Sin

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    • Masturbation is not a sin. The most common pointer to it being a sin is the tale of Onan in Genesis 38 where he "spills his seed upon the earth." This is misinterpreted, as he was having sex with a woman and pulled out before ejaculating. Another one is when Jesus tells his disciples that "if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." But this verse is more hyperbole about adultery and lust, not masturbation.

      Also, the book of Leviticus goes over every rule in Abraham's covenant, including the sexual ones. Every single sexual act you can think of is in there, except for one: masturbation. And if masturbation were a sin, do you not think God would tell us so that we wouldn't sin? In other words, why would God not tell us that something is inherently a sin?

      But what IS a sin is lust, which pretty much goes hand in hand with masturbation. It doesn't have to, but it's very easy to see why they're always connected to each other.

      TLDR: masturbation is not a sin, but lust is


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    • The argument for masturbation being a sin is a flimsy one, as SouthernDude has pointed out. I was never taught it was, despite being raised Christian.

      As for sex before marriage, that is more clearly identified as a sin ("fornication"), but ultimately I think that's a decision to make with a partner. Waiting until marriage can be a good thing, but I don't think it's right for everyone.

    • there's a lot of things that could be interpreted in may ways in religion. But I think the main thing to look at is when these teachings and ideas of sin first started. Back then with no birth control/contraception, if you had sex it was likely to result in pregnancy pretty soon. And when women needed to be looked after financially by men, it would result in a quick marrage or having a child that would need to be looked after by its mother's family alone (and make future husbands a larger problem)

      This also probably gives a reason for being against masturbating, if your comfortable with your body sexually, you'd probably be more comfortable doing it with someone else (weather that would be reality I'm not sure) and sexual thoughts

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    • I should probably declare that I an unencumbered by Christian belief but nevertheless I have been exposed to the bible and followed some of the debate on-line.

      On masturbation, I certainly don't interpret the story of Onan as teaching masturbation being a sin. As already pointed out, it was pulling out at the last minute that Onan did, not masturbation. Some in Christian sects/churches have jumped to the conclusion that this story indicates that God hates guys wasting their sperm but that makes little sense because sperm are short-lived and at any time a guy is not trying to become a dad would be wasted even if he didn't ejaculate at all or only had wet dreams.

      To me, the other parts of this story are significant. Onan's brother had died and, under the Jewish law of the time, he was required to provide children for his brothers widow. If he did that, they would inherit his brothers estate whereas if his brother's widow remained childless, Onan would inherit. So, to me, this appears to be a story about Onan prioritising his own greed over his duty and furthermore being dishonest about it in that he went through the motions, so anyone who wasn't actually there would think he had made a reasonable effort, yet sabotaged the result.

      Then, even if you believe the "spilling seed is a sin" thing, that doesn't apply to girls.

      On sex before marriage, I don't know all the individual passages in the bible but there is a general trend in the Abrahamic religions to be strongly anti-adultery and the Christian bible is no exception. There are warnings against "coveting another man's wife" or that lusting after a women who is not your wife is the first step to adultery.

      When the bible was written, though, marriage would have been younger and puberty later. At that time people would not have had a long period of being single, yet sexually mature. A guy who was developed enough to be craving sex would almost certainly be already married so going after a women not his wife would indeed be adultery.

      If you're committed to your belief I would suggest doing your own research on the passages of the bible concerned, i.e. find them, read, them and consider other interpretations than the ones the churches push. The church has, historically, been an instrument of social control and there was a huge fuss when the bible was translated into English, and people could read it for themselves, precisely because they could then interpret it for themselves too rather than having to accept what their vicar/priest etc. said. One does not have to much of a cynic to think that those who have come up with interpretations that are anti-masturbation, anti-contraception and anti-abortion have been driven by a desire to increase the number of believers because indoctrinating children is easier than evangelising to and converting adults.

    • maseb wrote:

      Not a sin for me, it's part of being a human with sexual needs and desires
      Which leads me to another thought.

      When first exposed to Christian teaching, I supposed the whole idea was to do our best to avoid sinning and therefore lead a good life, i.e. that by being answerable to God we would also be good to our fellow humans. Then a friend belonged to a particular Christian church that did away with much of the complexity and said that the only thing one needed to be a Christian was a belief that Jesus was the son of God and died so that our sins would be forgiven. We didn't need to be perfect and, by this interpretation, could be a long way from perfect, and all would be fine.

      Now what could be the worst thing for a church? That their members should come to no longer need the church. Take the Catholic church, for example, which is known for being particular narrow in the sexual behaviour they consider acceptable. What if believers were able to avoid sinning and therefore didn't have to go to confession? What better way to ensure people still need to go to confession than to make something that is a normal, healthy bodily function a sin in all but the most narrow set of circumstances? That way people will keep coming back.