Religion and masturbation

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Has anyone been involved in a religion which was OK with masturbation? Or are all teaching that it is a sin?
 

malakos

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Interesting timing; I was just today reading about the treatment of masturbation in antiquity. If one looks at the question from a historical perspective, there has been a great deal of change in common attitude (in numerous phases) regarding masturbation over the past 1600 years, especially in the "Western world". Going back to early antiquity, masturbation was often viewed as promoting fertility and virility, and served as the creative act in certain creation myths. In cultures where masturbation was not venerated or ritualized, it was usually at least seen as a useful outlet for energies that could be chaotic and harmful if pent up. It was not until the rise of Christian monasticism in the 4th century that masturbation began to be made a negative, moral concern (before that, Christians did not make much of it, their sexual morality mostly focusing on adultery, pederasty, pagan orgiastic rituals, and prostitution). And in the early middle ages, the concern was still on solitary sexuality feeding lust, rather than being a problem in itself (as such, nocturnal emissions related to lust were also seen as dangerous). It wasn't until the 18th century that the idea of "Onanism" was contrived and masturbation was turned into a great evil in itself, and all sorts of myths arose of the supposed negative effects of masturbating and methods for preventing it (such as circumcision).

As for religions today, I would say you have to relieve yourself of the notion that any religion is so monolithic that it can be spoken of having a unified teaching, at least on the face. A religion is not a teaching authority, but rather various claimed authorities propagate a religion; often these organizations do not agree on what the authentic teaching of their religion is. So, for example, nowadays you'll likely see encouragement of masturbation as a tool of self-regulation in the Church of Sweden, but then across the Baltic in Latvia I'd guess you may be counseled about how masturbation feeds lust and is harmful to the soul. And that is not only by two different Christian churches, but even churches that are both Lutheran.

I haven't personally been involved in a religion that is A-OK with masturbation. There are numerous denominations, from numerous religions, at this point that are though.

I won't link directly because of some of the topics it mentions, but I just saw a report from the Uniting Church in Australia from 1997 that was fairly permissive of masturbation. So you should have some religious organizations in your country that are relatively OK with masturbation, if you cared to check up on them.
 

Jagtstein

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Since beginn the church Masturbation is demonized by the church.
The reason is sexually unfree people are more easily manipulated, because the non-free sexual instinct is sublimated in the form of obedience to authority (ie, in the spirit of the churches). This is in the Bible, see below formulated accordingly.
There were times there was masturbation (which has been called incorrectly on purpose and as they can to forbid masturbation) and sodomy punishable by death.
In the book of Genesis tells the story of Onan. After the usual custom, he was obliged to Tamar, the wife of his deceased brother, to help young talent. But he did not want to because he knew that the children are not allowed to carry his name. Therefore, "he let the seeds fall to the ground and destroy whenever he went to his brother's wife."
Onan has - at least according to the biblical story - not indulged in masturbation, but actually slept with Tamar, but the practice of coitus interruptus. He should therefore probably be regarded as the father of contraception, which has become commonplace, it is said in the book "Onan's children - characteristics worthy of sexuality and reproduction of history and medicine."
But God did not like the list, he did die Onan. The clever Tamar succeeded in the end there, however, is to fulfill the desire for a child from the blood of her late husband. Dressed as a prostitute, she seduced her father-in. She gave birth to twins at the same time, proving thereby that she wore on her long childlessness no guilt.
Masturbator or wankers.
For me, the vulgar language of ignorant people no offense, because most people are masturbators anyway. And I confess I miss it because I do not want to masturbate.

I am convinced by my knowledge that the self-satisfaction is assessed as negative in all Christian cultures. Other so-called book religions have their problems. Again to Germany you have to know this, that in times of plague had lost a lot of people of Central Europe. Therefore needed the rulers and of course the church increased birth rates. And all that stood against this goal has been banned, demonized and destroyed. That's one of the reasons for the persecution of witches. Because the so-called witches were the wise women very often, the medical knowledge possessed eg birth control. So you can see here that the negative cast of self-gratification or masturbation is a tradition. Moreover, no one can earn a bit of masturbation.


:)
 

palakaorion

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Onan's shame was in not knocking up Tamar.

I've been in American evangelical churches most of my life. Sex in general is discussed far less than you might think. Less than it should be IMHO.

The biggest knocks on masturbation from a church perspective are
1. lusting after someone other than your spouse in order to perform
2. wasting your energy on yourself
3. not reproducing to fill the pews with future giving members
 
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insert_8

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Among Protestant Christians I don't think there is a strong consensus, either way, regarding masturbation. Some still condemn it because it produces sinful fantasies; others are neutral, putting it into the category of things that become sinful only when done to excess; and some accept the idea published in the 1970's by (Presbyterian) pastor Charlie Shedd that masturbation is "God's gift" for curbing sinful desires.
 

Acratopotes

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What an excellent answer from malakos. The organised church has always been an instrument of social control. It is interesting that here in England there was much resistance to translating the bible into English precisely because it would enable people to read it for themselves and have their own interpretation of it. Immediately they would start to think that the interpretation promoted by their church was nothing special.

So a personal interpretation here, but the bible has a very strong ant-adultery message throughout and is also pro-family. Looking at the story of Onan with that mind it is completely clear, at least to me, that failure to provide a child for Tamar was Onan's sin. Those who have seized on the words about Onan having "wasted his seed on the ground" and have generalised that into "God hates it when men waste their sperm" have over-generalised and thus created a misinterpretation. if God were worried about wasted sperm, surely he would have designed our bodies to only produce them once we were married and thinking about having a baby. Then one ejaculation would contain one, much stronger, faster, longer-lived sperm that would always make it to the egg rather than millions that never do.

As far as lust is concerned, that is once again part of the overall anti-adultery message. There is the bit about not coveting another man's wife and the teaching that imaging yourself with a woman who is not your wife is the first step to adultery and must thus be avoided - nip temptation in the bud etc. Even then those need to be taken in context. In a time of later puberty and earlier, arranged marriages the possibility of a single man fantasising about a single woman did not exist. If you were post-pubescent and thus susceptible to sexual fantasy you were married and any woman you could fantasise about who was not your wife would be someone else's wife.

if you wish to follow a religion I think you have to think for yourself about it's teachings.
 
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Remember, in the Bible with the story of Onan, that God put Onan to death for his greed, not for masturbation.
 

MrMartini

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Interesting thread. I've been involved in mainstream Christian churches, Protestant and Evangelical, since I was a little kid and I've never heard this subject mentioned in any way, shape or form. I understand Muslims are hard over on the subject.