| padib said: ^Fornication is a sin in the bible. You may say it's not a sin but the bible says otherwise. I'm not judging or forcing anything on anyone, but let's not pretend the bible says otherwise to christians about the sin of masturbation. |
The bible never said this. The bible said "pornea" is sinful activity. Pornea doesn't have an enlish translation, but the closest thing is essentially "having sex with temple prostitutes so your crops will grow in spring". The ole King James translated it as "fornication", but that's not overly accurate.
The general guidance of the bible is to be a good person, worhip God and to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. I don't see how you could condemn masterbation as being evil as it's not hurting anyone. I think the only way you could say it was sinful is if you were masterbating on the harm of others (ie, watching child porn) or if it was an addiction that was harming your own life or your life with others. Otherwise, I think it's natural. A lot of hang ups with sexual things and Christianity stems from some bizzarre and rather un-Christian stances by the Christian church, and its roots in Greek philosophy.
I will say that refraining from masturbation can give me more energy/enthusiasm to many things in life, such as sports, social events and seeing my girlfriend. Pretty much anything exciting.
