Doing pmo is like self harm.

I think about the same thing too because masturbating or humping on an object such as bed, floor, etc. especially the prone way whether it's with or without porn/fantasies of own creation because it uses up the energy and what I could have saved up for something else productive. Also, self-injury.

 

Maybe later on when it becomes obsessive compulsive and you are addicted to it so much that there is no control. But I don't think PMO in the beginning is that way.
I mean sex is wired in our system like a basic need, plus it's very enjoyable why would it be bad for anyone?
It is when you start to abuse (the substance) that it can get out of control and then of course you are harming yourself!

 

So true. Its mainly a system of self sabotage and becoming the you that you were meant to be.

 

There are similarities, yes. But I think that's less about PMO itself than it is about the nature of addiction. Any addiction in which you can inflict the deed on yourself is similar, be it masturbating, self-harm, gluttony, booze, smoking...

 

Jesus would certainly describe it as an act of “self-harm”. As he would with any form of sin.

Furthermore, he would also say that if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. “It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Hell.”

So it sounds like you could legitimately argue that Jesus is advocating that it’s okay to defeat a lifestyle of self-harm with another radical act of self-harm.

The New Testament gets WILD

 

It's true that it's self-harm, but to be fair, not if you're not aware of the damage it may cause.

 

Yep, it’s definitely self harm. My penis is shriveled.

 

I read this yesterday, coincidentally, and did some research about it. It seems like nobody (as far as Wikipedia knows) takes those verses literally; it is seen as an instance of hyperbole. I agree, but certainly He must have had a reason to use such a strong expression? Maybe it is to let us know how important it is to prevent this sin, and that we should be willing to make sacrifices for it. I'm not sure what sacrifices, though...

 

Yes. I would agree that those verses are not meant to be taken literally, and Jesus is indeed using hyperbole - I would think - to emphatically declare that we should make every effort to refrain from a life where sin would be acceptable; the alternative doesn’t sound like a real fun way to spend eternity.

I was sort of just goofing around in that post. Obviously I’m not encouraging the OP to gouge her eye out or cut off her hand.

 

You might be surprised who takes what literally.

I was raised to believe that the Bible was the inerrant and inspired word of God, and the church I grew up in interpreted the Bible quite literally in many ways. I no longer hold those beliefs and by default view the Bible as allegory (except for whatever events described therein actually have some kind of historical basis).