Does christianity condemn masturbation?

I’ve heard conflicting information about this one. If they do condemn it, on what basis?

You’ve heard conflicting information because there isn’t a single Christian doctrine in this matter. Some Christian groups condemn masturbation, others do not. To take the biggest example, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that masturbation is sinful. This is because, according to RCC doctrine, sex has two purposes: to create new life, and to strengthen the bond between husband and wife. Solo sex serves neither of these purposes, so it’s a no-no. But this is by no means a universal stance among Christians.

It isn’t actually the act of masturbation itself that is the problem. The bible states that you are not supposed to lust after another person. I don’t know about you, but when I am doing the deed, I am not thinking about grocery shopping, thus masturbation is considered a sin.

My personal experience from a southern Babtist church was this: Don’t have sex until you are married. What you do in between now and then is up to you. (Ok, so I am paraphrasing a bit, but you get the idea)
This article covers it a little better, with a more conservative approach, to appease the fundies, but if you notice at the end, it basically says to knock yourself out.

If you are serious about this question, you should probably go to a church, and ask a minister. As a general rule, they don’t hog-tie and throw you in holy water for asking a question. :slight_smile:


Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~And I know I wasn’t right, but it felt so good… -Better Than Ezra

Hmmm…Screwed up the link somehow. Go here: http://www.askthebible.com/masturb.htm

To reiterate, yes there is a single Christian doctrine. It is called the bible :stuck_out_tongue:
And as I stated in the previous post, it plainly tells you NOT to lust after another:

Mat 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”.

So as long as you are thinking about quantum physics while you are going solo, you are “sinning” when you masturbate.
There is another passage that MIGHT deal with direct hand/genital contact, but it can be interpreted six ways to Sunday:

Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through [the fire] to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I [am] the LORD.


Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~ That look on your face when you masturbate, under the moonlight… -Better Than Ezra

As I understand it, the only verses to specifically refer to masturbation appear in the story of Tamar and Judah (Genesis chapter 38). The story goes that Judah found the Canaanite maiden Tamar as a wife for his firstborn son Er.

Er erred in the sight of God and God smote him dead.

Since Er had not gotten Tamar pregnant before his untimely demise, his brother Onan (the next in the line of sucession)
was told to impregnate Tamar (as was the custom of the time)
and give her a male heir. (Note: this male child would be considered Er’s firstborn son and the inheritance of Judah would go to him. The only thing Onan would get out of it would be a bit of fun and some knowing winks from the menfolk.)

Onan had other ideas (perhaps wanting his father’s inheritance for himself) and so after getting up a good head of steam with Tamar, he pulled out and ‘spilled his seed on the ground’.

For this — God smote him dead.

But you see, the sin was not masturbation per se, but not doing his duty as the secondborn and impregnating with a male child his older brother’s widow.

There is no other specific mention of masturbation in the Bible.

Most conservative adult Christians, however, believe it is icky and avoided at all possible and never never done with your bedroom door wide open and certainly not if there is anyone else in the house and please wash your hands afterword especially before eating.

Does that help???

I assuming that second “are” should be “aren’t” in the last sentence. Anyway, I imagine that you’d be okay if, eg., you were fantasizing about your wife. (She had a ‘headache’ that night, you see.) And in any case, you’re no worse off than anyone else you lusted after a woman in his heart, eg. any normal male. One of the tenets of Christianity is that everyone sins, the important thing is to penitently ask for forgiveness. Right?

Is there a missionary position on this?

So does that mean it is OK to masturbate while thinking about your wife or husband?

Why did he spill his seed on the ground? He could have at least gone for a money shot.

IIRC it depends on the subset of faith you believe in. I know Catholics think it is wrong and a sin and you have to confess it to a priest (#&*(&(# growing up catholic at 15 SUCKED!)

I think Baptist and others ok, but frown upon it because it shows lack of restraint and willpower. On shouldn’t give into his/her urges, and should control them.

I don’t know, but supporting yourself on one arm gets tiring pretty quickly.

Ok, now you are getting into a theological discussion that would probably be better suited for a minister. I gave you black & white evidence, but I am not prepared to go any further with only basic sunday school, and 20 years of church. :slight_smile: (As far as facts go) On the one hand, (No pun intended) you can say that it is ok to think of your wife, since you are entitled to her body anyway. On the other hand, God gave you that sperm for a reason, and probably would not appreciate you flushing it down the toilet.

SCSimmons, I screwed up when I wrote that, replace “are” with “aren’t”.

*[sub]I would like to state that by no means am I an evangelist, fundamentalist, or any other -ist’s. I haven’t been to church in a year, I commit adultery as much as possible, and I stole a piece of candy out of my co-worker’s desk. However, I have had a similar conversation with a Babtist minister. Also, if you would like to know about possible alien references, or why dinosaurs were not mentioned in the bible, give me a shout. (God that preacher must have been annoyed with me)[/sub]


Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~And just like that Barenaked Ladies song, I’m hot like wosabi when I’m next to your body… -Better Than Ezra

Is it a sin to waste gamates? Women do it every month they don’t concieve. And the sperm gets used either way, whether it is ejactulated or reabsorbed into the body. And what about women who masturbate while thinking about their husband? No wasted gamates there. Is there a Biblical basis for condemning this?

I’d like to be the first to say
(Cue Music)
Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed in your neighborhood

Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

Let the heathens spill theirs,
Upon the dusty ground
God will make them pay for each sperm that can’t be found
(End Music)

Serious Answer-Since masturbation generally requires either fantasy or pornography, you are comitting the sin of lust. Depending on which theologian you ask these thoughts may also constitue adultery. Further, you are using body parts that are intended for reproduction not cheap thrills. The question is not whether Christianity considers it a sin, but how many sins it breaks down to.

Dorothy Parker had a canary.

She called it “Onan.”

It was a messy eater, and spilled its seed upon the ground.
:smiley:

So… if you think about physics (mmm… quarks), don’t shoot through the fires of Molech (what the hell? just as a personal preference, I try to keep it as far away from fire as I can. especially the type of fire that belongs to somebody…) and then… I don’t know, eat it afterwards (protein, yay!) I’ll be ok with his worshipfulness? :slight_smile:

Seriously, I think that pretty much anything out of Leviticus is suspect. There are some awfully wierd rules in there that nobody in their right mind would follow. Not to say that the Hebrews were out of their minds. i’m going to stop now while I can still see daylight…

Taps mic Hello? Is there a preacher in the house?
Dr.Lao- You have to keep in mind that when the bible was written, there were not equal opportunity, affirmative action, or civil rights laws. Women in the bible (with a few exceptions) are regarded as second class(or less). Thus, female masturbation is not described. One would assume the same law applies to females, as well as males.

As far as a woman “wasting” her egg by menstruation, that is a natural process that God intended, so it is ok for them to have a period. However, (And I can’t remember which book I read it in) I recall there being a provision that stated a woman was “unclean” during her period, and should not engage in sexual activities. (I use that on all of my g/f that want to have sex during that time, which is funny since I am really not a religous fellow :wink: )

Tenebras- “Molech” means king, or similar person (or being) of power it was thought that the sun was worshipped in this name, by “heathen” cultures and possibly children were sacrificed in flames to him…Thus “thy seed pass through [the fire] to Molech” would generally be a bad thing. This is why I say that passage is open to interpretation…By seed do they mean sperm? Children? I have no idea.
Also, I used the book of Leviticus because it was the first one I flipped to. Similar passages can be found in several other books.


Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~Can you be so warm? Can you know what I feel? -Better Than Ezra

Ah NP, one must let internet bandwidth wind blow the chaff of mediocrity away from such choice kernels. You cracked me up with that one…

After thinking about this for a while, I think we need a volunteer for a “Ask the Christian guy/girl” to help with questions like this.

No. It promotes and encourages it.

First, the basic message of christianity is ‘love’ and obviously this starts with loving yourself, right?

Secondly, there is plenty of new testament support for the idea of loving others as I love myself, and I do love others, so I should presumably love myself.

Thirdly, I have a close and direct personal experience of jesus and he tells me to masturbate very often and to enjoy it. This is true, go ahead and try to disprove it. And surely my own close and direct personal experience of him is as good as anyone else’s?

Fourthly, if I am to ‘go forth and multiply’ then where’s the harm in keeping the kit in good working condition, having the occasional test-run and and devoting myself to rehearsal?

Fifthly, jesus never said anything about it, and if was a bad thing he would have.

Sixthly, the ultimate test of any act is whether it promotes love or harm in the world. Masturbation has never done me or anyone else any harm, and it certainly gets me thinking of love. So I guess that’s the clincher.