I think that if god had not intended us to masturbate then he'd have made our arms much shorter.

What do you think of this issue?

Will you burn in hell for having sex with someone you love? (yourself).

Do any of you do it even though you know HE'S watching?

AHA!!! Guilt free, here!

I would like to think of it as an art.........

Even if "he" had given us no arms we would have figured out a way... we may never solve the defecit, or never stop war, but when it comes to pleasuring ones self I'm sure we would have figured it out...

Do you realize you are sideways and chit.........

Well if it is a sin, I'm pretty much f'ed. But hey, people have hobbies, and I don't much like people.

so "he's" a voyuer?? wow, who knew? that's kinda kinky.

Well it is probably the lesser of two evils(the other actually going out and having sex).The bible doesn't talk about masturbation but it does say if you are lusting for a girl in your heart it is a sin.So I suppose the short answer would be if you could do it with out lusting for someone it wouldn't be a anything to worry about.Personally I don't see it as a big deal since the bible does not talk about it and it keeps you from getting involved with real people or pornography to relieve sexual tension.

Now I'm going to have theological issues while I touch myself, jesus, can't a guy just tug one out, have a smoke, and take a nap?

I don't think so.

Why do you ask?

The only religious mythology I know of off hand that has perverted sensual intimacy and sexual pleasure is the Abrahamic myths.

Other than that I think the vast majority or spiritual philosophies and mythologies actually revere sensual intimacy as a divine act. One particular form of Buddhism (i.e. Tantra Buddhism) elevates and celebrates sexual ecstasy as one of the most divine experiences a person can have, and they actually practice it as a means of divine meditation.

Wicca and many of the Celtic religious traditions also see sensuality as being divine. Even many of the Mediterranean religions saw sexual pleasures as being divine. Aphrodite was an Goddess devoted entirely to sexual pleasure, as was Venus. So most religious folklore and stories support sexual ecstasy as being divine, not ungodly.

The Abrahamic folklore came from an obviously sick and perverted society. These people were clearly male-chauvinistic, they stoned people to death for a myriad of reasons including murdering anyone who refused to believe in their religious folklore. It was even their religious folklore that provided these religious zealots an excuse to crucify men for blaspheme.

I really see no reason at all to give the Abrhamic folklore (and HISTORY) any merit since it came from such a sick perverted society. I see absolutely no reason to believe that their folklore would have been divinely inspired. If anything it appears to have been the work of demons. Either spiritual demons, or the mere mortal demons who wrote it.

So I see no reason at all to think that masturbation should be a sin. On the contrary, for some religions it could actually be part of a spiritual ceremony to praise God to the highest. They should sell consecrated condoms just for such ceremonies. Just to protect the altar from getting all gooey and stuff, ya know.

Absolutely it is a sin.

It is the result not of healthy desire for procreation but of self seeking, self centered, self gratification. It involves lusting in your heart. It is not being able to control physical urges.

Ever wonder what the following bible verse really means---

If thy right hand offends thee, cut it off


????? hint... it's on topic.

amen!!! It is a lustful desire. We need to control our sexual urges. And in response to the one that said something along the lines of "If it was wrong God would have made our arms shorter". This is not necessarily true. For if our arms were shorter we would have to sit down to pea and many other inconveniences.

While masturbating you may not be lusting after a particular person, or even a person in general. But you are lusting after the physical pleasure of orgasming.

Check my pic, I got some missing fingers!

Proverbs 6:24-26 (English Standard Version)
24 to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.


So if going to a prostitute is the "lesser evil" opposed to adultery, I would imagine masturbation is less than either of those.
While there's not much in the Bible about masturbation, it does say that semen is "unclean" and to wash with water.

I disagree with both of you gentlemen, and I think this is just yet another example of how different people think differently.

It is well known by psychologist, and even supported by many physicians that the desire and release of sexual energy has a very healthy and positive effect on a humans. To suppress these desires and their release is unhealthy.

Therefore to place masturbation in a narrow-minded box of "uncontrollable lust" is to pervert human nature. It's not uncontrollable lust at all, it's a perfectly natural and healthy part of the human condition.

This is where these superstitious religious myths would have people suppressing their natural body functions in favor of bottling up their emotions in an unnatural and unhealthy way out of fear that some jealous god might disapprove.

In fact, masturbation should be taught to young adults as a perfectly healthy and acceptable way of dealing with sexual energy that cannot be released via an intimate relationship with a life-long partner.

Also, within a marriage, sex should be a normal and healthy activity that the married couple share frequently and without any need to plan for procreation or be afraid to protect against it. And no guilty feelings should be laid upon these loving people by religious zealots who worship demonic gods.

Only myth-fearing fundamentalists who view God as a sick perverted task master could think that our creator could be so demented as to want people to suffer ill-health just to exhibit obedience.

In fact, any God who is that obsessed with having people obey stupid commands just for the sake of having them obey him would himself be in dire need of mental therapy.

I think it's more than safe to dismiss any myths that claim that our creator might even remotely be like that.

No chit.......

I would agree that it certainly makes sense that some 'sins' are less than others. And, as you point out, even the authors of the Bible suggest as much throughout the Bible.

Unfortunately there are other places in the Bible that suggest that all sin is on equal footing. For example, Jesus suggested that to just think the thought in your mind is the same as doing it. (I fully understand what he meant in terms of Buddhist philosophy, but there's no need to go there now)

There is also a major problem with the biblical picture if sins become graduated, or are placed on different levels. They you have the problem of people who have only committed very minor infractions being toss into the same fate as those who are horridly evil.

Justice and righteousness become grossly tainted and meaningless in such a system.

In the example above, would going to a prostitute be a sin that is "more easily forgiven" than committing adultery?

Would it be ignored, or just not counted at all?

In the Biblical picture of God it truly makes no sense to even speak about playing sins on a hierarchical level. You either disobey God or you don't.

Therefore, if masturbation were a sin, then it would be on the precise same footing with committing adultery or ever murder for that matter because all sins are the same.

If you're going to masturbate, you may was well go out and murder someone. They are both equivalent sins, because all sins must necessarily be equivalent. Disobedience of God is disobedience, there can be no levels of disobedience. You either obey, or you don't.

This is, in fact, a major problem with the biblical picture of God, and one that many believers of the Bible argue about quite a bit actually. In fact, this is probably the greatest cause of so many sects and denominations in the Abrahamic religions. People can never agree on what's a sin and what isn't, or whether all sins are on equal footing.

Because I am the mother of three grown sons I'm well aware that little boys start tugging on their stuff pretty young. I and my sons have experienced the uncomfortable-ness of me walking in on them...

My 26 year old son was about 12 when his grandmother walked in on him in the bathroom....she was disgusted that I didn't run in there and stop him. She felt that he was 'wasting his seed'. Well, my response was at 12 'his seed' didn't need to be going anywhere but down the drain....

I've never attempted to make my boys feel guilt and shame over wanting to masturbate..hell I do it myself. They are not into porn, they don't try to boink any chick they see...I feel it's natural and no one should ever be ashamed of their body and how they touch it, unless it's self destructive.

I think the bigger 'sin' would be to shame someone and make them feel bad about them self..and that can be done just by telling one they are 'sinning'.

Nowhere does the Bible mention masturbation. So, the Bible can't be used to support the claim that masturbation is a sin.

However, it is not unusual for people to read into the Bible something that is not there. One does not have to be Jewish in order to be a Pharisee.