Some conservative religious idealists will still say that masturbation is a sin. However, the reality of this statement must be seriously questioned because the words “masturbation” or “self-gratification” are not mentioned in the Bible at all.
Interestingly, one religious group went as far as to publish a Guide to Self-Control which is a list of strict instructions for quitting masturbation. It seems as though they have taken quite a bit of liberty in interpreting the word of God in their literature.
If it were a sin, couldn’t we assume that there would be stories, parables, or at least a statement against the practice of masturbation?
Wouldn’t there be dialogue about young or unmarried men being castrated or at least reprimanded for stimulating themselves? If God did not want us to masturbate, wouldn’t it have been the 11th commandment?
After all, the practice is very common. Why would any religious person dictate restrictive rules against masturbation? After careful study of the situation, the question is no longer whether or not it is against the doctrine, but rather the question becomes, why would anyone even suggest that it is? Several suspicions arise as to how the anti-masturbation ideals began.
(1) It could have started with parents who wanted to keep their children young and innocent. Keep in mind that for a parent, the thought of their own child acquiring a sexual identity and masturbating can be quite repulsive.
After all, isn’t the vice-versa thought of our parents having sex or masturbating awful to us? It’s because of the generation gap.
Some parents, teachers, ministers, priests, etc. would like to keep their children young, innocent, and impressionable instead of letting them explore and experiment with sexual sensations on their bodies. Masturbating to ejaculation is a sure sign of having a sexuality, growing up, and having an adult body.
Often adults may assume a child of 10 – 12 years old is far too young to be experiencing such sensations. For such a young boy or girl to have a sex drive may be seen as nothing less than perverse. However, biologically speaking, this is the age at which normal hormonal changes in the body begin to happen which initiate the onset of puberty.
(2) Another possibility is that some high ranking religious leaders may have wanted to keep their followers feeling guilty as to encourage their frequent return to church to beg forgiveness. Not only do they keep coming back to church, but they also keep bringing their money to church for the offering baskets.
In reality, the more guilt there is from masturbation, the more money they make. Masturbation is not something a normal guy can just easily quit. Few men have been successful at quitting. Even among priests themselves, there is masturbation.
People have been known to suffer a great deal from trying to quit. The male body was designed to ejaculate on a regular basis. Funk and Wagnals Family Medical Guide says that regular release of semen is important for a healthy prostate.
Spiritually speaking, we should not be concerned about if or how much we masturbate. The act itself is a normal bodily function like any other. Trying to quit is impossible because we will no doubt eventually masturbate in our sleep.
Rather than working on trying to quit, we should try to examine more carefully what we are thinking about while doing it. If we are experiencing profound lust for another human being while masturbating, of course it is a source of guilt.
Fantasizing about people that we can not, should not, or will not be carrying on sexual relations with is damaging to our emotional spirituality. Having said that, I must mention that there is a link at the end of this story to the main page (Confidential Biography). I certainly can not argue that all the sexual things on the main site are acceptable. In fact, they are just the raw truth, not necessarily things that I advocate.
I feel it is much more of a healthy practice if I concentrate on the sensation of my own body rather than sex fantasy or greedy self-indulgence.
But wait, isn’t masturbation all about self-indulgence? True, often the self is erotic and sensual but it all depends on our viewpoint of the situation to determine if it is self-indulgent. Many guys feel pride that they are male and find this to be quite an auto-erotic masturbatory thought. Feeling prideful to have a penis and a male body is a very powerful, self-gratifying thought.
It is the pride that gets us into trouble. Pride leads us to the road of the sin. I know pride does not allow me to serve the Power greater than myself and it certainly doesn’t allow me to follow God’s will. Self-pride does not take God into consideration. When we have pride for something, it is assuming that it is our own creation, our own sensation, and our own experience, having nothing to do with God.
Instead of being full of pride, why not consider gratitude? Being grateful for a male body and the sexual sensations that go along with it brings in a whole new realm of spiritual experience.
We then acknowledge it as gift and expressing thanks for it. It is no longer a selfish, self-gratifying , secretive act.
When we are grateful for something, it includes another entity besides ourself because there is the fact that we are grateful to someone for it. To whom should we be grateful for this gift? God, of course.
