What do the theists here think about masturbation and porn?

[QuarkDriven]

I'm not sure if I'm off the hook with my vasectomy.

The only thing I regret about it is not having it done sooner. You'd have to kidnap me to get it reversed.

So I wonder if I'm collecting black marks? Not that it matters, god would have run out of paper with me long ago for things which hurt no one at all but apparently displease him.

As Catholics, we believe that each person is judged individually. Just because you had a vasectomy, for example, doesn't automatically pin you as a person with a black mark. You are not Catholic, and you did not know about (and do not believe anyway) about these teachings on vasectomy.

A much higher standard is placed on those who actually know/believe, but choose to do it anyway. (of course, if this is an extreme situation, like a man's wife will die if she get's pregnant again and he feels he must do it to avoid killing her, that is also taken into account and will greatly decrease, if not completely eliminate, his culpability.)

Point is, we don't believe God paints with a broad brush on judgement day, but rather considers each individual's unique situation and what was in their hearts at the time.

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Well way to make me feel like a horse's ass.  But back at you.

Didn't mean to make you feel that way. You are trying to help and you mean well. I just wanted you to know I appreciate that.

And thanks!

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I know, right?! This woman is like the anti-Randy. She's polite and positive pretty much no matter what, and she will invariably listen to what others have to say. Religious people can be genuinely decent, and some of them even seem to have a knack for being nice in situations where other people just aren't. It's nice to be reminded of that every once in a while.

While I disagree with your assertions of Randy, lol, I do appreciate the compliments.

I think most people of my faith are like this. I'm nothing special. The reason you never hear much from us is because we are not the type of people to start talking to atheists about our faith unprovoked (obviously lol). And of course, naturally most of us are not the type of people who go around seeking discussions with atheists on internet forums lol.

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That is normal but regular masturbation is not? What about animals that masturbate? Is that immoral or not normal? Masturbation is ubiquitus in the animal kingdom, and most definitely among primates

I don't know what you mean by normal, but if you are meaning to ask if we believe "regular" is immoral and touching oneself during foreplay to sex with your spouse is moral, the answer would be yes. In previous pages I explain how we believe sexuality is to be used in the sacred context of marital intercourse. Whatever type of foreplay is in that context, assuming its consensual and done for each other's best interest, is moral.  

There is no such thing as animals acting morally vs immorally. They're animals.

I have a thread on here where people have posted videos of animals and what they would do in certain situations... In certain cases, monkeys (and I'm sure other animals) have shown what we call morality..compassion... they may not know what it is, but they exhibit it...

It's really quite beautiful to see animals behaving in a way that we would, even though "they're just animals"

http://atheistforums.org/thread-34080.html