So, my last article was about homosexuality and its pertinence to Judeo-Christianity. And I know I promised that I was going to write the series on the story of Sodom and Gommorah, but I felt this was more important. I can't say that it will follow this article, but I will get to it at some point in the future.
As many of you know, I engage in a wide array of debates ranging from politics to culture to theology and so on. One topic I've run into a few times that I felt would be a good follow up to the last article is Onanism. In other words, the question we're addressing here is: Is masturbation a sin?
As eerie as this is to put this on my blog, it's a topic that has caused innumerable confusion amongst Christians. Particularly, those who are fresh in their faith and still need answers.
Of course, you can make the argument that lust is a sin (which it most certainly is) and that means masturbation is, but you fail to acknowledge the fact that the two are not mutually inclusive. One does not need to desire the flesh of someone else in order to diddle their goods.
You can also make the case that the Bible admonishes "sexual immorality", but this would be grasping at straws because the Bible clearly defines every immoral sexual act and fapfapfapping is not one of them.
“It is better that a man spill his seed in a whore’s belly than on the ground.”
We're going to ignore the fact that your body will (nocturnally) emit your seed even if you don't handle it yourself and women don't have a seed making female masturbation perfectly fine.
This quote often throws people for a loop and sends them reeling, believing that this is a condemnation of masturbation. Which... it is. But there's one problem: This quote is found absolutely nowhere in the Bible.
It's manmade.
In fact, the exact opposite is true. Fornication and prostitution are both admonished quite severely, whereas masturbation is not. Not even once. I don't know who conjured this quote up, but they should be ashamed of themselves for not only being a false prophet, but misleading people into betraying what the Bible actually teaches.
Genesis 38:8-10 (KJV)
"And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also."
As you can probably garner, this is where the term "Onanism" comes from, but once again, people see what they want. If put into full context, this makes absolutely no sense.
Let me summarize the story: Judah had three sons; Er, Onan and Shelah. Er took up a wife, but God slew him for his wickedness (it's not said exactly what he did) before he could have a child; being that this was the cradle of civilization, this was bad for the progress of humanity. So, Jehovah (God) told Onan to bare her a child (it should be noted that this is an Old Testament concept not applicable to us today.)
Instead, however, when Onan and Tamar (Er's wife) went at it, Onan disobeyed God by engaging in coitus interuptus (pull out method). For this, God slew Onan as well.
There is absolutely no masturbation going on at all in this story. You can, of course, take this as meaning that spilling your seed anywhere, but in a woman is a sin, but this wouldn't be very biblical, now would it?
Fact of the matter is that God gave Onan a command to further humanity in its infantile stage and Onan disobeyed. So, this isn't even condemnation of coitus interuptus, but rather, the moral of this story is: Don't disobey the dude who can vaporize you with his finger tips.
If we are to take from the story of Onan that deposting your seed anywhere, but a woman is a win -- then it is just as practical to deduce that it is sinful to not kill our offspring, by way of Genesis 22.
I, particularly, enjoyed the quote of "Consuming Fire" on Yahoo Answers:
"Hey, the earth is new, people need to multiply and populate it. God didn't have time for BS."
There are other vague references that fundamentalists try to use to debase "Onanism", but they're all so desperate that they're not even worth discussing in this article.
When the Bible is so explicit on bestiality, fornication, adultery, et cetera, why would it be silent/vague on such a broad topic?
As many of you know, I engage in a wide array of debates ranging from politics to culture to theology and so on. One topic I've run into a few times that I felt would be a good follow up to the last article is Onanism. In other words, the question we're addressing here is: Is masturbation a sin?
As eerie as this is to put this on my blog, it's a topic that has caused innumerable confusion amongst Christians. Particularly, those who are fresh in their faith and still need answers.
Of course, you can make the argument that lust is a sin (which it most certainly is) and that means masturbation is, but you fail to acknowledge the fact that the two are not mutually inclusive. One does not need to desire the flesh of someone else in order to diddle their goods.
You can also make the case that the Bible admonishes "sexual immorality", but this would be grasping at straws because the Bible clearly defines every immoral sexual act and fapfapfapping is not one of them.
“It is better that a man spill his seed in a whore’s belly than on the ground.”
We're going to ignore the fact that your body will (nocturnally) emit your seed even if you don't handle it yourself and women don't have a seed making female masturbation perfectly fine.
This quote often throws people for a loop and sends them reeling, believing that this is a condemnation of masturbation. Which... it is. But there's one problem: This quote is found absolutely nowhere in the Bible.
It's manmade.
In fact, the exact opposite is true. Fornication and prostitution are both admonished quite severely, whereas masturbation is not. Not even once. I don't know who conjured this quote up, but they should be ashamed of themselves for not only being a false prophet, but misleading people into betraying what the Bible actually teaches.
Genesis 38:8-10 (KJV)
"And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also."
As you can probably garner, this is where the term "Onanism" comes from, but once again, people see what they want. If put into full context, this makes absolutely no sense.
Let me summarize the story: Judah had three sons; Er, Onan and Shelah. Er took up a wife, but God slew him for his wickedness (it's not said exactly what he did) before he could have a child; being that this was the cradle of civilization, this was bad for the progress of humanity. So, Jehovah (God) told Onan to bare her a child (it should be noted that this is an Old Testament concept not applicable to us today.)
Instead, however, when Onan and Tamar (Er's wife) went at it, Onan disobeyed God by engaging in coitus interuptus (pull out method). For this, God slew Onan as well.
There is absolutely no masturbation going on at all in this story. You can, of course, take this as meaning that spilling your seed anywhere, but in a woman is a sin, but this wouldn't be very biblical, now would it?
Fact of the matter is that God gave Onan a command to further humanity in its infantile stage and Onan disobeyed. So, this isn't even condemnation of coitus interuptus, but rather, the moral of this story is: Don't disobey the dude who can vaporize you with his finger tips.
If we are to take from the story of Onan that deposting your seed anywhere, but a woman is a win -- then it is just as practical to deduce that it is sinful to not kill our offspring, by way of Genesis 22.
I, particularly, enjoyed the quote of "Consuming Fire" on Yahoo Answers:
"Hey, the earth is new, people need to multiply and populate it. God didn't have time for BS."
There are other vague references that fundamentalists try to use to debase "Onanism", but they're all so desperate that they're not even worth discussing in this article.
When the Bible is so explicit on bestiality, fornication, adultery, et cetera, why would it be silent/vague on such a broad topic?