(September 4, 2011 at 3:16 am)Castle Wrote: I am not getting much out of this Forum
Good buy
I don't think there have been any Christian replies yet, so I'll take this one. Don't say "Good buy" (?) just yet Castle.
I'd like to quote the professor of my abuse counseling class who said, "I'm going to go ahead and list all the verses in the Bible that talk about masturbation. . . . . . . . . That was a complete list of all the verses in the Bible that talk about masturbation." He's completely right too. There are no verses in the Bible that talk about it, and obviously it was still going on at the time (judging from ancient art). So the Bible's stance on the subject seems to be, "Meh" *shrugs*.
A disproportionate majority of people masturbate with at least some frequency (numbers are in the 90-95% range for both genders in some demographics). Obviously it's a problem to be addicted to porn, or compulsively masturbate, but some Christian ethicists (such as Lew Smedes) would say that otherwise whether or not to masturbate is up to the individual. (The Bible says to "love thyself" right?).
So basically the church has traditionally made a big deal out of sexual issues, and has a lot to say them. However, it is important to keep in mind that there is a book of erotic poetry in the middle of the Bible, and that Paul tells married couples that they should not stop having sex. The Bible seems pretty okay with sex, and certainly it is a gift from God. So in reality, there is no clear direction either way about masturbation in the Bible.
*For info about sexuality in America it is always illuminating to look at the Chicago Institute's yearly survey of sexual habits. One interesting trend is that female masturbation is way up, finally giving the men a run for their money. In the teenage demographic, females are dead even with males now. Girlpower!
