If you are into your religion, is it a sin to masturbate?
 

I have asked myself that forever (well, since i know and practiced masturbation). Anyways, do you from your religious background or tendency (if any) feel like if your God is seeing you as a siner for masturbating, or is it normal == part of human pleasure or just a normal thing for us in this world? In conclusion, i am catholic and sometimes when i hear what the priest says about sins, i ask myself that every time :confused: . Let me know if i need to like just leave it as is and not feel guilty about masturbating when i don't have my g/f with me (meaning you know...). Thanks.

why do you care? from what i got from your post your already banging your girl friend. isn't sex before mariage a sin anyway? isn't 1 sin enough to dam you to hell so who cares if you do more?

i know nothing about religion expect what i hear and what i'v seen on tv. :D

If your religion says that it is wrong, and you disagree, then it's time to abandon that religion.

Otherwise, if you truly believe, then you should do your best to follow the teachings of your religion.

i'm catholic too, and yes, technically it is a sin...but that never stopped me. The reason its considered a sin is because you're doing the gift of sex without your partner. I have confessed it a few times (it was tough but the priest was impressed as not too many guys confess that to a priest). I've also had premarital sex with my fiancee (i'll confess that in a few years when it doesn't matter). If you're really serious about the sin thing, go confess it. If you're really REALLY serious about being catholic, be sorry for it, confess it, and try not to do it again. Or you could try taking the route i'm taking...do it now, confess it later when my wife can do it for me (cheap?...yes). I really wouldn't worry about it though, cause i garunfriggintee that the only man in history that never masturbated was Jesus.

It's considered a sin because usually guys can't get off without fantasizing about women other than their partner. Basically, if you're jacking off to porn, it's a sin. My advice is just to stick with your girlfriend, but encourage her to fool around a bit more often, if you're feeling the need to get off more often than you currently do with her.

I have yet to find a reference about masturbation being a sin in the bible.

Thanks for the replies guys. i really enjoy reading the advice i get from here. As for the catholic opinion, i know, i have tried and i went back to it, but i have never confessed it. I will do so this weekend. I hate to think of it this way. I have done some many things wrong in my life, that i don't even know if i would get accepted to heaven as Catholic religion says.

I wish i could write one of the stories i wrote here, and explain it a little better, but it would take too long to read for you guys. i really need advice with a particular problem.

Now, i have a question for you all: Do you ever experience that feeling that you get when you know a person is right for you? I mean, if you saw this one girl, and the second you saw her the first time, you felt to the ground (and it wasn't lust), but you felt like you needed to make a move but never did and now regret it, although you can't find a replacement for that person... that is my problem. There is not one single person who compares to that one. I pray to God that someday the future will bring a happy meeting and get it over with.

Thanks guys. I really think of this place as the one i can truly let my problems out and find a piece of light that i can use in my darkest days.

mirevolver there is a passage in the bible about it being a sin to spill your seed on the ground... maybe someone whose religious can find it for us...

anyways some of my friends justified it by saying "whats a wet dream? its god stroking me off... so if he does it to me i can do it to myself"

if your religion says it wrong then you should think long and hard about your religion.

"there is a passage in the bible"

its the story of onan...but the sin in question is backtalking God. And that's usually a Smite-Worthy™ offense.... If you really look at the bible verses in context, its clear that jerking off is kosher. Looking at porn, or visualizing women to do so might not be...and certainly premarital relations are verboten, though many Old Testement guys get away scot free with it.

"Who knows what really incurs the Lord's wrath anymore?"
-Dogma

My opinion is this
There's religion
and then there's faith

And your faith can be strong
while not following the literal traditions of your religion.

There are many different levels of spirituality,
and you know on the inside whether you are a good person.

Theoretically masturbation isn't wrong, but as it's been put the act of fantisizing about sleeping with another person is where it comes to place. But remember, God forgives all...

I was raised as a muslim and was taught (or read somewhere) that masturbation is ok, only if you were offered sex by someone other than your wife.
But other people have told me that when you get your jerk on..12 angels watch you or something to that affect, meaning its not ok.
Either way, I can't, I won't and I don't stop.

While there are at least two possible interpretations to this passage, more fundamentalist Christians (including the Catholic church), believe that this passage clearly states masturbation is a sin.

Now, as a former Roman Catholic, I do not believe it is a sin. It is a normal and natural thing to do.

In other words, it is what we choose to do with the action that makes it a sin or not.

The sin of Onan was that he wasted he seed by not procreating... The way I interpret this is that it was written at a time when the Hebrew's population was in decline. The story of Onan was created to encouge young men not to waste their seed but to go forth and multiply.

I just don't see how this applies in this day and age...

That passage is often misinterpreted. The way I see it is it is a sin if you penetrate and then ejaculate after pulling out. It becomes much clearer if you read the passage in its entirety.

Charlatan,

Actually, Onan's sin was worse than that. Since the ancient Hebrews only lived on through their *male* children, (they had no concept of heaven as we think it), Onan's sin was to condemn his dead brother to no "afterlife" or non-existance.

I dunno if any religion would approve of sex before marriage over masturbation.

I'm practice Taoism. Basic and simple. I know Lao-Tzu never mentioned masturbation in the Tao de Ching... so I don't think I'll go to hell for doing it.

I'm approaching seriousness about religon (episcopal) and definitely don't think it's a sin...it's all about interpretation, and you should really concern yourself with the larger matters first (i.e., establish healty faith in the big picture) before you worry about things like this...

(Most) religions teach that God is loving and caring. Would an almighty being condemn you to hell for eternity for masturbating? I doubt it.

You may want to weigh this against other posts as coming from someone who believes in God, but not Hell.

i had a really religious suitemate in college (southern baptist) and every morning, he would masturbate in the bathroom with a tub of vasoline. He didn't hide it, and was very religious. He just felt that it was the best way to relieve his "sexual demons" every morning before starting his day. I found it rather disturbing, but it worked for him. He said that this is preached over the alternative of having sex and raping women.

I am catholic, and never think twice about masturbation. It cures boredom, and relieves stress.

--
rich

I'd have to agree with Charlatan and chavos. When I read that passage and the surrounding verses, I don't see how anyone could twist it into meaning that it is forbidden.

However, nothing the Bible says applies to your case.

Catholicism bears Dogmatic Law. What the Church says goes, so if you are Catholic, what the Bible means to you or anyone outside of the leaders of the Church is pretty irrelevant.

here is the deal on that passage people, from deacon ganon (not!!) Back in the day of the old israelite nation, it was expected that the husband and wife would have a child to carry on the name and to give the inheritance to. When that did not happen, it lead to legal problems. The way that God decided to deal with it was to appoint a "kinsman redeemer". This would be the brother of the deceased husband, and if not the first brother, than the second brother, and so on. The reason God was displeased with this guy was because he defrauded the woman and did not fulfill his responsibility to God and his brother to be the kinsman redeemer. It had less to do with sex and more to do with fulfilling the law that allowed for the woman to own her dead husbands property. God has a special place in his heart for widows and orphans. As for masturbation, it is by grace we are saved, and not thru works, so that no man can boast. So you aren't going to hell for jerking off. Sin is sin, regardless of the variety of sin. We sin, we ask forgiveness. We try to repent and not sin again. If we fall, we ask forgiveness. You don't have to go to a priest to get forgiven by the way. The cool thing about christianity is that you get to talk directly to God. As for fornication, it isn't a good idea because the bible says that the sex act makes you one flesh. Not being married makes it easier to not be together anymore, so pretty soon you might get dumped or be dumped, and the person you are one flesh with is being torn away from you. There really is no such thing as casual sex, it always leaves its mark on you.

From what I remember growing up Catholic, it was almost implied by the priest and or your parents, that it was a sin against God. Of course, all males and a lot of females did it anyway. I've since switched to Lutheran, and I guess I'm not into it like I was before, but I don't think it's bad, and God (for what ever religion you are) will forgive your sins, since sins are a human trait.

Now if you go breaking a commandment, then that's a different story...

What bothers me about using the Bible as a book of rules is that a) interpretation varys widely and b) they were rules that were writting for various cultures (it has been told retold and edited over many, many generations and each time bent to meet the needs of the current generation) that pre-date our culture by millenia.


The rules just don't neccesarily apply.


(of course many of the big ones like many of the 10 commandments make perfect sense but have read of some of the rules the Bible puts forth... like keeping Kosher, etc are just a bit out of whack with the times)

There is no difference between "breaking a commandment" and any other sin. Masturbating could be considered breaking a commandment, because it says not to commit adultery, and Jesus said who ever looks at a woman lustfully has commited adultery with her in his heart. Paul the apostle wrote that whoever broke one of Gods laws was guilty of breaking all of them. Remember, the truth is not what the church teaches, it is what the bible teaches. Jesus himself said that he would send us the holy spirit, that would guide us into all truth. That means that your church can misspeak what is in the bible.

quote:
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Genesis 38:8-10

Then Juda said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother." But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went to his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.


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What has always bothered me (yes, I'm agnostic, lowercase a) about the Bible is that what does not have a direct conflict elsewhere in the Bible, is so open to interpretation as to be virtually useless. Case in point. The above quote sounds to me like a matter of coitus interuptus...not masterbation. Did Onan pull out prematurally, or jack off?

well reading it now i see the passage as him pulling out of her...

but back when my parents forced me to go to sunday school the teachers read that to us and said it was about it being a sin to masterbate....

I have always read this to mean coitus interuptus like Bill said, and the sin was that of direct disobedience and the family thing like Ganon said.

re: Adultry - I read a study once, which indicated that in the time period, women were more or less considered property. The sin of adultry was commited when using the property of another man, but in this study did not apply to "un-owned" women.

Here's a link to the page.

http://www.libchrist.com/bible/premaritalsex.html

maybe this is another thread altogether.

PS - I was also interested in, and did some of my own studying, and was unable to convince myself that oral sex is a sin. Some folks believe it is, and I wonder why ?

I think the prevailing idea on things like oral sex being a sin was taken by the way early church under the influence of the gnostics, who believed anything of the flesh was sin, and only the spiritual was of value. So again, oral sex does not lead to procreation, and was thus considered to be sin. But in the book of genesis God observed that adam was lonely and made him a companion, and I believe that sex and love in the marriage relationship is for companionship first, and procreation second. Paul wrote in one of his letters that in marriage, it was wrong for the husband or wife to withhold sex from their partner, because they belonged to each other, and if they didn't fulfill that need for each other, they could cause the mate to wander outside of the relationship and sin, or become bitter and sin.

It has always been my opinion that the intentions and thoughts behind an action matter more than the action itself. If God is all powerful than I would imagine he not only judges us on our actions, but also our mentality and spirituality.

The human body was designed to do certain things. Some people consider it a sin when we use our bodies in ways they were not designed for. I agree with what <b>ganon</b> said.

As a Hindu, as far as I know, and I know an average amount, we may masturbate as much as we want. But in the next life we come back as a sock.

This is exactly why I dont believe in religion - it's SILLY!

So would nocturnal emission during puberty be a sin?

I'm sure God will understand our needs to masturbate :D

im sure he doesn't like us to, because the only real reason he made sperm was to reproduce

Probably, depending on how religious you are.

some people just over-think things....

Depends on your faith 8).

In most Christian traditions, though, the prohibition on masturbation is based around a misreading of the story of Onan, where the specific sin of masturbating in order to avoid impregnating is dead brother's wife (as was the requirement of Jewish law at the time) has been generalised into a prohibition of all masturbation - quite a faulty conclusion.

Of course, as a Catholic, you're bound by the Church's dogma on the matter, so if you want to be an observant Catholic, you're going to have to stop bringing yourself to orgasm.