Is it a sin to masturbate with no lustful thoughts just to prevent wet dreams?

[psp2ecan]

I'm 17, catholic, and hate wet dreams. I get wet dreams often because I don't masturbate and I don't because I believe masturbation is a sin. However, is it a sin f I masturbate in modertion with no lustful or impure thoughts just to prevent if I masturbate in modertion with no lustful or impure thoughts just to prevent from masturbate in modertion with no lustful or impure thoughts just to prevent from getting wet dreams? Just masturbate while thinking about nothing just to release semen in order to prevent getting wet dreams because waking up wet is so annoying! I have no bad intentions

[GeneralCrash70]

I'm also a catholic, and masturbation is a sin even if your thoughts are not impure... I'm not gonna go into detail as to why, but you can PM me if you want to know... As far as wet dreams go, they're totally natural, I get them too, and it's just a fact of life, no matter how annoying they could be... Don't worry about it man, but ya, masturbation is a sin no matter what...

[ltimm]

Masturbation is not a sin. Have you heard any medical professionals say that masturbation is not healthy and natural? Who cares what God thinks.

[John_Sharpful]

Yes, while it is not medically wrong, according to the Christian faith, masturbation of all kinds is wrong. There are many of you on this site who aren't Christian, and that is okay, but some of us are. Now, St. Paul says in Ephesians that if he could help it, everyone would abstain from all sexual acts (since Christ declared even a thought an adulterous sexual act), but since we are fallen and many of us must do so, God has given us marriage. According to the Catholic church (you can verify this in the Catechism), any sexual acts, namely masturbation, performed outside the context of marriage in the procreative sense, it is immoral and a sin.

[GeneralCrash70]

Masturbation is not a sin. Have you heard any medical professionals say that masturbation is not healthy and natural? Who cares what God thinks.

It's not a question of science, or if it's healthy, it's just what we believe, and it was a question based upon our mutual beliefs... Anyone is free to have an opinion and you shared yours, this is just a counter point...

[AgusCO]

Masturbation is not a sin. Have you heard any medical professionals say that masturbation is not healthy and natural? Who cares what God thinks.

I agree.But it is not us asking.
As far as I'm concerned the first reply is right from the Christian viewpoint, it is a sin.

[ltimm]

Then why would 'God' give you these urges? To 'test' you to see if you're worthy?

[nick]

St Paul was a reactionary old idiot that has caused untold harm. Do not assume that what he wrote is "The Word of God". The teachings of celibate priests are on the whole way out of step with the sheer humanity of Jesus Christ. The history of the papacy an the Roman Catholic Church is one of sheer hypocracy where the popes have preached abstinance whilst fathering untold bastards and living lives of debauchery. I count myself as Christian but dont regard masterbation as a sin.

[GeneralCrash70]

St Paul was a reactionary old idiot that has caused untold harm. Do not assume that what he wrote is "The Word of God". The teachings of celibate priests are on the whole way out of step with the sheer humanity of Jesus Christ. The history of the papacy an the Roman Catholic Church is one of sheer hypocracy where the popes have preached abstinance whilst fathering untold bastards and living lives of debauchery. I count myself as Christian but dont regard masterbation as a sin.

if you are a true Christian you would know by what you are told by your faith that 1.) masturbation is wrong and is a mortal sin, and 2.) if you are as you said a Christian, you would know that the words of all the books in the bible are inspired directly by God and you would know that in this, these words are inerrant and cannot be disproved. I know it's a sin to masturbate and I won't lie, yes I do it, and this is because humans in their nature are flawed, and we stumble; if this were not the case then there would be no need for the bible, and we would not have any knowledge about masturbation.

[ltimm]

if this were not the case then there would be no need for the bible, and we would not have any knowledge about masturbation.

So without the Bible, we wouldn't know what masturbation was?

[Target2222]

You say you have never masturbated because that's stupid you should maturbate if you want it doesn't matter what relgion you are

[GeneralCrash70]

So without the Bible, we wouldn't know what masturbation was?

no, you picked out only a part of the response: if man were a perfect rational being, there would be no need for the bible because we would not need those guidelines from God, and if we were perfect human beings, we would not know about masturbation, because we would not know sin, it just wouldn't happen because we would be perfect, but that would defeat the purpose of our existance and our God given free will.

[nick]

if you are a true Christian you would know by what you are told by your faith that 1.) masturbation is wrong and is a mortal sin, and 2.) if you are as you said a Christian, you would know that the words of all the books in the bible are inspired directly by God and you would know that in this, these words are inerrant and cannot be disproved. I know it's a sin to masturbate and I won't lie, yes I do it, and this is because humans in their nature are flawed, and we stumble; if this were not the case then there would be no need for the bible, and we would not have any knowledge about masturbation.
Not true. Only if I was an extreme fundamentalist would that be true. Most catholic and anglican priests would fail on that basis. Presumably you accept genesis and reject the theory of evolution then.

[GeneralCrash70]

Not true. Only if I was an extreme fundamentalist would that be true. Most catholic and anglican priests would fail on that basis. Presumably you accept genesis and reject the theory of evolution then.

No, I'm not a fundamentalist, I'm catholic, and yes, I reject evolution, to an extent: micro evolution and adaptation to environments is a fact of life, but macro evolution I have a problem with, so yes, I accept the teachings of creation and Genesis.

[ltimm]

God given free will.

But how do you know God is real? Have they proven it? Have they finally disproved all the millions of fossils dated back millions of years?!?! No. Or have they solved the mystery about how stars' light comes from light-years upon light-years away and gets here within 6,000 years?

[nick]

No, I'm not a fundamentalist, I'm catholic, and yes, I reject evolution, to an extent: micro evolution and adaptation to environments is a fact of life, but macro evolution I have a problem with, so yes, I accept the teachings of creation and Genesis.
Then I'm sorry, there is no way to reason with you. Your God is a God of vengence, cruelty and of terror, if you accept the Old Testament as truth, and that God is not compatible with my view of Christianity.

[GeneralCrash70]

But how do you know God is real? Have they proven it? Have they finally disproved all the millions of fossils dated back millions of years?!?! No. Or have they solved the mystery about how stars' light comes from light-years upon light-years away and gets here within 6,000 years?

If you read the bible and disect it thoroughly, you would know that there is no specific timeline for te earths creation, no one knows, so it doesn't disprove carbon dating, or the time it takes for light to travel to us from stars millions of lightyears away.

[ltimm]

But he created humans along side the creation of earth. So,technically, we would have been 'made' millions of years ago and by now we would have evolved dramatically.

[GeneralCrash70]

But he created humans along side the creation of earth. So,technically, we would have been 'made' millions of years ago and by now we would have evolved dramatically.

noooooooo no no, like I said, there is no definite timeline for when the earth was created, but we do know for a fact that man was created after the formation of the world, and after that we know that human history goes back 6,000 years.

[ltimm]

actually there are human fossils from 2 million years ago. You contradicted yourself.

[GeneralCrash70]

no I didn't, there are still flaws in science, it's not perfect, and recently, very staunch believers in evolution and the science of carbon dating have found through multiple series' of studies that carbon dating is actually alot more "out of date" no pun intended and it has been found that things thought to be much older have been found to be millions of years younger

[AgusCO]

This is going completely off-topic. The thread is not a theological discussion, only about a very specific part of the Christian faith.

[ltimm]

That's why there are many alternatives to carbon daitng.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/questions/question/2003/

[GeneralCrash70]

hahaha, I agree, didn't mean to take it that far... if the other party I was talkin to would like to continue the discussion, send me a private message.

[The Batman]

Guys answer the question don't debate about religion.

[GeneralCrash70]

Guys answer the question don't debate about religion.

We have, it's no longer being discussed on the thread. Sorry to impose a debate, hahahahaha

[DrkZ90]

No, I'm not a fundamentalist, I'm catholic, and yes, I reject evolution, to an extent: micro evolution and adaptation to environments is a fact of life, but macro evolution I have a problem with, so yes, I accept the teachings of creation and Genesis.

Oh, come on...

Give it a single thought... your OWN thought, not what some moron wants you to believe...

God could've very well created us, and that wouldn't stop us from evolving... have you thought that, perhaps, when the bible says God made us to his own image, it isn't literal? It could very well mean in the spiritual part or something like that... humans are so different from one another that I find hard to believe that something like that was literal...

Also, nowhere in the Bible it says, textually, that masturbation is a sin... all there is to it, is the interpretation some morons give to it...

As a Catholic, I'm very against those bunch of morons "guiding" it... the same church that was all in for killing people of suspected witchcraft? who threatened to kill anyone with ideas against what they thought? Not cool...

Remember something... Humans are not reliable, no matter what... those in the church are still human, they still make mistakes, they still misunderstand (either on purpose or by mistake) what the Bible says...

And something else, that my religion and philosophy teachers said (both, former priests of the catholic church, I studied in a catholic school)... the Bible is NOT literal, is coded, and is meant to teach some lessons, not give you history classes or anything like that, and is ultimately open for YOUR OWN interpretation of it.

[songboy]

your on your own dude I mean i don't know what your saying I love wet dremas and I enjoy masterbating

[ray8806]

HEY! Don't insult the guy's faith! Let him believe what he wants to just like you can. He's not pushing his religion on you, just trying to get some answers!

Like you, I am a very devote Christian. However, I am not Catholic. Quite the opposite really. I am Pentecostal. I dealt with this for a while years or so. I have come to rhe result that masturbation, in and of itself, isn't sin. The lust for sexual things, i.e. pron, thinking about having sex with your girlfriend, etc. is sin.

I think that since you are just masturbating so you won't have wet dreams, then you will be fine. Even masturbation for the pleasure of masturbation, in my belief, isn't sin but when you start to lust for sex and start thinking about sex while jacking off, then, yes. That is sin.

But the MAIN thing is. Pray about it. God will tell you what you need to do. Somethings that may be wrong for one to do, isn't for the other. For instance: For one person going to the movies isn't wrong. They go all the time to see good, clean movies. However, to some people, the movie theater is wrong and shouldn't be attended. I think things like that should be prayed about. Let God lead you where you should go. If you are truly praying and seeking His will, then He isn't going to leave you out there wondering by yourself. He will guide you where you are supposed to go.

[ray8806]

AGAIN, STOP WITH INSULTING HIS FAITH! THAT ISN'T WHAT THIS FORUM IS FOR, NOT SHOULD YOU DO IT PERIOD!

Again, the guy is just looking for answers. Answers from a Christian point of view, or someone that might have a little insight. There is no reason to bash his religion. That is just wrong and VERY immature.

[dantheman5000]

alright well heres the truth! plyz listen. im a christian and masturbate frequently and im trying to stop. i agree with you in my own opinion that masturbation is not a sin....its the thoughts that go through your head whilst doing it. if they are impure then it is a sin. so i think if you do it that way then you should be ok. just think of nothing. dont let the devil put bad thoughts in and take advantage of you. pm me if needed.

[Brighter.Tomorrow]

Alright, let's clear this up so this can be locked.

Yes. Masturbation IS a sin, it says so right in the bible. But it also says, that if you ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus into your heart, all sins are washed away in Jesus' blood.

Does that clear things up?

[Magus]

Well, In our regional religion. Minor sin is to think of lustful thoughts, and look at obscenity and doing it with your hand. It is minor, but it will bundle up and destroy you.

We are made like this, so that's why it is a minor one. It is a sin, but not as fornication and sodomy.

[Skeletal-Chic]

Hey, I'm a catholic, and nowhere in the Bible does it say that Masturbation is a sin. And if it was a sin, it would be venial not mortal. ;) God forgives and is benevolent (according to Catechism) and thus would forgive and understand your urges. Plus, masturbation is a much healthy alternative to pre-marital sex, especially as a hormonal teen :) So, therefore, it can be construed that Masturbation actually helps to up-hold some christian values.

[Skeletal-Chic]

please don't do with the CAPS spam :) thx

[Magus]

Yeah, that guy is an anti-theistic atheist.

Obvious from his comical avatar. With an atom ring and an A at the core(A is Atheist)
Which is kind of funny. What they intend to say is beyond me.

http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/customavatars/avatar20611_1.gif

[Brighter.Tomorrow]

Hey, I'm a catholic, and nowhere in the Bible does it say that Masturbation is a sin. And if it was a sin, it would be venial not mortal. ;) God forgives and is benevolent (according to Catechism) and thus would forgive and understand your urges. Plus, masturbation is a much healthy alternative to pre-marital sex, especially as a hormonal teen :) So, therefore, it can be construed that Masturbation actually helps to up-hold some christian values.

It says in the bible(I can't remeber where, but I know for a fact it's in there)
"thou shalt not spill thy seed unto the ground"

[Skeletal-Chic]

It says in the bible(I can't remeber where, but I know for a fact it's in there)
"thou shalt not spill thy seed unto the ground"

Well, again that can be interpreted to mean various things. Perhaps it is meant to mean that it is a sin to waist food as others are starving. Be grateful for what you have an keep it etc. Or it could mean not squandering money. There are many other meanings to that qoute.

[Mariophys]

Well now i find this kind of discussions pretty interesting mainly because i find it really hard to believe that there are still people that are so pouritan and close minded. I will start by trying to cover some of the most basic,to my himble opinion, sub topics of this discussion.

For starters the story behind why it is considered a sin to masturbate.I don't currently remember the specific details like all the names involved but i remember the facts, given as they are from the scripts.
In the Old Testamony there is a story of a family of two brothers. Their father was the leader of a tribe. When the older brother came of age to marry and have children he picked a girl of the tribe for his wife and they married. Years passed their father died and the older brother took his place as the leader of the tribe. But he had yet to father a son to succed him. What has decided was that the second brother would bed the wife of his brother in order to produce heirs. But the way, his name was Onan by the way. Anyways the story goes that Onan masturbated before he bedded her in order not to produce children. That was considered a "detestable thing" by the Lord. the problem is that nowhere in the original text is it clear that the referrence to the Lord goes to God or the King. you can find the original text in Genesis 37-38. I give a link here for a site that discusses the matter

http://catholicchampion.blogspot.com/2009/08/genesis-38-and-sin-of-onan.html

The original text:

6 And Juda took a wife for Her his firstborn, whose name was Thamar.
7 And Her, the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.
8 Juda, therefore said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.

As it is clear up to this point it is nowhere clear within the Scripts that God disclaimed masturbation as improper of any kind. It is only a matter of translating and interpreting the text.


"thou shalt not spill thy seed unto the ground"


There is no such phrase withing the testamonies.

Secondly, theologicaly speaking God himself told Noe "grow and populate". That in itself dectates without any margin for speculation that in no way does He regard sexual intercourse as a sin,and that comes from the fact that as it was said the writings of the testamonies are absolete. The act in itself is not a sin. Cheating on your mate now , that goes beyond the point of this discussion.

Further into the discussion of masturbation the reason why it has come to be considered a sin is mainly due to the ignorance of the anatomy of the human male body, of the people of the middle-age churches. The shame that people felt for masturbated is depicted in the teachings about masturbation. Many wrong assumptions have been told with absolutely no basis. For example: if you do that you will go blind. seriously have you seen any1 developing any eye related problems from jacking off?

If you want to go deeper, since we are god's creations there is a reason for our urges. Ignoring the theory of evolution and natural selection(which btw was proposed by a catholic monk ! ) , we can say that we were given them in order for the human kind to breed. Imagine if there was no urge for sex, from which comes the act of masturbation, would the human kind really have survided ? One could argue that it doesn't have to do with god and it is a product of our corruption from Evil, but i ask Thee, would evil want to turn us to an act that in the end of the day is one main factor for our survival?
Also, why would you even have wet dreams if god considered that act a sin?

In the discussion about improper thoughts, the oldy thoughts that are considered improper and sinnister from the Bible are those that have to do with hurting some one , wanting another man's wife etc. Those are clealy stated. One could also argue here that desire is a sin in itself. Well Desire is not, Lust is. There is a great difference between pure desire and Lust. Also take under consideration that Lust goes in many more ways than sexual. I will leave it to the reader to think of the difference.



Yes, while it is not medically wrong, according to the Christian faith, masturbation of all kinds is wrong. There are many of you on this site who aren't Christian, and that is okay, but some of us are. Now, St. Paul says in Ephesians that if he could help it, everyone would abstain from all sexual acts (since Christ declared even a thought an adulterous sexual act), but since we are fallen and many of us must do so, God has given us marriage. According to the Catholic church (you can verify this in the Catechism), any sexual acts, namely masturbation, performed outside the context of marriage in the procreative sense, it is immoral and a sin.


This is an interesting point you mention but i can verify that in the first 3 letters of Paul to Ephesians nothing such was told. There was preeching about the sins of the flesh but it was not on the sexual level. The other 2 letters i have yet to re-read. i will respond in more accuracy promptly.


I feel i should not go ant further since this is getting too big. But i feel that i must add a scientific fact that was said wrong here. The radioactive carbon method for identifiyng the age of an object is very very VERY accurate, the the limitations of the half-life time. That i can scientifically say after having studied the subject since i'm a physics student.

Concluding, to my point of view there is no sin in masturbating. There are no absolutely no restrictions from the scripts, only the interpretation of men applies these rules. And remember , the churches are known to have done terrible mistakes in the past, some of vastly bigger magnitude.

Believe what you want, but i urge you to use your logics and not go blindly to the preechings of the church or any other. God has given you free will and a mind of your own to think. Use it.

As to my religional identity i was baptised and Orthodox christian but i tend to aetheism. That though doesn't belittle the usefulnes of the basis of the teachings of christ. But the truth from the twisted interpretations of men that are born from our own inability to understand are a long way apart. Don't worry about the trivial and typical things that churches preech. if you want to be a good christian worry more about what you can do to help ease the pain of those who are weak. Remeber how Christ himself thought of the Chergy of his Era.

Who is a better christian and a better human being , he who follows the Law to the slightest hint , or he who gives food to a starving child while in the same time ignores most of the restrictions of the religions ?

[chazzrox2]

According to the Catholic church (you can verify this in the Catechism), any sexual acts, namely masturbation, performed outside the context of marriage in the procreative sense, it is immoral and a sin.
so this is saying masturbation is wrong unless done in th context of marriage: so it's a sin to wank to the woman of ur dreams, but when ur married to her u can wank about anyone?
The Bible is about interpretation and reason not blindly following it, God gave us free will... To follow another man's every word is foolish


Ps. Isn't this turning into a debate a big much really

[guy1234]

So let me get this straight:

on one side, we have a bunch of Catholics quoting the Catechism, which has no effect upon the liberals here because they consider it to be mere interpretation of God's Word.

and on the other, we have a bunch of liberal teenagers, who feel as if it is their responsibility to change the rules of faith to meet their own selfish demands

Masturbation is an addiction. No matter how you look at it, it is. In addition, so is pornography. In fact, porn activates certain sensors in your brain that stimulate arousal, and every time afterwards, they need a higher level of intensity to reach that arousal. This can affect relationships later on by making a man not able to be intimate with his wife. However, that is not the point here obviously...

I am a Catholic. Unlike half of you, however, and sorry if this sounds offensive, I use my brain. Why I say this is because half you have loosely thrown around the phrase "Mortal Sin" without giving an inkling of explanation to anyone else what the hell that means. A Mortal Sin is any action, word, or thought that breaks connection with God. It is a sin against nature itself. Three requirements must be met. 1: the sin must be of grave matter 2: the person must be fully aware that it is a sin (however, we all have a code of justice written into our very beings, known to most as a conscience, meaning we are not excused by ignorance most of the time) 3: the person must do it under full consent.

Masturbation is considered grave matter. Why? Because it does break that bond with you and God. It rips it apart and attempts to keep you chained to the weights of this world. As Catholics, we must live for God and NOT for this world. There are NO REASONS to justify masturbation. If you are having trouble with wet dreams, then I suggest prayer. Know that God will NEVER give you anything you can not handle or get through with HIS GRACE. Don't get on this website looking for answers because it's obvious you just want someone to give you an excuse to do it. Look up to your Father and allow Him to show you the way.

Lastly, JustNick, guess what? I'm Catholic. I believe in Genesis. I understand and accept FULLY the Theory of Evolution. Stop thinking that everyone is as narrow-minded and stupid as you would want them to be in order to make your own point more valid. Catholicism is one of the world's oldest religions. All of Christianity stems off of it. Under it, there has been the Councils that have determined almost every Creed and tenet of every Christian religion. Additionally, of the 2 billion Christians there are on earth, 1.1 billion of them are Catholic. Do not deny something purely because you cannot understand it. I'm not saying be Catholic. However, do not insult the religion because that is hypocrisy. Also, when you accept that God's unconditional Love is constant throughout the ENTIRE Bible, you'll begin to understand the God of the Old Testament better.

[josh93]

no it aint a sin iam a christien and i do believe that it is bad to lust but masterbation aint a sin.

[GeneralCrash70]

Well, again that can be interpreted to mean various things. Perhaps it is meant to mean that it is a sin to waist food as others are starving. Be grateful for what you have an keep it etc. Or it could mean not squandering money. There are many other meanings to that qoute.

This is in te old testament when a man was having sex with his wife, but pulled out right at the point of orgasm and he was immediately struck dead by god and god said "thou shalt not spill thy seed upon the ground" I've heard the passage before.

[CuriousDestruction]

first off, we are totally off topic. however. it is not a sin. it is a sin, according to the bible, to pull out during sex. masturbation however, is not a sin. don't believe me?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+38&version=NIV

genesis 38:8-10

think of it this way. if you are masturbating for health rather than sex, it's no longer a sexual sin, it's a health issue. also, god hasn't struck anyone down for masturbation to my knowledge...

[John_Sharpful]

so this is saying masturbation is wrong unless done in th context of marriage: so it's a sin to wank to the woman of ur dreams, but when ur married to her u can wank about anyone?

No, you can't. The only time masturbation is okay is as foreplay before you and your wife have sex. All sexual acts should be procreative, and unless I don't understand masturbation, you can't reproduce by yourself.

[Evermore]

I'm not sure about specific catholic doctorane but the only thing that masturbation could be considered a sin in the bible is that to look on a woman with lust you've already commited adultry with her in your heart.

So it should be perfectly fine as long as you're not watching someone whilst wanking. That would be creepy.

[The Red Devil]

Sorry i made this post after reading the first page, and for some reason i couldnt read the second page untill after i posted, it just didnt seem to exist :S I was talking about how we should be debating the original question no debating faith vs science. I now see this issue seems to have been resolved.

I am not Christian so I dont think it is appropriate to offer my opinion not knowing what the Bible actually says in regard to this matter. Maybe consult the appropriate person at your church who could explain better?