Christians: Is Masturbation a Sin?

God kills a man for "spilling his seed" on the ground. Genesis 38:9 And the official translation as ive understood it is that it is a sin to even pull out or to use a condom. Sex is for making a family. Bonding a man and woman with the potential of having children. Even sex for "fun" in a marriage can lead to wanting more and kinkier and wanting a sexier partner. Lusting is one of the seven deadly sins and it simply can be defined as wanting. WWJD. Watching people screw on the computer and shooting into a tissue does not benefit anyone if you think about it. Your all of your energy into a void. Put that energy into life. A good life.

Every other major organized religion has the same perspective amongst the zealots. There is no doubt that between screwing your hand and not screwing your hand, that the less selfish and more saintly choice is to not...

 

I agree with Nash. Masturbation is not mentioned in the Bible but I believe it is a sin as well. It is impossible to masturbate without any lustful thoughts and therefore it is adultery in the heart.

A question that may help you decide rather or not to masturbate would be to think about this:
If Jesus was with you in the same room, would you really be masturbating?

Hope this helps!

 

AshD16 so simply put but so perfectly put too

I will look at it like that when i get the urge to masturbate in the future

 

I like what everyone has said. A good verse to go over is Mathew 5:28. "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

Notice how he doesn't say that he has committed adultery in the physical context, but in the heart. He then says that if you are having feelings that could potentially lead to that point, you should get rid of them. Hence pornography, masturbation, and fornication.

IN my opinion, masturbation in and of itself is a sin, but not a super grave one. it is more along the levels of lying and cheating. Not full blown adultery or murder. It is a gateway sin. If you push one domino, it could cause a chain reaction that will lead to worse and bigger things. Addiction to masterbation, pornography, deep pornography addiction, same gender attraction, weird and crazy fetishes, drugs... etc. and pushing that domino could do nothing. However, why take the risk?

The feelings that you have in your body are completely natural. It is GOOD to want to have sex. Often times as Christians we think the desire to have sex as being evil and therefore it becomes a taboo word. We just have to be aware as to the things that tempt us, and rely on the holy spirit to help indicate those trigers that will drag us into further and deeper sin.

 

I don't think it's a sin, the sin comes with what you think about/watch when you're doing it.

 

You must not have been around much of the 90s. WWJD was put on bracelets that were popular. WWJD= What would Jesus do? I think you, like most young people, are completely brainwashed about sex. Eventually you DO stop having sex even with the person your married too. I know there are stories about 80 year olds having sex but those people were probably sex addicts. The consensus on my construction job of men who are 40+ is that they are lucky to even get it on there anniversaries. Two of the men's wives have gone through menopause and they don't get it at all for over 3 years.
Sex does cause a deeper bond between two people, but one that should only be reserved for creating a family unit and you shouldn't go over board with those chemicals in the brain. Think of a relationship with your best friend. Your relationship with your wife should be like that. You can give your wife a lot of attention and satisfy her needs without bending her over a bed.
Sex, not just for addicts, is everywhere in this society. It is a primitive lust that attracts everyone and the commercial industries exploit it and pervert it.

 

As everyone above has pointed out, the Bible doesn't mention it. When people speak about what happened with Onan in the Book of Genesis, the wrongfully assume that masturbation was the sin he committed. It was not. He broke his oath and forsook has family duties.

But, the question is not whether masturbation is a sin. The real question is the motive behind it. Many who have replied said that it is impossible to masturbate without lustful thoughts. I disagree. When you wake in the morning with a hard-on as big as a 2X4, that's not something you lustfully induced. It's a very normal part of being a man. Now, grabbing it and thinking about whatever it is you think about when you go at it is something completely different. You understand what I'm saying? I say this because I've masturbated before without thinking about a woman. I realize that God created me as a sexual being, and enjoying the presence and strength of my sexuality, in my eyes, is no sin. The slippery slope is where the mind goes in the midst of it. Because of how slippery that slope is, though I'm able to gratify myself without thoughts of women, I choose to abstain from it altogether.

The abstinence and ability to self-gratify without lustful thoughts requires a VERY disciplined mind, one I honestly say I do NOT have, or I do not exercise all the time. Because of its infrequency, again I choose to abstain. What I'm about to say is, in no way, meant to influence you and your actions or advocate sin. However, as a VERY scientifically-minded, analytical, whole-heartedly believing Christian, I do not believe that God would put the male genitalia right where it is, giving us men arms and hands with CONSIDERABLY more than enough length to reach, grab and manipulate it for necessary bodily functions and insertion for copulation, while telling us, "If you touch that thing for any other reason, outside of marriage, you're going straight to hell!" The God I know and love doesn't send people to hell. People CHOOSE hell, but that's another subject. The God I know and love is not the author of temptation, because He, Himself, cannot be tempted. So, me personally, I don't see Him saying, "You cannot enjoy the body I fearfully and wonderfully made for you, son." On the other hand, I do believe He would say--as He already did before and when He came in human form--"I don't want you fantasizing about that man's wife, or that unmarried woman. I want you to keep your focus on the connection and relationship you and I have."

Now, focusing on self-pleasure absent thought of women, according to my previous statement, would seem like sin. But, let's remember, to our knowledge of God's Word, no law has been broken. But, like Paul says in the 10th Chapter of his letter to the Corinthians, "All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial." So, if you do have the aforementioned disciplined mind, which allows you to self-gratify sans the lustful thoughts of women, the most important question you should be asking yourself is, "Though I might be allowed to self-gratify, what lasting benefit do I get out of this after the ejaculation?" On top of that, how much work did your mind have to put in to ignore lustful thoughts? Not much benefit came from it, other than a session of stroke & shoot...no? So, the bottom line in all of this is, "Where is your heart in all of this?" There is nothing good that dwells in your flesh, and since none of us have that completely disciplined mind, though we are being renewed, it might be best not to even approach that slippery slope.

Forgive the essay...

The Writer

 

Ive long wandered about if Masturbation is a sin. I had a strict Catholic education and graduated from an all boys catholic HS. It was discussed and addressed in different ways but there was no doubt you were being told it was sinful.

I remember the wrestling coach telling us that women were bad for the legs Lol and that any activity that drained you of your manhood I think he put it took away power and energy that you should be using against your opponent. I took it all to heart and although I abstained for long periods of time, weeks even during wrestling season, other times I "sinned" like crazy but not to porn which I did not really look at till I was 17.

So I dunno, Sin is such an objective thing at times if its not part of the 10 commandments. I guess maybe it depends what your thinking when you do it? Or if it is something you do to excess and are abusing your body.

For me it comes to self control and self determination. Im looking to purify myself and MOing is not a pure thing so I can accept it as sinful for myself, just not sure that it actually is in a religious sense tho.

 

God will show your conscience if it's wrong or not. Sex is for a husband and wife, and sexual pleasure is supposed to shared between husband and wife. So in a sense masturbation is selfish hand not God's intended design. So i would say no to it. For more insight look up John Piper on masturbation or/and Tim Conway on masturbation as well. Pray to The Lord and He will show you.

 

Interesting opinions all around. Good discussion.

I would like to put forward that there is a difference between secret and private actions.
If Jesus was in the same room with me physically, I probably wouldn't pick my nose either.