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"Is Masturbation an Acceptable Component to Healthy Sexuality for Christians?" Two Views
- Thread starter Skwim
- Start date
Skwim
Veteran Member
Of course its a form of sexual behavior, but that doesn't disqualify it as masturbation.
masturbation
[mas-ter-bey-shuh n]
noun
1.
the stimulation or manipulation of one's own genitals, especially to orgasm; sexual self-gratification.
2.
the stimulation, by manual or other means exclusive of coitus, of another's genitals, especially to orgasm.
Source: Dictionary.com
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masturbate
-·bat·ed, -·bat·ing
to manipulate one's own genitals, or the genitals of (another), for sexual gratification
Source: Your Dictionary
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masturbation
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.
mas·tur·ba·tion (măs′tər-bā′shən)
n.
Excitation of one's own or another's genital organs, usually to orgasm, by manual contact or means other than sexual intercourse.
Source:The free Dictionary
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masturbation (masˈ·tr·bāˑ·shn),
n manual stimulation of the genitals (one's own or those of another). Also called
onanism.
Source: Medical dictionary
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masturbate
verb
1Stimulate one's genitals with one's hand for sexual pleasure.
‘we do not like to admit that we masturbate’
1.1with object Stimulate the genitals of (someone) to give them sexual pleasure.
‘they masturbated each other in the long grass below the tennis courts’
Source: Oxford living dictionaries
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masturbate verb uk /ˈmæs.tə.beɪt/ us /ˈmæs.tɚ.beɪt/
[ I ] to touch or rub your sexual organs in order to give yourself sexual pleasure
[ T ] to touch or rub someone's sexual organs in order to give them sexual pleasure
Source: Cambridge Dictionary
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Masturbate
[intransitive] to rub your sexual organs in order to get sexual pleasure
[transitive] to rub someone else’s sexual organs in order to give them sexual pleasure
Synonyms and related words
Source: Macmillan Dictionary
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Your facts and figures make lying look pretty human, too. 78% over 14 say "they have masturbated at some point?" Then very close to 22% are not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.Less than fully human?? Hell . . . .
"On average, 78 percent of all Americans age 14 and older say they have masturbated at some point in their lives, according to the NSSHB. When men in their 30s were asked whether they had masturbated alone at any point in their life, 93.4 percent said yes."
Looks pretty darn human to me.
Hell, I can remember once, in about 1965, watching an old chimp named Charlie (or maybe George, it was a long time ago) at the Toronto Zoo when it was in Riverdale park having himself a nice wank in front of a rather rapt and attentive audience. Pretty funny back then, actually.
Skwim
Veteran Member
Yeah, I found that pretty incredible myself. With no evidence whatsoever, I'd put the non-masturbators at <3%
.
Which kind of suggests that there a lot of people out there who think self-pleasure is more sinful than lying. Being who I am, of course, I find that very peculiar.
Milton Platt
Well-Known Member
Dianna AndersonSo, where do you stand? Is masturbation an acceptable component to healthy sexuality for Christians?
Dianna Anderson is the author of the forthcoming
book, DAMAGED GOODS, out in Spring 2015
from Jericho Books. When she is not writing,
she is on the lookout for a new day job.
"Is masturbation an acceptable component to healthy sexuality?
Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, absolutely. In fact, I might scratch "acceptable" from there and change it to "important."
Like sex itself, masturbation is sinful only insofar as you use it sinfully. And what counts as "sinfully" for one person may not be sinful for others. This, most of all, requires knowing and understanding yourself and what your limits are. If you don't feel comfortable masturbating because you feel like it takes you to a bad place where you objectify other people, then don't do it. We make mistakes in christendom when we assume that masturbation is problematic for some, so no one, ever, should do this private thing. That's a problem, because my lines about what is sinful are not your lines, and making you conform to my lines in something as intensely complicated as sexuality won't end well.
As far as it being a component of healthy sexuality, it can be a helpful tool for understanding yourself and what feels right and what doesn't before you ever enter into a sexual relationship. It can also make you more comfortable and more confident with your own body so that you are more comfortable when the time comes with a partner. Masturbation can be an important component of a healthy sexuality and can be an important part of a healthy sex life (if you're comfortable taking care of yourself, there's less pressure when you're with a partner). It can be misused and abused, like any good thing, certainly, but it can also be a great boon to understanding and becoming comfortable with yourself as well."
[This reply was edited for brevity]
Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is the author of Earthen
Vessels: Why our Bodies Matter to our Faith and
The End of our Exploring:A Book about Questioning
and the Confidence of Faith.
"If our ethic is to be Christian, then it must be qualified by the cross and resurrection of Jesus. That is to say, the pattern for our lives and actions must be shaped by a love that treats pleasure as the (sometimes delayed) fruit of our sacrificial self-giving for others, rather than a good without qualification.
If we disconnect the experience of sexual pleasure from the moment of giving ourselves for another, to another in love, we fundamentally distort the meaning of the human body in its sexual dimension. In the auto-eroticism of masturbation, we pursue a particular sort of satisfaction or a particular experience of pleasure. But it is through the mutual self-giving in love that our humanity is established (whether in sex or beyond), rather than the abstract experience of pleasure or the fulfillment of a craving or felt need. However enjoyable it might be, masturbation fails to fulfill this form of human sexuality, and as such is corrosive to the integrity of our persons and our intimacy of the Spirit.
SOURCE
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A friend of mine joined the marine corps back in 1969. He said that while at the facility where they are all given shots, and poked and prodded, a sergeant got on the PA system and said, "How many of you masturbate?" After a minute of looking out across the big room, he said, "I see that 20 percent of you masturbate and 80 percent of you are liars."
Actual event? I don't really know. But the statistics are probably pretty accurate. The original form of "safe sex."
Vancouversailor
Member
As for the Catholic Church's opposition to masturbation I believe it has little or nothing to do with ethics or consideration to the partner of the person masturbating. It is the insatiable greed of the Vatican, it's desire to be the biggest and most numerous religious body on the planet, and to be so through the procreation of its congregations. Same reason they condemn the use of condoms or birth control pills, no matter what consequences it might have for many of the poor women (in the eyes of the church the 'baby-makers') in its congregations.
Aaand the sarcasm flew over Frank's head.
A Vestigial Mote
Well-Known Member
If masturbation is "wrong" or "sinful" in the eyes of "The Creator", then it stands to reason that He/She/It would have created us without the ability to masturbate. There really isn't an automated way to stop humans from harming one another physically, nor is there a way to control people from cheating on their partner, nor some way to make stealing a physical impossibility. However, there are all sorts of examples of bodily functions that occur via a "lock and key" instantiation method. Certain chemical prerequisites must be met, or "X" function of the body doesn't occur. Melatonin inducing a feeling of sleepiness - letting you know when your body needs to rest, for instance. Antibodies and antigens as another example. The taste-buds on your tongue only activating and sending their signals out if the appropriate type of "taste" has come in contact with them. Not all "perfectly" analogous by what I am about to describe, but close enough to know it should be possible. I'm sure better analogies exist in the animal kingdom (if not the exact sort of scenario), I just don't know what they are.
Anyway, "God" should have been able to create the male human body such that sperm didn't find release until it had come in proximity of the cervical opening. Thus eliminating the ability for masturbation (Well, the male form at least) altogether.
Anyway, "God" should have been able to create the male human body such that sperm didn't find release until it had come in proximity of the cervical opening. Thus eliminating the ability for masturbation (Well, the male form at least) altogether.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
It often seems that the religious folks who push the most puritanical views of sex always end up being the ones with the most kinky sh** going in secret. It's kind of a form of the "you smelt it, you dealt it," theory of flatulence.
From experience, I always assume such people are major perverts, and the rest of their profile generally fits the bill.
From experience, I always assume such people are major perverts, and the rest of their profile generally fits the bill.
Riders
Well-Known Member
I am a recovering sex addict. I cant masturbate. Usually when I do, I use my breasts and nipples. Then I have too many orgasms and I have pain and burning in my vaginal muscles and nipples, its been going on for 20 years.
Then Ill have bad soreness and stabbing pain. It goes on for months.It maybe because when I do masturbate, I do it too long or I abuse myself doing it too hard.
I don't masturbate in my vaginal area either. However I'm suppose to go on a date with a guy next month an older man who has slowed down a lot. He'll be happy for me to give him a hand job and to give me hand job in my vagina, hell finger me.
If a man is fingering me I don't have as much issues, so I know most men will want some mutual masturbation sense I cant have intercourse right now and I can even give oral sex.
But back tot he masturbation question, sense I'm addicted to masturbating with my breasts I cant masturbate anymore.
I cant fantasize either,
I think it differs for everyone. For some people fantasizing and masturbation is very healthy for others it isn't. Its like drinking, some people can handle it some cant.
Then Ill have bad soreness and stabbing pain. It goes on for months.It maybe because when I do masturbate, I do it too long or I abuse myself doing it too hard.
I don't masturbate in my vaginal area either. However I'm suppose to go on a date with a guy next month an older man who has slowed down a lot. He'll be happy for me to give him a hand job and to give me hand job in my vagina, hell finger me.
If a man is fingering me I don't have as much issues, so I know most men will want some mutual masturbation sense I cant have intercourse right now and I can even give oral sex.
But back tot he masturbation question, sense I'm addicted to masturbating with my breasts I cant masturbate anymore.
I cant fantasize either,
I think it differs for everyone. For some people fantasizing and masturbation is very healthy for others it isn't. Its like drinking, some people can handle it some cant.
Underhill
Well-Known Member
I think it has ties to the whole "though shalt not covet" thing.
Skwim
Veteran Member
When one gets down to the struggles humans endure god could have done a thousand things better and still preserved their sinful nature. But evidently undo suffering and penny-ante sins such as masturbation amuse him. Go figure, this god who is worthy of praise and adoration. I sure can't.
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Skwim
Veteran Member
This is why it's so amusing when preachers get caught with their pants down---those cases involving children excepted.
As of 2010, some of god's ambassadors who couldn't keep it zipped
Lonnie Frisbee---1970s-80s
Billy James Hargis---1970s
Jim Bakker---1986
Jimmy Swaggart---1991
Mike Warnke---1991
Roy Clements---1999
John Paulk---2000
Douglas Goodman---2004
Ted Haggard---2006
Paul Barnes---2006
Lonnie Latham---2006
Earl Paulk---2007
Coy Privette---2007
Michael Reid---2008
Joe Barron---2008
Todd Bentley---2008
Tony Alamo---2008
George Alan Rekers---2010
Eddie L. Long---2010
Billy James Hargis---1970s
Jim Bakker---1986
Jimmy Swaggart---1991
Mike Warnke---1991
Roy Clements---1999
John Paulk---2000
Douglas Goodman---2004
Ted Haggard---2006
Paul Barnes---2006
Lonnie Latham---2006
Earl Paulk---2007
Coy Privette---2007
Michael Reid---2008
Joe Barron---2008
Todd Bentley---2008
Tony Alamo---2008
George Alan Rekers---2010
Eddie L. Long---2010
For brief explanations and more about the above click HERE
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I would like to see evidence that "all Americans" were included in the survey.
To be honest there text should have read
"On average, 78 percent of xxxx Americans surveyed, age 14 and older..."
Pedantic i know but if i see a lie i discount the post.
Read the definition before making nonsense on subjects you don't understand
Skwim
Veteran Member
At the end of the article there are two places listed you can go to that may give you your answer:
Out of curiosity, are you thinking the percentage should be higher or lower? Or are you simply curious as to the size of the sample?
.
Size of the sample, the claim is all Americans 14 and over, I'm pretty sure that an estimated 250 million+ people have not all been asked.
As to the percentage, ??? There is a joke... 98 percent of people masturbate, the other 2 percent are lying. Here is an interesting article (with actual numbers of interviewees)
How Common Is Masturbation, Really?