Thinking It Through

One of the prominent reasons that I blog at all is to think things through. You wouldn't believe the number of ideas I did not offer because, in writing them down, I came to see them as ill-conceived. Writing stuff down helps me think things through and what you get is the result. So this is specifically one of my attempts to think things through.

The question is about masturbation. You see, if you look online you will find a host of sources that will tell you that masturbation is fine and anyone who says otherwise is a religious bigot without any backing for his/her position. Indeed, I searched specifically for "arguments against masturbation" and almost without exception all I found was why "arguments against masturbation" were wrong, wrong, wrong.

So why would I ask the question? Well, here's an interesting thought. I don't think a single, solitary, young person who has engaged in the behavior started out thinking it was a wonderful and morally upright thing. One apparently universal response is guilt. Thus there is a lot of effort spent explaining why the behavior is perfectly moral. I mean, no one is spending a lot of time defending the morality of giving or how it is not wrong to feed the poor. No one does those with any natural guilt. But this behavior seems to carry with it an innate sense of guilt. That suggests that we know internally that there's something wrong. So I ask myself if there are possible reasons that this just might be so.

First and foremost, I want to be clear. The act is not mentioned in the Bible. Forget what you've been told about Onan. It was not masturbation and God did not kill him for it. Make no mistake. Onan was commanded to "raise up offspring for your brother" (Gen 38:8). He agreed to engage in the sex but refused to complete the task. Because "Onan knew that the offspring would not be his" (Gen 38:9), he took steps to prevent pregnancy specifically to spite his brother (Gen 38:9) and God killed him for that. Don't go there.

Is the question answered then? No, not for me. Here are some other considerations ... biblical considerations. First, "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he [does it], because his [action] is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom 14:22-23). Do you think it is sin? Then for you it is. Do you question whether it is sin? Then for you it is.

Second, there is an undeniable warning in Scripture against lust. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "This is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God" (1 Thess 4:3-5). This is no small deal. "This is the will of God," he says. What is? "That you abstain from sexual immorality." In what sense? "Know how to possess his own vessel ... not in lustful passion." That doesn't say "Not in fornication" or the like. It warns against "lustful passion". It seems tacitly obvious that anyone who engages in masturbation with lustful thoughts would be violating the multiple warnings in Scripture against lust.

Pausing here, then, I have to ask. Is there anyone who engages in this activity 1) without doubt or 2) without lust? Seems pretty broad here.

There is another monolith of concern I find in Scripture. In 1 Cor 7 Paul suggests "if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (1 Cor 7:9). Interesting that the alternative to "burn with passion" is "marry" and not anything else. I mean, we certainly understand that to mean that we must not be having sex outside of marriage. So why wouldn't that include all sex? There is no word in the Bible on "masturbation", but there is the very broad term "sexual immorality". Doesn't that include self-gratification? I would suggest it does. Remember in Hebrews where it says we are to "let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous" (Heb 13:4). That tells us that there are two possible conditions. One is keeping the marriage bed undefiled (sex within the marriage relationship). The other is ... sin. It can be adultery or it can be "sexual immorality", but it is sin if it is not sex within the marriage relationship.

There is one other consideration. Is it wise? God designed sexual relations for two primary purposes. The first, despite all they'd like to tell you today, is reproduction. It was in the very first command. "Be fruitful and multiply." It was Onan's refusal to proceed with that command that cost him his life. The second is unity. "The two shall become one." It is a physical unity. It is an emotional unity. It is a spiritual unity. It is a union that exceeds measurement or explanation. And, in that union, there is shared pleasure designed by God for the other. So how does masturbation fit into any of that? It doesn't. Instead, it feeds the fundamental human problem of self-interest. It offers a twisted view of relationships, feeding the ethic of personal fulfillment over all other matters and making the objectification of others an easy process. It bypasses reproduction and union and magnifies instead "eros" -- erotic selfishness. It provides sexual pleasure without sexual responsibility or commitment. It encourages a view that "My body is my own and is for my personal pleasure", a view in direct opposition to a biblical position. Is that wise?

I know. None of this pertains to the unbeliever. And I know that the primary concern in the texts I've mentioned is "your sanctification". If you're not concerned about that, this may not pertain to you. And as I already said, the behavior in question is not mentioned in the Bible. So you're certainly free to disagree. It just seems as if the more I think it through the more I come to the conclusion that the natural guilt experienced by everyone who engages in the activity is very likely a genuine guilt built in by God for an activity He classifies as sinful. At the bottom of the thought process I have to ask, "Does it glorify God?" And, seriously, justifying a behavior solely on the basis that "it gives me pleasure" seems to be a weak approach. In fact, I'd say it is not a key issue in itself. I would suspect that it points to other key issues such as selfishness and lust. Those aren't trivial. But it's your call. You're free to think about it another way if you want. Just don't do so because "It's difficult" or "It might turn out that I've been wrong". Both are bad approaches.