At first glance, the question, “Can you masturbate without lusting?” might sound like an odd question. Same with the question, “Is masturbation without porn a sin?”
For those who feel no guilt or shame about the matter, the question sounds ridiculous. For those who are utterly opposed to all masturbation, regardless of the internal dynamics that drive it, the question sounds irrelevant.
But for those whom lust is their primary concern when it comes to masturbation, the question is of immense importance.
Is it always sinful to masturbate?
Christians disagree on whether the Bible forbids masturbation or not. Some Christians point to Genesis 38:9-10, where Onan sins by “spilling his seed” (i.e. masturbating), to avoid conceiving a child as God commanded. It’s reasonable to conclude from this that God disproves of masturbation, at least in some circumstances. However, this passage alone does not give enough detail to conclude that masturbation itself is always wrong or why.
Why is masturbation sinful?
Jesus said that the things that come from the heart defile a person (Matthew 15:19). So the more important question is this: what is the heart of the matter when it comes to masturbation? What is it about our hearts when we masturbate that does—or doesn’t—make it wrong?
Many Christians have looked to Matthew 5:28 to answer this question. Jesus says, “I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” In other words, sexual sin begins with attitudes of the heart, not merely our outward actions. If a person can commit adultery in their thoughts without the physical act, then it follows that the real sin of masturbation is something deeper than the physical act.
So is it sinful to masturbate without porn?
The Bible is clear that watching pornography is a sin. But many wonder whether it’s still sinful to masturbate if you don’t use porn. Some still struggle with masturbation long after they leave porn behind. But is it really sinful if you’re not looking lustfully at pornography?
It’s important to remember that Jesus’s teaching about lust goes beyond explicit porn. “Adultery in the heart” could be any kind of sexual impurity. See Sexual Purity: What Scripture Teaches About God’s Plan for Sex. So then, just because you aren’t watching porn doesn’t mean that you aren’t lusting when you masturbate.
What the Bible makes clear about masturbation.
Though we haven’t answered the specific question yet (is masturbation itself sinful), we can already see some clear biblical teaching. Scripture teaches at least some masturbation is wrong. Romans 14:23 adds that anything that isn’t of faith is sin. That means that even if masturbation itself isn’t sinful, it’s sinful to masturbate if you believe it’s wrong and do it anyway.
Furthermore, the Bible teaches that when God saves us from our sin, he transforms and changes our hearts and behaviors—including our sexual habits like masturbation (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Followers of Jesus should seek to submit themselves to his commands and obey him whatever the cost. That means we should be willing to give up masturbation if we feel convicted.
3 Types of People and How They Masturbate
In his book Sex, Men, and God, Doug Weiss says there are three types of men in the world (and, I assume, this goes for women, too):
1. Men who have never masturbated (Type A) – Weiss believes this group of men is the smallest camp of men in the Western world. After years of speaking at men’s conferences, he’s only met 14 men who claim to have never masturbated. In other cultures, Weiss adds, masturbation simply isn’t a cultural norm and is relatively uncommon.
2. Men who do not fantasize or lust during masturbation (Type B) – This type of person stays “connected” to himself during masturbation—they don’t escape into fantasy. For this person, the act is merely performing a bodily function. As such, there is little emotion attached to the experience, and typically no sense of guilt or shame.
3. Men who lust during masturbation (Type C) – These men are “disconnected” during the act of masturbation; their focus is on a mental image, an actual image, or an object.
Why does it matter if there are different types of masturbation?
In his book, Weiss asks what happens when a Type B masturbator grows up and becomes a pastor, Christian counselor, or Bible teacher. If he universalizes his own experience, this man is likely to think there is nothing wrong with masturbation at all. If Type C men listen to a teacher like this, they either become very confused, or they are encouraged to believe that their lifestyle of fantasy-filled masturbation is okay.
Similarly, if a Type C masturbator becomes a spiritual leader, he will be likely to say that all masturbation is sinful. Type B people are likely to hear this and either get defensive or start feeling a sense of false guilt and shame.
So, is some masturbation OK?
In one sense, because Type B masturbation involves no lust, it would be easy to assume it involves no sin. This is true. But there is another critical question to ask.
What habits are you creating by repeated Type B masturbation? Many feel that the urge to masturbate is out of control. Are you becoming mastered by this habit (see 1 Corinthians 6:12)? If so, you might be reinforcing a false belief that your body is simply your own. Your body is for the Lord (6:13)—and your wife if you are married. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (6:19b-20).
More Questions About Masturbation, Lust, and Sin
Can you change how you masturbate?
Weiss says, in his 20+ years of professional experience counseling men around issues of sexual sin, Type C masturbators rarely ever become Type B masturbators. He welcomes men to attempt the change, but warns, “Be careful not to deceive yourself.”
Can you masturbate without sinning if you are married?
Weiss also reminds married men that when they take a vow of marriage, their sexuality becomes intimately tied to another person. He reminds men of the solemn command of 1 Corinthians 7:4, “The husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” Regardless of your motive for masturbation, your wife has authority over your sexuality. “God is the first, your wife is the second and you are the third owner of your penis,” writes Weiss.
For Weiss, the issue of married men masturbating is about honesty. Does your wife know you do it and does she approve? He writes, “If you can’t be honest with your wife about your total sexual expression, then you probably need to evaluate the reason for your ongoing lies to your wife.” If you don’t talk to your wife about it, why? Are you still holding on to the belief that your sexuality is “me-sex” vs. “we-sex”?
What if your wife is the one you fantasize about?
Even if after full disclosure to your wife, she approves of you masturbating, is it wrong to “lust” after images of your wife?
Here Weiss offers some sage advice: Does the woman of your fantasies match the woman you are married to? Do you change aspects of your fantasy wife that don’t match who your real wife is? Does she act sexually different in your fantasies? Does she look different?
If so, you are reinforcing a chemical process in your brain to be turned on by your fantasy wife, and this will only frustrate you when your real wife doesn’t measure up.
I would add to this: Masturbating to fantasies of your wife, while preferable to other images, also trains your body and mind to be more me-centered in your sexuality. Even if your wife approves of your behavior, you should ask whether this activity really helps to move you more towards the image of Christ, who emptied himself and sacrificed all for the love of His bride, the church.
We could talk about exceptions to the norm, of course—prolonged illness or geographical distance between couples. But we also shouldn’t let the conversation about so-called “exceptions” (even if we think they are legitimate) make us overlook the biblical principles that should inform our attitudes.
Ideally, fantasizing about your wife—a good thing—should be something that propels you towards intimacy with her, to where sex can be a consummation of love and self-giving.
What do you think? Can you masturbate without lusting? If so, does it matter?
Hey,
I’m only 15 years old and have already been masturbating for 4 years. Around 2 years ago is when I started watching porn and now I’m addicted. The guilty feeling I used to feel is almost gone now and the only reason I want to stop is because I know its a sin. I’m not sure how to go about stopping. Even though I’m not supposed to buy into the belief that ‘I need to do it’, almost every time I have tried to stop I’ve failed. I know I cant do it on my own power and I need God’s but when I pray for self-control the temptation gets worse. I don’t know what to do and any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks.
Hi Dan,
Great question. I would suggest you start seeing masturbation in a different light. Masturbation, specifically when it is driven and fueled by lustful fantasy, is the fruit of the bad tree. If we focus only on removing the fruit but not the tree, we will get exhausted picking the fruit and it will never stop growing. We need to look at the tree.
What is the tree? The tree has many branches, and each one should be taken into account. First, there is the branch of lustful fantasy. If this is a habit in your life, lusting after girls you see, meditating on images or memories of women in your mind, then this is the first habit to change. Make it a goal every day: Today I’m going to bounce my eyes and thoughts away from images and interactions that might cause me to lust. Focus on one day at a time.
Second, there is the branch of physical habits. Often guys masturbate when they get into the physical habit of playing with themselves when they get an erection. The incidental erection (which may or may not be caused by anything mentally) becomes a trigger and a reminder of the pleasure of masturbation. Have a battle plan for these moments: choose to get up and do something different at the first sign that this is your intention. If getting up isn’t an option, at least choose to not play with yourself and redirect your thoughts to something else (such as a passage of Scripture).
Third, learn how to manage failures. Chances are, even after reading this, you will still masturbate at some point. Instead of wallowing in guilt over the matter, take the matter to God in prayer, believe Christ has forgiven you, and ask God to show you where the weakness was. Again, the focus is not on the act of masturbation itself but the mental and physical habits that were going on minutes or hours before it happened.
Going even deeper, it is vital to get to the root of the problem even under these mental and physical habits. If you only do these strategies above, you are just changing your behavior, not your heart. I recommend you read this article about the Apostle Paul’s secret for fighting sexual sin.
Hey Dan, I’m in highschool as well and I used to struggle as much as you ever since I was in middle school and feel incredibly guilty. I’d watch videos of girls on this website for about two years and I struggled daily. Then I met my Gf and I knew I needed to change. I was a type c and i needed to be pure for her and our relationship. So I started by only thinking about her and stop with the website, when you can stop watching even if you need to fantasize it’s a step away from the screen at least. Then I decided to skip a day if I didn’t feel like doing so already. And once that’s been going on I decided to take the “3 day hump” 3 days without masturbation or more. It’s awful and you stay up at night but if you can abstain for 3 days you can attempt to go a full week, then maybe even more, my record has been a full month now, a baby step but I’m feeling a lot better now when I go to confessions, we’re young so we don’t have to worry about old guy problems like prostate cancer yet. It’s completely possible to control the addiction even if it’s impossible to stop completely.
Well, I’d say he’s addicted to the chemical rush of ejaculation–that’s the short answer. He got started doing this at some point, and now he’s got a habit and a chemical process going on and this is what it is: addiction. He may not have the intention of acting out with other women. For some men, it does escalate into acting out with other people. For others, it escalates into viewing more disturbing material, taking more time and attention, becoming unpleasant emotionally, etc. Many men find that erectile dysfunction becomes an issue as the chemical system of the body becomes depleted over time. As for what you want to do about it? I’d say you need to consider what’s healthy for you, and what boundaries you want to have around sexuality in your marriage. I don’t know if you’ve seen our free download, Hope After Porn? It’s the stories of several women and the boundaries they chose in their particular situations. Have a look and let me know what you think. Blessings, Kay
I am a 36 year old married mother! I got married when I was 21 to my husband who was 35 then. He is now fifty years old and me 36. We have two beautiful children together and both
Love God. Just in the few past years my husband has stopped showing me affection and we have sex maybe twice a month. For me being in my prime of life this has been very difficult. He has to take medication to have an erection. I almost feel like he’s my father because the age gap seems bigger now. He is slowing down in life getting ready to retire and I’m still wanting to live. I have really been struggling with temptation and fantasizing about being with another man who I met back in June. He is younger than me and I can’t stop thinking about him. I feel so guilty but at the same time feel neglected by my husband. I really am not sure I can stay in a relationship where I ignored and not loved and neglected of my needs. I need help fast! I love my God and would never do anything to hurt my family intentionally!
Thanks for being so honest. Facing up to what’s going on before it goes any further is a really excellent thing to do!
First of all, I think our sexuality is a real part of us that needs to be honored and cared for like every other part of us. So your need for sexual intimacy with your husband is not just something to forget about. What’s more, I don’t think 50 is all that old! My husband turns 50 this year and we’re just gearing up for the empty nest and a bunch of fun stuff we couldn’t do with four kids in tow! So I’d want to be sure he gets a full physical evaluation with his doctor, to make sure there’s not a medical problem. Also, we write a bunch about the issue of erectile dysfunction here on the blog, which can be a result of pornography addiction, so I’d want to eliminate that possibility as well. In other words, he needs to make sure he’s healthy in every way, physically, emotionally, spiritually.
But here’s where I see the real problem. I think the emotional intimacy has failed in your marriage. You can have a ton of affection and enjoyment with each other, apart from sex. Sex is important, sure, but it’s not the totality of your relationship. I think if you were emotionally together in the marriage, you wouldn’t be fantasizing about this other guy. It sounds like you’ve already left in your head, and as a result, you might “unintentionally” hurt your family.
I don’t know how the emotional connection in your marriage has come undone, but I think that’s the main problem that needs to be worked on. I’d recommend counseling; the American Association of Christian Counselors is a great place to look for help in your area. I also love Dr. John Gottman’s book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. None of the principles for making marriage work is sex, by the way! Good sex is a nice bonus, not the the foundation.
A great marriage doesn’t happen by accident, or even by a good sex life. It’s a deliberate process of making good choices in many areas and turning toward the relationship every time you can. That’s another Gottman tidbit–I wrote about that in another post earlier this week. Check that stuff out, and let me know what you think.
Blessings, Kay
Hi Cayce,
Definitely have your hubby get both a full medical workup and comprehensive urological exam. There are treatments, implants, vacuum devices, etc, in addition to viagra which can help
In the mean time, it is perfectly ok for you AND your husband to masturbate.
The two of you can do it on each other or yourselves. Just no porn or adulterous fantasies.
My wife has not had sex with me for over 12 years. I Masturbate thinking of the time when we did have sex. We are both in our late sixties. My wife had a hysterectomy and no longer wants sex or wants to engage in sex. We have never discussed my masturbating, which is only about twice a year. I call it revealing sexual frustration. What type is this and am i wrong for what I do???
As the article says, this would be Type C. The article’s comments about lusting after your wife are pertinent here.
I think it is important to recognize the Bible doesn’t approach these matters in terms of only right and wrong. The Bible also sees actions as wise and unwise. I actually had a conversation with widower last year who masturbated to memories of his wife. That discussion might benefit you greatly. You can read it here. Both the article and the comments are relevant.
Prostate cancer runs in my family, Now in my 60’s my wife of 41 yrs cannot have sex due to pysical difficulties. I have noticed my urine stream slowing down. I read thar masturbating 3 times per week would improve the stream and promote prostae health by a medical proffesional. The urine stream is now better. I do not fanasize. Your comments would be appreciated.
That’s a good question, Larry. I do think this issue is a matter of conscience, and in this case I would say you are not sinning, but I would also ask others you trust about this to get their perspective.
To Larry K,
Perfectly ok to do it! See my other posts.
Do continue to see your urologist frequently.
hi,
ive been with my gf now for 4 years but up until now ive been a consant “type c” masterbater but i only think about her. reading the bible it says not to lust so after reading that i did masterbate that night and i was full of guilt so i havent masterbated since but its causing sexual frustrations. so were not married and live far away (but i plan on poping the question in a year or two) should i be allowed to masterbate if i only think of her only? also, ofc were all going to lust. were human and just flesh and bone. type a men although never masterbated must of atleast lusted about a femal (thinking shes hot) so we all sin and god forgives all sin through jesus but ut says to not constantly keep doing the same sin like masterbating… does this change anything?
Hi Steven,
Good question. Masturbating while fantasizing about a woman who is not your wife is lust and is condemned by the Bible. Yes, for the Christian, all sin is covered by the blood of Christ, so lust is most certainly forgivable, but the promise of God’s forgiveness is never used in the Bible as an endorsement of sin or an encouragement to sin. The reason is Jesus doesn’t just set us free from the guilt of sin. He also sets us free from the grip of sin. In fact, Paul addresses this exact principle in Romans 6 (I encourage you to read it). In this chapter, he says we don’t keep sinning so God can pour out more grace on us. Rather, we live believing that we are united to the Spirit of the risen Christ, believing that Christ shares his resurrection power with us, believing that this means we are no longer slaves to sin (like we were before Christ), but we are free to live a righteous life.
If we believe Christ for our salvation, we must trust him for all of our salvation, not just forgiveness. Salvation from sin means not just salvation from the shame and guilt of sin, but salvation from sin’s power in our lives.
When you shut down your eyes to sensuality as Job did you will not have any desire whatsoever to masturbate. I have an image here of a weak evangelical “I’m struggling brother” That is evangelical “speak” for I don’t have chastity of my eyes and I am about to boil over. He isn’t struggling. He has already surrendered his eyes to sin. I have many friends and colleagues who consider themselves good faithful Christians, but when we are having lunch at a restaurant they cannot (even in my presence) stop checking every beautiful woman who passes by. I believe a lot of this has to do with our oversexed society (viagra for 70 year old people, plastic surgery, etc.). People get married for sex and when that doesn’t fulfill them the marriage crumbles. It is all about modesty. Modesty of the eyes and modesty in dress. A person who dresses immodestly is guilty of causing someone else’s lust (boiling over). Don’t kid yourself, lust is not a specific fantasize you create in your mind. It is a hunger like your stomach growling. If you purposely allow yourself to see certain things and you feel a little tingle in your genitals that’s lust (even if just a very small level). From experience I know that most so called Christians have no convictions concerning sun bathing or two piece swim suits. There is no way any red blooded young man is going to get out of that party without falling. “Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.” If you got the hunger then you have lust. My stomach hunger is good in any context. My sexual hunger needs to be in the context of the marriage bed. Outside of that it is lust.
John King….. You are truly a man of God and it is crystal clear and very evident that you have done a ton of recovery work around YOU and these issues… I am married to a sex addict and as a woman, the feelings of objectification is most often present.. Addicts in general look for an out always.. they look to justify everything! The responses I read of Luke’s on behalf of Covenant Eyes is grieving and nauseating to say the least.. You lay things out so simply, yet nail this issue in a way I have NEVER seen or heard biblically.. I pray that you would continue to be a voice of purity in this wilderness to bring conviction– with NO compromise. I have worked in the area of addiction since 1994 and every addict will look to justify the “Whys” of their behaviour.. You are the real deal.. I wished more men in the church lived out your words / God’s word without the justifying.. the compromising, and outright resistance to the purity of what and how God desires for each of us to live…Marriages and relationships would flourish, they would be stronger, be more intimate, last longer and would feel a lot safer. You are such a blessing ..You do not leave any wiggle room for compromise and I LOVE THAT!..God loves that!! After reading your responses I could not help but wonder how many men in the body of Christ really consider their bodies as temples.. and not their own..Please do not let the Luke’s of this world silence you. You are an amazing man.. You are truly the voice of God. Thank you… Thank you… Thank you.
Ambient sexual desire is not lust.
Ambient sexual desire can be experienced when the mind is far away from anything sexual and occurs due to physiological reasons.
You are correct and the motives vs the actions. The problem is that this book suggests that an adult can make a decision to masturbate without bad motives? The only one’s who are exempt from accountability are babies and the mentality retarded. Your nuts aren’t going to shrivel up because you don’t stimulate them. I am talking from experience here and used to be a slave to masturbation. I can tell you from experience that those who struggle with this have not learned the concept of chastity of the eyes. Think of your body as a stove pot and every time you see or think of a sensual image the temperature goes up. Eventually you are going to boil over. My old boss shared how he spent all day with this hot colleague and at the end of the day his nuts ached. If a person doesn’t realize that his very taking in of his sensual senses is a sin then he will rationalize that reliving his aching balls isn’t a sin either. The problem is sin caused the aching balls. Unfortunately I know these games all too well. As an evangelical I used to rationalize to myself that I did not commit a major sin if I did not ejaculate. Bottom line is that someone who is trying to rationalize that masturbating is not crossing the line has already crossed the line with his eyes. Our eyes are hard wired to our genitals.
John,
Actually, not true.
A guy can get “blue balls,” prostatic congestion and swelling, and painful pubococcigeous (internal pelvic) muscles from the lack of sexual release. This is what is called ambient sexual desire, or libido.
Pubescent and older males experience this, to varying degrees, without visual, mental, etc, arousal having triggered it.
“What we have here is failure…to communicate.”
Leve it simply put at this: Sexual activity outside of the confines of the marital act, unobstructed from procreation, between a husband and wife, with full consent from both parties is morally wrong. BLACK AD WHITE issues here people. Do not be swayed in to believing this posteblightenment hog wash. You can rationalize cutting your own mother’s throat if you just keep explaining away the circumstances.
The power to procreate is a power not given to the angels, which was the reason for the revolt in heaven, yet here we sit with a jar of Vaseline to our right, a towel at our feet and the bible on the shelf. Sin is sin, it is only “not” sin when we listen to the one who tempts, “he was a liar and murderer from the beginning”.
People need to learn to think with their brains and not their hearts, be logical and rational, it’s really not that difficult.
Hey Marcus, thanks for joining the discussion.
1. I’d love to know where you get the whole story about angels revolting because they couldn’t procreate. Really, that sounds interesting.
2. In the post I talk about the sinful motives that can be attached to masturbation, even when “lust” is not the prime motivator. Personally, I think masturbation is a terribly unwise habit to get into, regardless of the specific motives, because it divorces one’s sexuality from the act of marital intimacy. It trains the mind to get accustomed to solo-sex.
The purpose of the post was merely to highlight some of the themes of Dr. Weiss’ book and ask people to comment (which they gladly have), not to provide an endorsement of everything he wrote about.
Masturbation is not procreation.
Children do a lot of things such as eat garbage of the floor. Although the child, because he doesn’t know better is not culpable we are responsible to discourage bad behavior. Although you hit the nail on the head (no pun intended) in regards to intention and accountability we are talking about adults here who know better. Somehow you broad brush connect the dots and erroneously rationalize that if garbage eating off the floor is ok for kids its ok for adults. Secondly, you missed the point on pleasure. I never said pleasure was bad. Somehow you broad brush connect the dots and erroneously rationalize that because what I meant was Jesus never experienced pleasure. That believe I was very clear on pleasure is good in the right context i.e. enjoying food, enjoying sex, enjoying a sunset. How did you miss that one. It is when we seek pleasure for ourselves it is bad. God teaches us to seek other people’s benefit before ourselves. By doing that we will experience pleasure. Keeping it simple, for example, when we help someone we can find personal pleasure. When we nourish ourselves we enjoy it. When we get a good night’s sleep we enjoy it. A glass of cold water is refreshing. When we procreate as God taught we enjoy it. When we sleep all day when we slept all night we are sinning. When we eat more too much we are sinning. When we seek sexual pleasure outside the context of procreation we are sinning. I don’t think you got it the first time but this is why I started with the comments on contraception being considered evil about a hundred years ago by every major denomination and now most Protestants think it ok. Next on the list is homosexuality.
Thanks for clarifying your earlier statements. Like I said, I didn’t want to misunderstand you. Somehow you got the idea that I was erroneously broad brushing your comments, even when I said that’s the very thing I didn’t want to do, which is why I asked you to clarify. No need to accuse me of something when I’m merely asking for you to make your position clear. Thanks for doing that.
If I understand you rightly, you are making a distinction between the act of masturbation and the motives behind the act, which is exactly what I’m doing. As you said, “because [the child] doesn’t know better” when he masturbates, he isn’t culpable. I agree 100%. His motives are totally different than an adult’s motives. What I’m saying is that if the act of masturbation isn’t sinful apart from sinful motives, then we need to look the variety of motives for masturbating and address those specifically (which is what the article is attempting to do).
What I hear you saying is that any adult who masturbates has a sinful motive, which is similar to what I stated in the article. I wrote, “What habits are you creating by repeated Type B masturbation? Are you becoming mastered by this habit (see 1 Corinthians 6:12)? If so, you might be reinforcing a false belief that your body is simply your own. Your body is for the Lord (6:13)—and your wife if you are married. ‘You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body’ (6:19b-20).” The whole point is to say even if you masturbation does not involve lust, it might involve another sin. As far as I can see, we agree on this.
Now, speaking to whether sexual pleasure outside the context of procreation is sinful, I’ll have to ask you to elaborate further. I’ve not heard you argue for why you think God has stated this, but I’d love to know why you think that.
Let me put a finer point on it to steer our discussion. If on a given instance, right after a woman’s period, her husband has sex with her knowing that she isn’t ovulating, but they don’t use contraceptive devices, are they sinning because they are seeking sexual pleasure believing she isn’t fertile? Are you saying any time a couple has sex with the knowledge that the woman isn’t likely fertile, they are sinning? If a man has sex with his wife who has gone through menopause, and he does so believing they won’t have children, they sinning? If a woman has to have a surgical procedure that renders her infertile but she still chooses to have sex with her husband, are they sinning?
I’m asking because I want to understand your position. What statements in God’s revealed will informs your thoughts on these questions?
I understand Luke completely. He’s saying that everybody including children are subjected to masturbating. Children do touch their self but doesnt know why its there or what it is. But sometimes they do feel pleasure which is why they continue touching. Just like when kids rub their ears or do other things pleasurable with their body. Not because their sinning but cuz it feels good. As humans, we live in a world where we want to he be happy and do exciting things to get fulfillment within ourselves. Masturbation is nothing but a high endorphin of chemicals that are released from excitement. It has nothing to do with lust. Lusting is looking at someone and wanting their body in a sexual way. You CAN touch your own self without doing so.
Thank you
John,
Hi. I was raised in a devout LDS (Mormon) background. And it’s no secret that Mormons love large families.
Given that fact, however, I do need to set you and all my other Catholic friends straight with regards to a couple scriptural and doctrinal errors you made in your above posts:
1. Nowhere in the Bible is contraception, natural or artificial, forbidden, either explicitly or implicitly.
What the Bible DOES say is to, “Be fruitful and multiply.” The BIble days nothing about the spacing or number of children married spouses have. Nor does the Bible say that having kids is supposed to inflict unbearable burdens upon families, especially to the detriment of individual family members.
2. Nowhere in the BIble is masturbation WITHOUT LUST and NOT TO EXCESS forbidden.
Masturbation doesn’t have to include the lust/pornography/impure fantasy element.
3. It sounds like your mother had some Biblically unjustifiable opinions on the above topic– and dealt with you quite harshly because of it.
I wish women with these types of personal sentiments about masturbation could walk a mile in a young man’s shoes, given that the age of puberty begins so much younger, now, and that for many people, college education and starting one’s career make it necessary to delay marriage until around age 30. For these people and some others, masturbation can be a valuable practice for eliminating the temptation to commit fornication or adultery and reducing disruptive physical symptoms of sexual need.