Is masturbating a sin? various interpretations

Is masturbating a sin ? In this article you will discover whether or not masturbation is a sin, what does the Bible say and what is the position of the Church on this subject? Among other interesting facts. If you want to know everything related to this topic and if it is a sin or not, continue reading this article.

Is masturbating a sin?

Is masturbating a sin ? A question that many young people ask themselves, when they find themselves in that stage of self-knowledge of their body and new sensations that they do not know where it comes from or why it happens to them.

Adolescence brings with it many changes on a physical level and the awakening of sexual desires is one of them. Obviously, at that age, and with so many changes, we feel restless, even embarrassed, and if the parents do not offer an explanation that allows us to understand what is happening to them and why these changes, then it is natural that they try to obtain said information where be.

It is here, where parents must play a very important role, and beyond being Catholic or not, every child or adolescent deserves and has the right to receive sex education, appropriate to their age, of course, then, of course, why not clarify if masturbating is a sin or not.

It is preferable that as adults, we assume the responsibility that corresponds to us in the upbringing of our sons and daughters in this new stage of confusion, shame, euphoria and emotions and sensations on the surface.

The first thing we must understand and accept naturally is that human beings are sexual beings, therefore, sex should not be seen as taboo, or denied the subject to a young person.

Sex is as natural as feeling hungry or wanting to go to the bathroom, so why see it as something negative?

Masturbating is a sin ? This is not a question that only young people ask themselves, also, many adults who have not had the proper orientation, ask themselves the same thing, especially if they belong to a Catholic Church.

Sexuality is a very extensive topic, but God, just as he gave us intelligence or reason, also gave us sexuality and pleasure, not only so that we beget children, but also, for our enjoyment, to demonstrate to our spouse physical way all the love we feel for him or her.

Although it is true, not all people find it easy to talk about sexuality, sex, much less masturbation, because it is seen as a taboo, as something sinful or that should not even be mentioned.

Now, do you know why many people shy away from talking about these topics? There are many factors such as: family or personal beliefs, influence of friends or third parties, pressure from society, thinking, what will they think of me if… I talk about this?

And so, many ideas that go around in our heads and that are not necessarily true.

So far we have talked about masturbation, but do we know exactly what it is? We could say that masturbation is the use of our hands to stimulate our genitals and generate pleasure for ourselves, finally reaching orgasm.

One reality that we cannot deny is that nowhere in the Bible does it talk about masturbation or that we cannot practice it, so why do Christians claim that it is wrong?

Specialists approve and confirm that masturbation is something positive that allows young people to release tension, get to know their body and tastes better, sleep better, among others, but sometimes this sensation of pleasure is so pleasant that it can become an obsession .

Taking into account that sex created by God is to be practiced within marriage and between man and woman, with the intention of conceiving children and forming a family, but also of complicity and mutual pleasure and not to be practiced individually, in secret of the spouse.

Why masturbating generates a feeling of guilt? Precisely because of what we mentioned in the previous paragraph, because it is not an activity to practice alone and masturbating is a sin when we only seek our own satisfaction and not that of our spouse.

That is, when we think only of our own pleasure, we are being selfish and selfishness is sin.

There is no person in the world who can say that never in his life has he given in to the temptation of practicing self-pleasure and reaching that wonderful sensation called climax.

If you are the father of a teenage son or sons, this topic interests you and if you are a young person, we understand that you have accelerated hormones and need answers, so you constantly ask God for strength so as not to fall into sin.

What does the bible say about masturbation?

The Bible, although it does not speak directly about masturbation, it does speak about selfishness and as we have already seen, selfishness is a sin, so we could say then that masturbating is a sin because it implies an act of total selfishness, where one’s own pleasure is the only goal.

In the book of Genesis God tells us that we carry out sexual intercourse to the end in order to procreate a new life or simply, it is not done, but to avoid pregnancy with any known contraceptive method or waste semen in that way is to commit sin.

God, the only method that approves of us to avoid pregnancy in marriage is the practice of natural methods, that is, practicing sex between the spouses in the infertile periods of the woman, otherwise, any other method is considered a sin. , and masturbation, much more, since it is a selfish act.

Masturbating is a sin , or at least some are inclined to this position, however, the Holy Bible does not speak or mention directly about masturbation or if masturbating is a sin, it does mention selfishness and lust. Let’s look at some examples where he talks about selfishness.

1 Corinthians 10,24 that we do not seek our own well-being, but rather, that we seek the well-being of others.

Philippians 2,3 we should not do anything that represents a selfish act.

1 Corinthians 13.5 love, never is, will be or can be selfish.

1 Corinthians 6,9 the impure will not enter the kingdom of heaven, referring to those who surrender to lust.

Matthew 7:13-14 invites us to enter the kingdom of heaven through the narrow gate, that is, to fight against our demons and learn to control our desires. Place the love of God above any carnal satisfaction.

The easiest way, or the “wide gate” as this verse expresses it, is to surrender to sin and allow ourselves to be seduced by the evil one and his earthly pleasures.

So is masturbating a sin? If we see it from the point of view of selfishness, yes, but if we see it from self-knowledge, no. Let’s see below, where Jesus speaks to us about lust to understand this whole topic a little better:

A very recurring mention in the Bible is about not looking at any woman with desire, that is, as a sexual object, much less if she is someone else’s wife.

Looking at a woman as if she were an object for our own self-gratification is sin. It is, denigrate the integrity and value of her as an individual and human being. Let us remember that each person, whether male or female, is created in the image and likeness of God.

Something that we found very interesting is the following: Perhaps the real debate is not whether or not masturbating is a sin, but rather, if it is possible to masturbate without feeling lust, this seems to be a more real debate.

Many people say that masturbating is a sin , but only one person is able to tell us why and help us overcome this temptation, that person is called Jesus. This not only shows us the problem, but also the solution.

Jesus, he paid the price for our mistake, he forgave us and also gave us a tutorial (the sacred scripture) on how to overcome masturbation?

If you feel the slightest doubt about whether masturbating is a sin or not, then you better not do it, because the Bible tells us that whoever doubts commits sin.

A recommendation for young people is always to seek and yearn for purity until marriage, and then, in marriage, yearn for fidelity and enjoy sexual relations responsibly.

Here at this point, we want to pause and explain why it is important to have responsible sex?

When we are young and our hormones are at a thousand an hour, we don’t think about anything other than sex, but we don’t understand the true meaning of the sexual act as a dedication to God and to our spouse.

Sex in marriage is an affective demonstration, but in adolescence we perceive it as an act that allows us to satisfy our desire and “kill the desire”.

This constant desire and the seduction of the evil one so that we masturbate or act on impulse and instinct, can lead to serious consequences, not only a sexually transmitted disease, but also an unwanted pregnancy.

Perhaps, it is easy to say, but it entails many responsibilities for which we are not physically, mentally or financially prepared.

Bringing a son or daughter into the world, creating a new life, is much more than an act of the body to satisfy a need or with the sole objective of creating a family, it is an act that should not be taken lightly or irresponsibly, since that every act has consequences and if we are not prepared, then it is better to avoid them.

A Christian marriage, according to many, is the most satisfying marriage. If you are still young, study, finish a degree and have a good job so you can provide for your wife and family.

The Bible tells us that that man who does not provide in any way to satisfy the needs of his family and who never lacks that place to call home or daily bread, has denied his faith and is even worse than a person who does not claim to believe in God and the immensity of his power.

The Catholic Church, for its part, is blunt in its belief: masturbating is a sin and this belief has been rooted for many years and probably will not change.

Many things have changed in recent years, so the possibility that one day the Catholic Church will have more open thinking about masturbation, sex and our sexuality can never be completely closed.

in favor of masturbation

There are people who are in favor of masturbation, they see it as a natural act of the human being through which pleasure is achieved, despite bearing in mind that it is a selfish act, since it seeks the pleasure of itself, but not the of your partner.

Of course, these people who claim to be in favor of masturbation as an act that also allows us to explain and get to know our body, release tension or any other reason claim that masturbation is a problem if and only if it becomes an uncontrollable practice or It is done compulsively.

In fact, masturbation is promoted by many experts as a way to avoid sexual relations at an early age, irresponsibly or without being married, since these relations are considered illicit.

Another reason why masturbation is promoted as a practice is to fall asleep faster and rest like a baby. When we masturbate, not only fluids are released, but also many tensions, as well as hormones such as serotonin, better known as the happiness hormone, or oxytocin, responsible for “love” and arousal.

One of the recommendations of this practice that is perhaps not so well known is that it can significantly increase our awareness, in the sense that it allows us to get to know ourselves and explore our sexuality with total freedom and without any risk.

For those who are single or widowed, masturbation is a wonderful practice, since it is an innocent way if you want to satisfy sexual desires without playing with someone else’s feelings (in the event that we only want to satisfy our desire) or do not want to get involved in any relationship.

Some advocates of freely practicing masturbation have pointed out that in some marriages where there is sexual impotence, there is some disease or condition that weakens them, self-indulgence has managed to be the only way in which both can be satisfied and enjoy pleasure. that God has given us and physically demonstrate the love they have despite the circumstances.

In the case of women, up to seventy percent (70%) of them during vaginal intercourse do not manage to reach that state of climax or orgasm, while with the practice of masturbation, they can easily achieve it.

This issue of the female orgasm is also extremely interesting since in most cases and since the world is a world, it has been avoided to touch the subject, even in some cultures extreme practices are carried out such as cutting the clitoris of the woman so that this cannot feel any pleasure since the woman is only there to “conceive children” and take care of them and nothing else.

To the astonishment of the entire world, in 2012, Abdelbari Zamzami, a controversial Moroccan preacher publicly announced a fatwa (a legal pronouncement in Islam) where he authorized the free practice of female masturbation to those women who were single or had widowed

This announcement by Abdelbari was made with the intention that women with said marital status would avoid falling into temptations and committing sin or worse yet, committing sin outside of their marriages.

The Preacher not only impacted the world with his proclamation, but also offered recommendations on how or with what objects to carry out this practice. Inadvertently, he reopened a great debate that had been “closed” about the scope that it could have in the Muslim community.

In another of his Fawta Abdelbari he gave men the freedom to commit necrophilia, but only when their wives had just left this world, otherwise it was considered a serious offense.

Faced with this proclamation, the Moroccan minister Ahmed Taufiq (of Islamic affairs) announced for his part that this proclamation was nothing more than a “personal opinion”, however, Zamzami affirms that he is not and will not be the only one with this thought in favor of the masturbation

against masturbation

Like everything in life, just as there are cases in favor of an idea or cause, there are people who are against it and masturbation is a sin is a highly controversial issue, which, moreover, is not left out of these statistics.

These people who oppose, or rather, do not share masturbation as something natural, argue that the body is the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells and therefore, we should not “profane” it, so to speak.

For them, masturbating is a sin , because it is a way of committing sexual immorality and the Bible repeatedly tells us about it, and of course, it is a way of dishonoring and disobeying God.

Following this perspective or line of thought, all kinds of fantasy produced by mental or visual stimulation to accompany and achieve pleasure through masturbation is and should be considered a sinful act.

Another of his arguments, to affirm that masturbating is a sin is that by self-indulgence, we can generate an unhealthy habit, and also selfish, which can become an addiction, and transform the sexual act between spouses into something more boring and not so pleasurable, in the sense that masturbation is direct, pure pleasure, goes straight to the point, whereas sex involves much more.

By masturbating frequently we can inadvertently create a pattern of behavior in which our spouse is increasingly unnecessary to us since the pleasure we can give ourselves can be even greater and without complaints, without judging us, without anything that prevents us. .

From this way of looking at it, we could then describe masturbation as an act of infidelity from the heart.

Divided opinions on masturbation

The Bible does not really affirm or deny that masturbating is a sin as such, but it does speak to us about lust and sexual desire, expressing to us that we must crucify both youthful passions and carnal passions, so we cannot affirm or deny that if we resort to masturbation we are committing sin or not.

Like many topics considered “modern”, the absence of a biblical argument that can affirm or deny a fact as a sin makes them complicated and masturbation is no exception, so it remains in a kind of “limbo”.

Every thought originating in our mind, whether we accept it or not, inevitably leads us to an action and said action will have a consequence that we will classify as “good and bad” and based on it, it can be transformed into a compulsive behavior or misunderstood.

It is for this reason that the Bible tells us that we must avoid all thoughts that are not to please God and that includes masturbating is a sin .

Relationship with our Father God

It would be pertinent then, to pause (after reading the article in its entirety) and reflect on masturbation and how it influences our thoughts or enhances certain actions or behaviors.

Let’s analyze, deeply and with total sincerity, what masturbation actually represents in our lives and what motivates us to do so. Forget for a moment everything you have read and heard and focus on what does it represent for you as an individual? Do this in a very personal way and draw your own conclusions.

Reflect, if you only avoid self-indulgence by complying with the behaviors approved by God or if you do it voluntarily and by your own decision. Our relationship with God goes far beyond the rules, remember that God gave us not only sexuality and pleasure, but also free will, so use it.

Do not allow a need to prevent you from enjoying a full relationship with God the Father, the most important thing for him is that you show him your faith and devotion and that you have the full certainty that God never abandons us and is always willing to forgive us.

God wants us to be happy and if this occasional practice makes you happy, go ahead and allow yourself to feel pleasure, and if you have doubts, then seek information about it and clarify them.

What drives men to masturbate?

Masturbating is a sin , that is the subject of this article, a controversial subject that many practice but few talk about naturally. Masturbation is more common than you imagine, it’s like eating, or even feeling like going to the bathroom, as natural and necessary as sex.

It is important to be clear about what it represents for us and what motivates us to practice masturbation, since it may be trying to cover a pain, something that worries us, and this, if it can represent a real problem.

From a purely medical point of view, masturbation is a practice that does not have any type of physical consequence, however, for some people who suffer from premature ejaculation, frigidity, impotence, a highly egocentric sexuality, or any other, masturbation It is an escape route.

For these people with the problems that we mentioned in the previous paragraph, they can take refuge in masturbation to try not to feel ashamed, go out or touch the subject. Facing these problems responsibly can result in the progressive isolation of the individual, and this must be treated.

In fact, some psychologists affirm that when masturbation is not only done for pleasure and occasionally, but rather becomes a habit, there are risks that it can bring, among them:

An excessive genitalization of sex, that is, the person can only reach that state of climax through masturbation.

Use it to avoid our problems or deny a depressive state. Similar to what happens with any person addicted to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, who resorts to vice to “not feel”.

Narcissistic attitude, believing almost a God or goddess and that no one is good enough to satisfy him (a) as he deserves.

It can become an unpleasant but enslaving activity. That is to say, it is like those people who do not leave the house if they do not see the horoscope, the difference is that in this case masturbation becomes something so monotonous that it is mechanical, but at the same time, the person can experience discomfort if they do not it does.

When we believe that masturbating is a sin , feelings of guilt, debilitation, distortion of the meaning of sex, dissatisfaction, inability to control sexual impulses, among others, can be generated.

So what motivates a man to masturbate?

To discover yourself, get to know yourself and experience your sexuality: This happens mainly in the adolescent stage.

Anxiety: Excessive mental or visual stimuli, low self-esteem, personal problems, social pressure, breakup of a love relationship, abandonment, pornography, among others.

Anxiety and self-depreciation: School failure, selfishness of course, lack of affection on the part of parents or a partner, feeling of loneliness, among others.

Psychological Disorder: The first thing we have to understand at this point is that masturbation is the symptom that manifests itself to indicate that something is not right, but it does not represent the problem as such.

The causes of surrendering to masturbation

There are several causes that can lead us to surrender to masturbation, they can be of an internal or external nature:

The causes of an internal nature come from within, for example: pride, discomfort and guilt about our physical appearance, laziness, and even lack of prayer and approach to God.

On the other hand, the causes of an external nature are those that are caused by some type of external stimulus, for example: provocative readings, recurrent presence in bars where women perform dances and offer sexual favors, learned behaviors, unhealthy company, “fashion “, among others.

Erotic dances, pornography and more: temptations of the evil one

Porn, masturbation, videos, photos, and magazines are available at any time of the day, which is why it’s so easy to fall for it.

We live in a time in which the consumerism of material goods and pornography, sex, sin are our daily lives.

Currently, “sex is what sells” and motivates us to consume it more every day, to become addicted to it and to see as a common practice to masturbate throughout our day.

Is masturbating a sin ? For many yes and for others no, in reality, it will depend a lot on the perspective or what it represents for that person. If sex is normal and natural, then why is a practice that, like sex, seeks pleasure a sin?

Masturbation, like pornography and other inducers, do not change before or during marriage, that is an issue that we must clarify, since not doing so or denying this reality would simply be deceiving ourselves.

However, this is not always entirely a scenario since beyond being sexual beings and enjoying sex to the fullest extent of the word, especially if it is with our life partner, spouse, there are many factors that ` they can affect our libido and make us “not feel like it”.

Yes, it is important to fulfill these conjugal duties in marriage and seek that our partner achieves climax, just as our partner must seek our satisfaction and that we reach climax.

The reality is that factors such as stress, fatigue after a day’s work, or some personal problem, can disturb us to the point that our desire to share such a sacred act with our spouse is impossible for us.

What to do in those cases where desire is absent?

The most sensible thing is to talk quietly with our partner, tell him what is happening to us and how we feel. The duty of a husband or wife is not simply to have sex, but also to support us at all times.

What are the effects of the vice of impurity?

Mainly, masturbation leads us to lust, and this can bring us important consequences, among them, we can highlight:

STDs, which can be quite embarrassing.

It weakens our ability to follow God and offers us a quick way out and seduces us into sin.

It turns us into animals, where instinct dominates us, and not the other way around.

It leads us to be condemned for all eternity for leading a life given over to sin and lust.

We do not see beyond our passions and we are capable of sacrificing anything to satisfy our most basic desires.

Lust can destroy families, cause divorce, and even drive both young and old to suicide.

It is for these reasons that God asks us for an authentic conversion, in body, soul and spirit. It is not about promising, but about complying with joy and joy to follow God’s path voluntarily.

In many young people, lust is the cause of losing faith, because they feel that no matter what they do or their will, they are unable to follow God’s path and obey, so they decide to lose themselves in this sinful life, which is so easy. and pleasant.

Lust gradually hardens the hearts of young people and subtracts that pleasure from prayer, pleasure, it makes more sense than serving God and this is the fastest way to hell.

How to completely overcome the vice of self-indulgence?

Matthew 5:30 If you feel like masturbating, remember that masturbating is a sin and stop immediately. Stay away from any magazines, videos or any other material that may contain pornographic material.

2 Samuel 11:1,2 fill your thoughts with the word of God, only then will you stay away from the temptations of the evil one, including masturbation.

Ephesians 6:12 remember that we are in constant war against sin, the Bible and prayer are our most powerful weapons.

Ephesians 6:17,18 The Bible is our best weapon against the evil one, therefore, we must always keep it charged.

James 3.3 control your thoughts and you will be able to control anything, including impure thoughts.

Incorporate new habits in your diet: more fruits and vegetables and less junk food, by doing so, you will not only obtain a much healthier body, but also a clear mind to differentiate between what is good and what is bad.

When we are in the street and we feel like going to the bathroom, what do we do? We hold on. Wanting to masturbate is instinct and if we control one, we can control all of them, so the next time you feel tempted to masturbate, pray as hard as you can.

Matthew 26:41 every time we pray to God the Father this will grant us the power we require to overcome sin and not fall into the temptations of the evil one.

Proverbs 24:16 if you fell back into the temptation of the pleasure that masturbation gives you, don’t worry, because God tells us that we can lose a battle, but not the war.

After reading this article, what is your opinion? Do you still believe that masturbating is a sin ?