is this a sin?

[Litia_Echo]

Guacamole-kun

Biblical passage? Well, lust is one of the seven deadlies, isn't it? ^-^; I'm pretty sure that's the only passage you need, right there.

I'm pretty sure you can do whatever you want with your body as long as it isn't backed by a sin. (So, in other words, you could masturbate if you didn't feel any lust while doing so... although I suppose that would be pretty hard... er.. difficult.; )

As human nature it would be impossible for our flesh to while masterbation not to lust. Because we have such as perverse and sinful nature.

Romans 7:5
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Galations 5:17
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
(that might also be a better one for it)

Galations 5:19 - 20
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; dolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

They all talking about our sinful nature, and of course lust being part of our sinful nature.  

[zz1000zz]

Litia_Echo

Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.


Romans 1:24
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

1 Corinthians 6:13
"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.


1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders

If you would like others, I'm sure I'll be able find some to suit your fancy.

oh and this one is good too

Colossians 3:5
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Each of these speak of "sexual immorality," yet none say masturbation is immoral. They do not offer any basis for deciding if masturbation is immoral.

Litia_Echo

Guacamole-kun

Biblical passage? Well, lust is one of the seven deadlies, isn't it? ^-^; I'm pretty sure that's the only passage you need, right there.

I'm pretty sure you can do whatever you want with your body as long as it isn't backed by a sin. (So, in other words, you could masturbate if you didn't feel any lust while doing so... although I suppose that would be pretty hard... er.. difficult.; )

As human nature it would be impossible for our flesh to while masterbation not to lust. Because we have such as perverse and sinful nature.

Romans 7:5
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Galations 5:17
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
(that might also be a better one for it)

Galations 5:19 - 20
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; dolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

They all talking about our sinful nature, and of course lust being part of our sinful nature.

None of these say masturbation is immoral. You say masturbation is an inherently lustful act, which makes it immoral. The bible does not. While i could disagree with you here on your points, i choose not. I will not argue or debate with someone who uses his or her own interpretation of the bible as the word of god. If you must make an interpretation, do so. When you do, say it is an interpretation, say what you are interpeting, and say why you interpret it that way.

I will use one of your passages as an example:

Quote:

1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders

The response:

Quote:

One of the condemned behaviors is "malakoi arsenokoitai" in the original Greek. Malakoi means soft. It was translated in both Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 as "soft" (KJV) or as "fine" (NIV) in references to clothing. The actual meaning of arsenokoitai has been lost. Some sources in the early Church interpreted the phrase as referring to people of soft morals; i.e. exhibiting unethical behavior. That may well be the correct meaning, because presumably people from that era would probably have still known the meaning of the word "arsenokoitai." Others in the early Church thought that it meant "temple prostitutes" - people who engaged in ritual sex in Pagan temples. Still others thought that it meant "masturbators." At the time of Martin Luther, the latter meaning was in universal use. But by the 20th century, masturbation had become a more generally accepted behavior, whereas many Christians were concentrating on homosexuality as a despised activity. New Biblical translations abandoned references to masturbators and switched the attack to homosexuals. The last religious writing in English that interpreted 1 Corinthians 6:9 as referring to masturbation is believed to be the [Roman] Catholic Encyclopedia of 1967.

Each Bible translating team seems to take whatever activity that their group particularly disapproves of and inserts it into this verse. To compound their error, they usually do not have the decency to indicate by a footnote that the actual meaning of the word is unknown, and that they are merely guessing its meaning.

This is a topic of debate that has not been resolved in hundreds of years. Please do not demean it by senselessly ignoring anything offered in disagreement of your view.  

[zz1000zz]

Now then, the passage Matthew 5: 27-28 has been used to condemn masturbation. On this,

Quote:

Most conservative Christians believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God to produce writing that was free of errors, when literally interpreted. They accept the literal meaning of the saying attributed to Yeshua: that a man having feelings of lust towards a woman has already committed adultery. Most extend it to also include women who have feelings of lust for a man.

Quote:

Many liberal Christians reject this belief.
Some reason that lust is an emotion that comes from a more primitive part of the brain that is not under a person's conscious control. The triggering of feelings in general are beyond a person's influence. A person's hormones naturally causes them to have feelings of sexual attraction to persons of the opposite sex (if they have a heterosexual orientation) or to the same sex (if they have a homosexual orientation) or to both men and women (if they are bisexual). These feelings only become a sin if they result in inappropriate action: sexual behavior that is coercive, manipulative, not consensual, or unsafe. Most probably also include as a sin sexual activity which is outside of a committed relationship.

Some regard many of the sayings attributed to the words of Yeshua as actually having been created by the authors of the Gospels. They reflect the teachings of the early Christian movement more than the beliefs or statements of Yeshua. The Jesus Seminar, for example, rejects Matthew 5:27-28 as not reflecting Jesus original words or beliefs. They commented: "On lust: The injunction against lust occurs commonly in Israelite tradition. ('You must not covert your neighbor's wife' appears as one of the Ten Commandments) and so this admonition did not originate with Jesus."

It is worth noting that many theologians in the past extended this teaching to even include husbands who had feelings of sexual lust towards their wives. They regarded all sexual intercourse as sinful to some degree. It was regarded as a necessary evil to prevent the human race from dying out. Spouses were expected to try to suppress sexual feelings and thoughts as they had sex. This belief is a minority position today.

As a matter of completeness, i feel i should offer the reasoning saying masturbation does not require one to lust after another. A person who is masturbating frequently fantasizes about a person of the appropriate sex. However, they can often find an alternative focus. For example, they could concentrate on their body's physiological responses, on an impending orgasm, or on some other thought not involving a human sexual object.  

[Heaven Edge]

Rikku311

????

Yes it is cause your/or someone elses body is the temple of the holy spirit and our sexual organs are to produce life not to toy with it! Why do u think fornication is bad! When u masturbate u are thinking of someone else, not a wall or an object, a boy or a girl and that turns to fornicating with that person in your heart! tell that person this or anything they have told u that is bad!  

[Alice_K8]

AnimeMonkey

I don't think that the act itself is (then again I'm a girl IRL and I don't do it sweatdrop ) but the feeling of lust 3nodding

wait...are you saying that girls don't masturbate? Or am I interpreting this wrong...? Just wondering cause the girls I know do it more than the guys I know....so I don't think gender means anything here....but once again, maybe I'm misinterpreting it.  

[Saria Doragon]

The Bible has many passages saying not to be lustful, although I have yet to come across a specific verse saying that masturbation itself is a sin. I have researched it and still came up dry of a real answer.

I'd say that the action of masturbation isn't a sin, but the desires and thoughts behind it IS a sin and your friend should find ways to make herself/himself happy in a spiritaul sense instead of a physical one.  

[Seority]

Lusting for anothers flesh when you are not in the bond of marrage with that person is a sin according to God.
You can also get addicted to masterbation. I put in the catagory of addictions which are bad in some way or another. Either for you phycical health or your spiritual one.
This only applies if your friend is Christian. If he/she is not a Christian, none of the biblical passages really apply to them.
But the addicting part is true no matter what.

Try the new kitty bread! Now made with real kittens!

 

[ioioouiouiouio]

Seority

This only applies if your friend is Christian. If he/she is not a Christian, none of the biblical passages really apply to them.
But the addicting part is true no matter what.

Try the new kitty bread! Now made with real kittens!

They still apply, otherwise, there is no point to Christianity if the rules are not universally applicable.  

[Seority]

I know, but to their point of veiw. If you are a Christian you follow the bible. If you arn't you don't.
To a Christian a person who, in this case, lusts for others flesh, are sinning. They are going against God's rules. To the non-believers, they are just masterbating. Nothing wrong to them.
That's all I was stating sweatdrop .
I guess I'm just digging into my "Don't tell sinners not to sin," thing.

Try the new kitty bread! Now made with real kittens!

 

[ioioouiouiouio]

Seority

I guess I'm just digging into my "Don't tell sinners not to sin," thing.

Well, surely giving out sulfer and brimstone sermons everytime you see any little infraction is bad, but if sinners are never made aware of their sin, then how can we expect them to see the error in it?  

[thunderxtiger]

juicybabe345

Rikku311

i just found out that a friend masturbates. what should i do? is masturbating a sin?

Masterbating is a sin! (Is ur friend a christian??) PRAY! ask God to help ur friend, ask God to give u the strength to help ur friend. Always remember the power of prayer!

Also if you give thanks is also a really powerful thing...like the time when jesu give thanks and he fed 5 thousand peple with only tw loaves of bread and two fish...and afterword collected 12 basketful of left over! xd