In working through and understanding experiencing personal pleasure, we need to discuss the concept of masturbation. The word masturbation conjures up all kinds of taboos and guilt. Myths existed even in medical textbooks into the 1930s about masturbation causing psychoses, “lunacy” blindness, and many other mental and physical problems. Supposedly, people could identify such self-abusers by the way they walked and their stunted physical development. Obviously, this is not true, psychologically or medically.
In terms of morality, the Bible is silent on the topic of masturbation. It does not say the behavior is right or wrong to do. Like some other sexual behaviors, we keep it in accord with God’s sexual economy by applying other scriptural principles.
Christianity has been reluctant to deal with masturbation and has even fostered some of the myths about it. One such myth is denouncing masturbation by calling it onanism and saying that Scripture is clear on this point. This is a gross misinterpretation of the Genesis account. In the story, Onan's brother died, and the custom was for Onan to impregnate his sister-in-law so she could have children to carry on his brother's name. Onan apparently wanted the inheritance for himself and his own children, so he selfishly practiced the withdrawal method of birth control： "But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brothers wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother” (Gen. 38:9 NIV).
Some of the prohibition against masturbation seems to have evolved from the early church doctrine on birth control. Within marriage, masturbation was viewed as a form of preventing conception. It also was seen as promoting uncontrolled lust and self-centered sex.
In looking at the scriptural guidelines on masturbation, four ideas seem important in defining our theology and practice within God’s sexual guidelines:
1.God created sexuality to reveal Himself and His love of in-timate relationships. His sexual verbs are relate and connect. Masturbation at best is incomplete and may take the edge off of hormonal desire but is a solitary activity. It becomes a detour to intimacy in marriage because our hormonal desire should drive us to each other—not to nonintimate mas-turbating. Genital pleasuring as a solitary activity can create a secret world that diminishes your mate and excludes you from a more exciting sex life. Masturbation can signal laziness or a fear of intimacy.
2.Any sexual behavior that becomes a habit can be detrimental to and narrow your sex life. This is true of simply getting locked into a routine that excludes spontaneity or focuses only on intercourse. It is also true of masturbating, which can create a habitual kind of sex that detracts from making love and locks in a type of erotic arousal that your mate cannot duplicate. The apostle Paul wisely wrote, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Cor. 6.12 NKJV).
3.In any type of sexual pleasuring, you must guard your fantasy and thought life. It is important to keep the importance of sexual desire and fantasy within God's guidelines. The bottom line was allowing sexual thinking to promote intimacy with your mate and not have your part-nership adulterated by fantasizing about other people. If you use masturbation as a solitary activity to release sexual tension while separated from your mate, you run the risks with your thought life as well as not allowing your mate to create intimate connecting, which is the deeper need — not just need for release.
4.Sexually compulsive or addictive persons should never masturbate. Sex addiction is a simple definition would be someone who exclusively uses sex to destructively control and alter feelings, much as others use alcohol or food. Masturbation becomes an isolating activity and builds a secret world, separate from the mate, in which sex becomes a drug to combat boredom or relieve stress or alleviate guilt. As with any drug or surge of adrenaline, sex outside the concept of a loving relationship takes bigger doses and can lead to destructive behaviors like exhibitionism, voyeurism, and hours spent watching pornography.
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