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[simply curious]

So I've always wondered how does the bible view masturbation? A lot of guys seem to think there is no problem with it, and some girls too. Is it ok? Why or why not? It's something that's very rarely if ever talked about. Obviously sex outside of marriage is wrong, but how does this compare?

[jimwalton]

Interestingly enough, the Bible says absolutely nothing about it, so we are left to speculate and pontificate.

Gen. 38.9 is a passage and story that includes coitus interruptus, but that's not the same thing. The only other text that gets close to the subject of masturbation is Mt. 5.28 where Jesus talks about the dangers of lust. But I'll come back to that.

As far as the medical community is concerned, Katchadourian and Lunde say: "Currently no informed person should have any real concern about the deleterious effects of masturbation in a physical sense. Whatever concerns exist pertain to psychological and moral issues. Psychological judgments in this regard are based on the motivations behind the practice, the degree of dependency on this outlet, and the extent to which the practice excludes socio-sexual relationships."

Christian opinions span the whole gamut, since the Bible doesn't teach on it. Pastor Charlie Shedd (he and his wife wrote books about sex) says, "Masturbation is a gift of God." Dr. Jay Adams, Christian psychologist says exactly the opposite: "Masturbation is clearly wrong since it constitutes a perversion of the sexual act." Lewis Smedes takes more of a middle road: "The mood today is that masturbation is all right; only the guilt is bad. I do not want to dispute the modern attitude. ... The young person...needs to learn that the feeling of emptiness after masturbating is not guilt, but only incompleteness. In this way masturbation can be accepted, along with its frustrations, as a temporary plateau for his sexuality. It is not morally wrong, but neither is it personally sufficient." John White, pastor and teacher, says, "It is better to masturbate than to burn. I am glad that the younger generation has been relieved of a burden of guilt and fear that once haunted so many of us.... Masturbation is not a good thing, but neither is it a heinous sin." Dr. James Dobson weighs in with: "It is my opinion that masturbation is not much of an issue with God. It's a normal part of adolescence which involves no one else. It does not cause disease, it does not produce babies, and Jesus did not mention it in the Bible." Gary Collins and David Seamands claim, "It's high time we stop making such a 'big deal' out of masturbation and give it the well-deserved unimportance it merits."

Back to Mt. 5.28. Jesus says that sexual desires affect the inside of a person, and that inappropriate sexual desires are sin. Sometimes masturbation is a sexual outlet, but sometimes masturbation is lust, so possibly we can't make blanket statements. Maybe while one is relatively harmless, the other is degrading people into things and sexual objects to be craved, which is sin. We need to be attuned to sinful thoughts and work to eliminate them from our lives—they are clearly sources of sin. Sinful actions stem from sinful thoughts. To the Jews of Jesus' day, if the sexes had social contact, lust was unavoidable and inevitable. They taught protection by separation and seclusion. Jesus' teaching was different: lust is a choice, and therefore is a matter of the heart and mind. If our masturbation is a craving after something that will lead us to moral wrong, then we dare not engage in it. Many of the counsellors and scholars, as mentioned above, think quite strongly that it's not necessarily that, and therefore it's fine. Maybe the masturbation itself is fine, but the thoughts that may or may not accompany it are where the problem lies.

As a side thought, pornography is often part of masturbation, and T.C. Ryan says, "To say that porn cheapens our sexuality doesn’t go far enough. Porn magnifies human sexuality, distorts it, makes it larger than reality, and isolates it for trade. It makes the magnificence of being a creature made in the image of God something as insignificant as a sheet of paper or a glob on a screen. It’s a most malicious smearing of the divine image in us. Simply put, porn is uncompromising, progressive, destructive evil." And Tim Stafford says, "Let’s be realistic. There are lots of things in the world that are worse than pornography. But we need to stay away from it. Why? Like any cheap substitute, pornography detracts from the real thing. If you get used to thinking about sex in the quick, easy, uninvolved Internet way, you’ll have a harder time mustering the energy to take it more seriously in relationships with real live men and women. Pornography is like junk food. It may seem harmless, but it’s habit-forming, and habits are powerful. And it’s ultimately destructive." Porn is a side-issue to masturbation, but obviously related.

I hope this helps. It may not give you a definitive answer, but that's because there isn't really a definitive answer. You must seek the Spirit of God in all things, glorify God in all things, and let your decisions be matters of prayer and of faith.