padib said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
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.
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For bold, I agree, that's what I was trying to tell LemonSlice.
As for what the bible says, I disagree. Jesus said that if you look at a woman lustfully you have committed adultery in your hearts, which means that the bar is set quite high. The Christian standard for morality is not whether you're hurting someone on earth or not, but first and foremost your intention towards God.
Many people blame Christians for misunderstanding scripture, but often it's the world (outside of christianity) that gets the theology wrong.
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Ah, but that is the fundamental thing. If you have a wife, and are wanting another woman, you are sinning in your heart. The sin is not in the wanting, but in the betrayal. If you have a wife, and you are in a hotel 500km away, and you jerk off thinking about her, you're not betraying her. If you're a 15 year old boy and your dick is going crazy and you jerk off thinking about Kate Upton, I don't think your committing any sin against anyone. I don't think masterbation is something wrong in and of itself, but it could be wrong as part of something else. Just as sex itself is not wrong, but if you rape, if you cheat or if you have sex to appease the fertility gods, you are doing something wrong by having sex in those scenarios. At least in my opinion. I'm not speaking for the big Guy here, just my understanding of things.
