of sex remains, even if it seems unlikely that they would conceive.

Surely you see the substantive difference between sodomy and masturbation (conception impossible by the very nature of the act), as opposed to heterosexual intercourse between an infertile couple (conception may be impossible, but only by happenstance, and not because they are defying the nature of sex or that they are 'doing it wrong').

 

[wolfywolfs]

what about oral sex

 

[TheJesusFreak]

Quoted From The Marriage Bed- "Through the releasing of sexual tensions (particularly in young men) it can act as a barrier to seeking release through immoral outlets such as pornography, prostitution, premarital sex, or homosexual activity. A part of honoring God with our bodies is doing whatever is necessary to keep our bodies under control-and in the area of sexuality, masturbation can be an effective way of doing so."

"In this Scripture we have a boundary that deals with the mind and thought life. One of the difficulties with masturbation in the minds of many people is that it is automatically assumed that sexual fantasies must be used in order to gain the amount of stimulation needed for orgasm to take place. While it is true that sexual fantasies CAN be used, there is nothing which suggests that they MUST be used. The choice is up to the individual as to what they think about during masturbation. The body is designed by God to respond to sexual stimulation, but it was never designed to respond exclusively to impure thoughts. God has placed within us a wide capacity for response to various stimuli. It is no more necessary to fantasize about the cheerleader next door during masturbation than it is to fantasize about eating a steak while dining at McDonalds! Nor is it necessary to view pornography while masturbating. The viewing of pornography is actually detrimental to the experience, since the person looking at it knows there is no way of ever fulfilling the fantasies that he is locked into while using pornography. And since pornography is clearly a violation of the commandment not to lust after a person, such activity introduces the element of sin into an experience that should have been used for the glory of God."

"On his way home from school a couple days later, Johnny got up the courage to stop by his youth pastor's office and ask him for some advice. After hearing about the boundary Scriptures and realizing that God wasn't going to condemn him for what he had done, Johnny began to come to a new understanding of how God wanted him to use even the act of masturbation to bring glory to Him. Johnny was amazed at the thought of how he could thank God for the pleasure he was experiencing, and how such a focus of keeping his eyes on Jesus and keeping his thought life under control--while at the same time enjoying the sensations and giving God the praise--would be a tremendous help to him, and would alleviate the false guilt he had been experiencing."(From a hypotheticalish story)

Well if this is so widly debated and people beleive they can do it without sinning then I dont think or at least hope god will not condem those who feel like is keeping them from unpure thoughts.

(I would post the link in here but I think that is against CC rules)