Now before I get into the controversy over masturbation, I would
like to address people between the ages of 12 and 20. Can I just lovingly tell
you, GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK!!!
Masturbation is a common part of adolescent development.
Now, just because I’m saying its common doesn’t mean there aren’t issues or
potential dangers associated with it. I’m definitely not saying, go ahead,
masturbate all you want, but I am saying it is a very common part of adolescent
behavior and it needs to be addressed in that light. Not as, “this is the
most heinous sin you can possibly commit and the reason you feel this much
guilt is because there’s a special place in hell for masturbators.”
The reason I bring this up is that I’ve found through talking with
a lot of young people is that the guilt associated with this is way, way
disproportionate in regards to what it is. Give yourself a break, learn
to forgive yourself, and praise God for any victory no matter how small.
If you’re used to masturbating 4 times a day and you do it twice instead of 4
times, praise God for that. Got it down to 4 times a week from once a
day? Praise God for that.
Now obviously, I’m speaking from a male perspective and I am not
trying to say women don’t get sexually frustrated as well, they certainly
do. But the mechanics of the sexual response system in women is very
different from in men. It takes a lot more mental stimulation prior to
masturbation for women, generally speaking. This is because a woman needs
the mental stimulation in order to even GET aroused and this is not so with
men.
Males can have as many as 7 to 10 erections a night while they’re
sleeping and never even know it. So while women requires the fantasy or
mental stimulation before masturbation to have a physiological response, men
only need the mental aspect of masturbation to complete the act, not to get
aroused.
There are a wide variety of church teaching and opinion on
masturbation. Respected leaders in the church disagree: their opinions
run all the way from, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever,”
to “it’s better to be a murderer than a masturbator.” So it’s worth talking
it and understanding where everyone is coming from, and what the bible does and
does NOT say. Then I’ll tell you my own thoughts based on my own
experiences and in talking to 1000s of youth about this topic.
Controversy
Dr Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, made a lot of
Christians very angry when he wrote:
"It is my opinion that masturbation is not much of an issue
with God. It is a normal part of adolescence which involves no one else. It
does not cause disease. It does not produce babies, and Jesus did not mention
it in the Bible. I'm not telling you to masturbate, and I hope you won't feel
the need for it. But if you do, it is my opinion that you should not
struggle with guilt over it. Why do I tell you this? Because I deal with so many
Christian young people who are torn apart with guilt over masturbation; they
want to stop and just can't. I would like to help you avoid that agony."
A lot of people in the church who hold a different view got very
angry with him for minimizing the potential problems masturbation can lead
to. But an equally unbalanced view is the one held by a
conservative Virginian pastor named Dennis Rupert.
"Fantasizing in your mind makes you want to enact your
fantasies -- worse sin, big trouble. I've counseled individuals who began
with a habit of masturbation and so-called 'soft pornography.' But they
couldn't stop there. They ended up in practices of child molestation,
rape, bestiality, time with prostitutes, cross-dressing, public exposure, and
jail time."
What does the WORLD say?
There was a point in time where it was accepted teaching that
masturbation led directly to other sexual perversions. In fact during the
Victorian era, preachers told their congregations “masturbation leads to
blindness.” What’s interesting is they based that opinion on information
coming out of medical schools!
The very first woman to graduate from an American medical school,
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, blamed masturbation for domestic violence. She
thought giving into those impulses affected other forms of self-control.
A London gynecologist and surgeon named Isaac Baker-Brown thought
that masturbation was the cause of nervous disorders like epilepsy. He
wrote a book called: On the Curability of Certain Forms of Insanity,
Epilepsy, Catalepsy and Hysteria in Females (1866).
In 1868, Henry Maudsley, an English psychiatrist, coined the term
"masturbatory insanity" on the theory that masturbation damaged the
brain.
So that’s the “anti-masturbation” crowd.
On the other end of the spectrum are people who advocate
masturbation as a “necessary” part of human sexuality. Which leads
inevitably to the grand wacko of them all Alfred Kinsey.
Kinsey released his reports on Human Sexuality in the
1950’s. His findings claimed to represent 18,000 surveys, the largest
database of its time.
According to his “scientific research”
- children are sexual from birth
and can enjoy orgasm beginning at 2 months
- 95% of American men were
engaged in some form of illegal sexual conduct: prostitution, adultery,
pedophilia, homosexuality
- most married people had had
premarital sex,
- adultery was common in America
The Kinsey reports were widely accepted as “fact” and had a
dramatic impact on social behavior and social policy. Awkward that in the
last 10 years, Kinsey “scientific research” has been totally discredited.
In Kinsey, Sex and Fraud, Dr. Judith Reisman and her
colleagues attacked the foundations of the two Kinsey reports. They began
asking questions about “The Children of Table 34” which was the database for
the conclusion that “children are sexual from birth and can enjoy orgasm
beginning at 2 months.”
They discovered the major source of Kinsey’s “research” came from
pedophiles, serial rapists, and a former Nazi who kept detailed records of his
sexual experiments in death camps in Poland.
So if you see the movie on his life or you read anything that paints
Kinsey as some great truth-teller and researcher, you should know it’s a
lie. Alfred Kinsey was a sexual psychopath and a sexual addict that
basically masturbated himself to death.
Technically speaking, Alfred Kinsey died of pneumonia, but it was
aggravated by a massive infection in his testicles caused by years of
masochistic masturbation. Evidently, to develop this type of infection
through your own behavior you’d have to masturbate about 100 times a day.
So that’s the whole spectrum of WORLD opinion. Now let’s
talk about what the bible says --- or doesn’t say for that matter
Biblical Truth
To begin with, the bible does not specifically address
masturbation as an issue. It never says, “Thou shalt not masturbate or
thou will go blind and insane.” But even though it’s not spelled out in
black and white --- it doesn’t mean the bible doesn’t address the topic
indirectly, because it certainly does.
Masturbation is a 19th century word, so it’s not in the
bible. However, many passages in both the Old and the New Testament
condemn “all forms of sexual sin.” Paul and Peter both use implore
believers to develop self-control. The words they use in the Greek,
convey the concept of unrestrained self-indulgence, or uncontrolled sexual
excess.
God admonishes His people to be in control of their passions,
whether it’s passion for food, passion for money or the passion for sexual
fulfillment. He expects us to learn to be the master of all our
passions. And that really is the key.
Self-control is something we have to LEARN. Children have to
be taught to control their tempers and selfishness. Practically every
little kid at some point smacks someone who makes them mad, or screams in
frustration when their turn with a toy is over. So even though it’s typical
toddler behavior, if you’re still doing it when you’re 15, that’s a problem.
You can find many passages in scripture that exhort you to be
self-controlled. This is just one more behavior that a mature believer
should also be in control of.
So let’s talk about what the bible does NOT say about
masturbation. There is a story in the bible which is frequently used to condemn
masturbation. It can be found in Genesis 38:8-10
The situation was this: The brother of a man named Onan died
without having any children. The father of the brothers told Onan it was
his duty to marry his brother’s wife Tamar to provide his dead brother an
heir. The first child of Onan and Tamar would be the legal heir of his
deceased brother, and then any other children they had after that would be his
own heirs.
But Onan didn’t want to raise any children who would not be his
own heirs. So the bible says:
“Whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled
the semen on the ground. This prevented her from having a child who would
belong to his brother. But the Lord considered it evil for Onan to deny a
child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Onan’s life, too.”
Please don’t let anyone quote you this passage to you and say it’s
referring to masturbation. Onan was not masturbating. He was
definitely having sex. God took Onan’s life because of his selfish
refusal to fulfill his obligation and for disobeying his father.
So that should at least relieve your fear that if you masturbate
you will be struck by lightning. Although it should encourage you to pay
close attention to anything you father tells you to do!
The bible has no verses referring to masturbation, but the bible
does repeatedly warn against sexual sin:
- (Romans 13:12) … we
must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness
of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral
living, or in quarreling and jealousy.
- (2 Timothy 2:22) Run
from anything that stimulates youthful lusts.
- (1 Corinthians
6:18)So run away from sexual sin. Every other sin people do is
outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own
bodies.
In each of these passages, the writer is referring to a different
negative consequence.
The first warning in Romans is talking about how damaging sexual
sin is to our witness. If we are going to draw others to eternal life in
Christ, it means our lives have to be different from non-believers. There
are few things that do as much harm to Christianity as believers who get caught
in sexual sin.
The warning in 2 Timothy is against staying immature and
impulsive. It’s basically admonishing you to stop acting like a little
kid and giving into “I want, what I want, when I want it.” Getting older
doesn’t automatically guarantee you’ll act more mature. It requires
effort!
The third is a warning about the physical, emotional and relational
consequences you can bring on yourself when you try to circumvent God’s plan
for sexual activity. In this case, Paul is talking about how you can
condition yourself to be unable to enjoy sex as a gift from God for married
people.
Mark Gungor is a pastor who knew a man who married a famous
supermodel. They came to him for help with their sex life.
Evidently, before marriage, the husband had become so accustomed to
masturbating while looking at pictures of beautiful women that he had to place
a magazine next to her on the bed in order to have sex. Even on their
honeymoon, the “real” thing did not satisfy him the same way his fantasy
did. Needless to say, his wife was unbelievably hurt by this behavior.
God is not against sex! It’s really important you believe
that. The Word of God argues that sexual gratification outside of
marriage works against your happiness, by depriving you of the physical,
emotional and spiritual intimacy it was designed to provide. In the final
analysis, the aspect which makes this a sin comes from the lustful thoughts
that accompany masturbation, not the act of masturbation itself.
Now, I don’t go around giving formal talks on this issue all the
time. But I have spoken with 1000’s of young people who have asked me questions
following our other talks on sexual self-control. Inevitably, some guy
will come up to me and say, “I can keep my mind completely clear or clean and
continue to masturbate.”
If that’s you, buddy, I am not going to argue with you. I’m
probably not going to believe you either, but I’m definitely not going to argue
with you. If you’re convinced that’s possible, God bless you --- but
frankly, I’d like to test your DNA to see if you’re really human.
If you are one of 99.9999999% of the rest of the population who
ARE fantasizing about SOMEthing or someone while engaging in this act, I want
to talk to you.
For men and women both, there is a mental or fantasy aspect to
masturbation. When you are stimulating yourself sexually on the physical
side, there IS going to be something in your mind driving it. Beautiful
sunsets and landscapes aren’t going to do it.
You’re either looking at a picture of someone naked, you’re
reliving in your mind a past sexual experience, or you’re imagining someone you
saw who was who excited you, and fantasizing about what it would be like to
have sex with that person.
Just for the record --- despite what porn-driven culture tells you
--- the male/female fantasies are not the same.
Males who think the female sexual response system is just like
theirs (automatic and operating at maximum capacity 24/7), are going to be
really disappointed when they are with a Real Girl. Because the truth is,
females have to CHOOSE be become aroused. It takes effort. Women
don’t think about sex all the time. They can go for days without thinking
about it.
Females are equally as misinformed about the male sexual response
system. And not understanding it can lead to frustration as well.
God has wired up males to be easily stimulated by what they see, and to a
lesser degree, what they hear or smell. All day every day in our culture,
guys are assaulted by images of half-dressed female bodies. Those images
cause him to have sexual thoughts pop into his head.
But they’re not romantic thoughts. They’re parts or specific
sex acts --- graphic and visceral. Hundreds of them during the day, and
there’s nothing he can do about it.
Now when he was really young, every guy learns that if he focuses
or lingers on any particular thought, something embarrassing will happen.
So, even though he can’t keep those thoughts from showing up, he CAN keep them
moving along. What that means is he has to take a portion of his mental
energy, all day, every day, and brush those thoughts to the side. Force
himself to think about something else.
My wife says there’s only one thing in Girl World that comes close
to what this is like for a guy. She says you girls should think about a time
when you had to pee (really bad), but when you get to the bathroom, there’s
about 6 other girls in line. So you’re standing there, waiting and every
few seconds someone comes out and turns on the faucet.
There’s a thing you have to do in your head so you don’t pee in
your pants, right? That’s what it’s like, all day every day for a
guy. He feels like he has to go to the bathroom all the time, and
everywhere he goes he hears running water --- a hundred times a day.
Most guys aren’t dogs, ladies. They really do want to treat
you with respect. But when you wear your shirt cut really low, or your
pants really tight, he’s not thinking about what a wonderful girl you
are. He’s thinking about your chest or your butt. He can’t help it.
What’s really sad, is most men think women know this. They
think girls who wear tight clothes WANT guys to think about their chest or
their butt. They think if you’re dressed provocatively, then you’re
advertising that you’re available for sex --- either in fantasy or
actuality. And the guy can rationalize that he’s not using you because
you INVITED him to think about you as a sex object. Most girls are
horrified to find out that a guy can fantasize about having sex with someone he
doesn’t even like, just because she’s hot.
The male sexual response is so automatic and involuntary that it’s
really hard for guys to relate to the fact that the female sexual response
system requires a relationship in order for her parts to work. It’s not
automatic!
Guys, when a woman fantasizes, she’s thinking of a whole
person. Someone she has a relationship with, real or imagined.
Someone who relates to her, romances her, interacts with her. This person
cares about her feelings and ALL her needs. Having sex with someone she
doesn’t even like is disgusting.
I know for some of you, that’s a surprise.
Culturally you’re taught the opposite. Virtually all music
videos and TV shows marketed to teens include some soft-porn imagery implying
all it takes for either sex is a HOT body.
It does produce a physical reaction and the urge to act on it. If
you’re repeatedly exposed to this kind of imagery, it will impact you --- and
not in a positive way. But worst of all, is they try to get you to
believe watching porn will improve your sex life. It’s a lie and I can
prove it to you.
Mathematical Proof Sex Does Not Lead to The Best Sex Possible
First, how many of you would like to have the Best Sex Possible?
How many of you would agree that the Best Sex Possible (BSP) would
be when BOTH partners are satisfied? OK, we can turn that into a
formula:
BSP = Happy Man + Happy
Woman
Now follow me: When women were asked,
“If you knew your man had just been viewing pornography and now
wanted to use you for sex while fantasizing about those women, how many of you
would be turned on by that?”
The answer was ZERO.
OK, so we add that to our formula:
Man + Porn = an unhappy
woman
Therefore, porn does not lead to Best Sex Possible (BSP), because
BSP = Happy Man + Happy
Woman,
When the same women were asked,
“If you knew your man was committed to you as his only sexual
partner, and treated you like you were the only woman in the world, how many of
you would be turned on by that?”
The answer was ALL.
Therefore,
PORN = increased chance of
BSP, since: BSP = Happy Man + Happy Woman
There you go: Mathematical proof that porn will not improve your
sex life! (Haha)
And by porn, I don’t even mean full blown playboy nudity. It
can be something as innocuous as the Victoria Secrets catalogue, bikini-clad
models on a calendar, or girls who are showing just enough skin to be
titillating.
But the point of what is going on in your mind DOES matter.
(Matthew 5:27-28)
You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit
adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus is warning against thinking about sexual sin. He’s
saying the spiritual consequences are equally as devastating as if you had
physically sinned, because there is a very natural progression to certain
things.
For instance, I started smoking marijuana in high school. It
was part of my life that took effort to get free from. But it wasn’t like
I was walking down the street one day and a joint magically flew through the
air and landed in my hand and all of a sudden I was smoking pot. I’d
heard about marijuana. I thought about what it would be like to smoke
marijuana. I talked to people I knew who were smoking it. And then
I tried it.
Now I won’t say it’s that way in ALL things, but many things, even
good things. For instance, I heard harmonica music. I thought about
what it would be like to play one. I talked to people who played.
And then I bought one and tried it.
It was that way with sex as well… heard about sex, thought about
what it would be like, talked to people who were doing it, tried it
myself. Heard about it, thought about it, talked about it, did it.
That’s really my issue with masturbation.
If the goal is to get to your marriage with having saved all or
many of your sexual treasures for marriage (which hopefully that is the goal
for all of you), then filling your mind with sexual thoughts, thinking about
sex A LOT… is not going to help you reach that goal.
The more you fill your mind with sexual thoughts and/or images,
the more you’re going to want to have sex. Real sex. With an actual
partner. Heard about it, thought about it, talked about it, did it.
See, I’d like to get away from masturbation being this terrible
sin everyone needs to feel guilty for and turn it around to something that just
isn’t effective.
It’s a tactic that doesn’t work.
It is not going to provide you with the release that you’re
looking for, because ultimately, masturbation does not satisfy, and it never
will. It doesn’t ultimately satisfy for one simple reason. God
designed sex to be shared only within a marriage with a person of the opposite
sex. Not only that, but He designed it to be 3 fold.
Just like man is spirit, soul, and body. Sex is meant to be
experienced on a physical level, an emotion level, and a spiritual level.
Masturbation ONLY satisfies on a physical level. And even that, only
temporarily, and not very well. You’re not being satisfied emotionally or
spiritually.
Say you’re all tensed up with sexual energy that you don’t know
what to do with. So you rationalize, an orgasm is a good way to relieve
tension. So you masturbate to release all that sexual tension… which it
does… for about 10 seconds.
But afterwards, you’re still left with the mental images floating
through your mind! They don’t magically vanish the second you have your
orgasm. In fact, now those images are even more powerful because your
brain’s now associates them with the rush of chemicals that stimulated the
pleasure-center of your brain. You’ve just created a neural pathway that
your brain wants to relive.
OK, so your mind still has these sexual thoughts floating around
after you’re done masturbating… which lead to what? Increased sexual
tension. So, then your brain wants you to masturbate again to decrease
that sexual tension. But then you’ll have even more images than you
started with, doing what? Increase sexual tension.
See, it doesn’t really solve the problem —- because masturbation
really isn’t the problem. Masturbation is a symptom of a deeper issue
SELFISHNESS.
The root of the problem is selfishness.
I want…what I want…when I want it. I don’t want to have to
worry about someone else’s needs. If that means using the image of
someone’s body to satisfy myself, (whether it’s someone you don’t know, or
using the memory of someone you had sex with in the past), I am going to use
that person. Because I want what I want when I want it.
It’s basically selfish. When someone goes to a prostitute,
they pay to use her body to meet their needs. When you look at porn, or
fantasize about some girl who wears her pants really tight, you’re doing the
same thing in your mind. Ultimately, if what you want is the BEST SEX
POSSIBLE, then it will require more than just satisfying yourself.
But that’s what so addictive about any sin. It gets easier
the more you do it. The more you practice using people mentally, the
easier it will be to use people in real life.
So what’s the answer? I have no flippin’ idea!!
That’s not true. I do have some practical advice.
First, I want to address anyone here who is not a Christian.
It is possible, through sheer force of your will, to white-knuckle you way to
any behavior. You can grit your teeth and coerce yourself into correcting
what you’re doing. It takes a lot of practice and determination, but it
can be done.
However, I said a little while ago that sex is physical, emotional
and spiritual. You can physically change your behavior, but the emotional
and spiritual consequences will remain. To renew your mind and spirit,
will take the power of the Holy Spirit. You need a supernatural healing
from God.
(Ephesians 4:22-23)
Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is
corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts
and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly
righteous and holy.
As long as your mind and spirit are virtual slaves to sexual
desire, it WILL have a negative impact on you physically, emotionally and
relationally.
But if you ARE a Christian, start with prayer. Ask God to
help you put your selfishness aside. I can’t emphasize this enough:
Masturbation is a symptom of selfishness. You won’t magically become
UNselfish just because you put a wedding band on.
Selfishness can be expressed in lots of ways besides
masturbation. Some people are selfish with their time. Others with
their energy, money or words.
Masturbation is just one more form if it. So GET REAL.
Accept that the drive to masturbate is NOT going to magically vanish just
because you get married. Most of the studies I’ve looked at say as many
as 50% of men and 40% of women continue to masturbate after marriage.
The rationale behind self-gratification vs. having sex with your
spouse is:
“I don’t want to be bothered with meeting my spouse’s needs.
I don’t want to work that hard right now. So I’ll just handle this need
[so to speak] on my own.”
You might rationalize that it’s only once in a while, or “Everyone
does it, Jim Kropf said so.” But I’m telling you, it won’t benefit you in
the long run. It’s just too easy to translate that kind of “quick fix”
behavior into other areas of your life. Before long, it’s too much
trouble to have to listen to your partner’s point of view, or care about their
expectations. That’s one way couples end up drifting apart: they start
meeting their own needs, instead of each other’s.
As I said, masturbation as a tactic doesn’t work.
If what you really want is to save those wonderful sexual
experiences for the person you marry… if you want a relationship that’s
completely open, transparent and mutually satisfying --- then masturbation
isn’t going to help you get it. In fact, you’re basically STEALING FROM
YOURSELF.
There are also a lot of things you can channel your sexual energy
into. When you become aware of the desire --- don’t wait until it’s
insistent --- but as soon as you are aware of it, try doing something for
someone else. Something that won’t benefit you at all. It’s excellent
training in unselfishness.
But you can also take up a sport, work out, learn a musical
instrument, paint, sculpt or sing. Burn calories and use your brain
circuitry! Try anything that gets your mind off sexual things and
channels your passion into something creative. An added bonus will be how
much better you feel about yourself as your talents and skills expand.
Obviously, there are some logistical problems even with these
suggestions. You’re not going to pull out your new trumpet at 11 at night
when everyone in your house is asleep. So here is one suggestion from my
wife that I found incredibly useful: when you find your head filled with
sexual thoughts about someone, pray for that person.
- Pray that God will bring
someone into their life who will meet their physical, emotional and
spiritual needs.
- Pray for protection against
being used or having their heart broken.
- Pray for their goals and
dreams.
Not only is it likely to have a positive impact on their life, but
I have found it’s virtually impossible to lust after someone and pray for them
at the same time.
Conclusion
No matter where you are on the spectrum --- from masturbation has
taken over your life to you’re taking cold showers 3 times a day --- the most
important thing for you to leave here with today is: This is a learned
skill. You have to learn how to redirect your thoughts and actions away
from yourself.
Not being very good at a new skill is normal! Everyone
starts at the same spot. Redirecting your thoughts and focusing on
something new doesn’t just happen overnight.
So don’t measure your progress by the number of times you
FAIL. Instead, give yourself credit for every baby step you take toward
developing the habit of self-LESS-ness. It’s one of the signs that you
are leaving adolescence behind you (thinking about others more than yourself.)
Too often, people with the immature “I want what I want when I
want it” approach to life, end up with unintended consequences. Which I think I
can illustrate with a story.
You Get What You Pay For
An ambitious farmer who wanted to increase the amount and quality
of his corn crops, heard about a very expensive, but really remarkable, new
corn seed. He made a big investment and produced a corn crop that was so
abundant his neighbors were astonished.
It was his most profitable year ever. Some of the neighbors
asked him to sell them a portion of his amazing new seed. But the farmer
was afraid that he would lose his competitive advantage, so he refused.
The second year the seed from his bountiful harvest didn’t produce
as good a crop. The farmer made a profit, but nothing like he had the
previous year. The third-year his crop was even more mediocre.
It wasn’t long before his “competitive advantage” had disappeared
completely.
That’s when the farmer realized that the “amazing corn” he’d
invested in 3 years before, had been pollinated by the inferior corn from the
neighboring fields.
If that farmer had looked beyond what would give him an immediate
profit, if he had sold some of his good seed to his neighbors, all of them
could have had great crops for several years. But his short-sightedness
meant he only got one good year out of his investment. He basically stole
from himself.
How in the world does that story have anything to do with masturbation?
Think about it this way, by gratifying your immediate needs through
masturbation you believe it “takes the edge off” and it doesn’t hurt anyone.
But the long-term effects you can’t predict now, are how much more
difficult it will be for you to be happy and satisfied with a REAL
person. The more accustomed your body, soul and spirit become to
gratification by fantasy, the less likely and less skilled you will be when you
have the gift of sex in marriage. In God’s plan, the Best Sex Possible would be
you and your spouse mutually satisfied… but to achieve that pay-off requires
that you learn to be UNselfish.
I recommend you start keeping a record of things you do for other
people that don’t benefit you. If you start now, by the time you’re ready
to get married, you’ll be really good at it!