Masterbation is or isn't a sin?

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Noelwashere

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I was learned to not masterbate because of my religion(catholic). I’ve been searching for this answer for about 2 years, when I started, and for the past 2 years, I have been feeling alot of guilt after every time I have masterbated, I am 15 years old. When I google’d if it was a sin or not. The majority said It is not a sin, and i have seen few who say it is. And today, I was researching I was coming across this site. I’ve prayed for the answer multiple signs, but I can’t seem to find it. Hopefully this site, will give me the answer to my prayers. So my question is, is masterbation a sin and is it ok to continue masterbating?

Noel.
 
Yes, and not an easy one to stop either. The catechism of the catholic church, (sort of like all the teachings compounded and made simple), says it’s a sin.

Here, these might help.
chastity.com/chastity/index.php?id=7&entryid=20

chastity.com/chastity/index.php?id=7&entryid=50

(Also, if you’re using someone else’s computer, you might want to check your email, and change your options so you don’t get email alerts for subscribed threads. It might be embarassing if someone sees an e-mail with the thread title in it.)
 
Noelwashere said:
I was learned to not masterbate because of my religion(catholic). I’ve been searching for this answer for about 2 years, when I started, and for the past 2 years, I have been feeling alot of guilt after every time I have masterbated, I am 15 years old. When I google’d if it was a sin or not. The majority said It is not a sin, and i have seen few who say it is. And today, I was researching I was coming across this site. I’ve prayed for the answer multiple signs, but I can’t seem to find it. Hopefully this site, will give me the answer to my prayers. So my question is, is masterbation a sin and is it ok to continue masterbating?

Noel.
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How wonderful to hear a young man seek to live his Catholic faith. God love you. Yes my friend it is a sin. And no doubt the Grace of God is convicting you. Work very hard now. Remember your Catholic faith is a battle. Go to confession and seek the the Lord’s forgiveness. And don’t lose hope. Keep away from all immodesty. Chose your friends wisely. Ask the Blessed Virgin to help you. 👍
 
Noel, it’s a mortal sin too. Good on you for seeking an answer to this question. I prayed that Our Lady of the Rosary will pray for you to have strength.

Good advice above, to which I’d add keep control of what you look at and where your thoughts are going.

God Bless

Rove
 
Noel, while the Church recognizes masturbation as grave matter it may not always be a mortal sin. For a sin to be mortal you have to have 1) grave matter, 2) full knowledge and 3) full consent. So, while this is always an offense to God, you should seek the sacrament of reconciliation and have the priest help you discern the gravity of this sin for you. At 15 years old you must be commended for seeking chastity in the way that you are, Most kids your age wouldn’t even think to ask.

God always loves you and is always there for you. For a young man this is very much a struggle to overcome since your hormones are running rapant. It will take much discipline. It can be done but don’t beat yourself up if you fail at times. Just continue in your prayer life and go to confession and receive the Eucharist. Jesus loves you very much and He knows you better than anyone. Keep up the good fight and thank God for all of the graces that you received…God bless…teachccd 🙂
 
The temptation to masturbate is a place where you can encounter God. Choose Him instead of pleasure. A song lyric I like, that summarizes this, goes “You created nothing that gives me more pleasure than You.” Find a way to praise God in the midst of temptation.

Reject masturbation, but don’t judge yourself if you fall. Sparrows fall all the time, and God picks them up and provides for them. You are worth many sparrows. 😉
 
Noelwashere said:
I was learned to not masterbate because of my religion(catholic). I’ve been searching for this answer for about 2 years, when I started, and for the past 2 years, I have been feeling alot of guilt after every time I have masterbated, I am 15 years old. When I google’d if it was a sin or not. The majority said It is not a sin, and i have seen few who say it is. And today, I was researching I was coming across this site. I’ve prayed for the answer multiple signs, but I can’t seem to find it. Hopefully this site, will give me the answer to my prayers. So my question is, is masterbation a sin and is it ok to continue masterbating?

Noel.
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Your answer can be found in the official Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."137 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of “the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.” 138

[137/138 footnotes: CDF, Persona humana 9.]

The fact is, according to the Church, masturbation IS a sin. Some teens (and even grown men) have had problems with this sin, but please realize that it can be confessed. Ask God to give you strength in coping with this. You might also want to ask Saint Dominic Savio for his intercession to help you. He is the saint of teenagers. To find out more about him, you may go to this website and read about the guy -

catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=43

Also, Amazon.com offers a list of books about him.
 
peary said:
Your answer can be found in the official Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."137 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of “the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.” 138

[137/138 footnotes: CDF, Persona humana 9.]

The fact is, according to the Church, masturbation IS a sin. Some teens (and even grown men) have had problems with this sin, but please realize that it can be confessed. Ask God to give you strength in coping with this. You might also want to ask Saint Dominic Savio for his intercession to help you. He is the saint of teenagers. To find out more about him, you may go to this website and read about the guy -

catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=43

Also, Amazon.com offers a list of books about him.
Click to expand...
2352 By *masturbation *is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139 **To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability. **

I just wanted to be fair and give Noel the entire section (bold mine) as I think that it is important to realize this especially for one who might be scrupulous. That is why it is so critical for everyone to seek the sacrament of reconciliation. This is really the only place that a person can discern the gravity of their sins. I am not undermining the sinful nature of this act but when a section of the CCC is quoted, it should be in its entirety in order to maintain the context… teachccd
 
teachccd said:
2352 By *masturbation *is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139 **To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability. **

I just wanted to be fair and give Noel the entire section (bold mine) as I think that it is important to realize this especially for one who might be scrupulous. That is why it is so critical for everyone to seek the sacrament of reconciliation. This is really the only place that a person can discern the gravity of their sins. I am not undermining the sinful nature of this act but when a section of the CCC is quoted, it should be in its entirety in order to maintain the context… teachccd
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Obviously, you didn’t read through to the end of my posting. That was all covered.
 
peary said:
Obviously, you didn’t read through to the end of my posting. That was all covered.
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No where in your post did you state the latter part of section 2352. Just admitting that you can confess this sin does not give the information that is stated in the completed section of 2352. I just wanted to make sure that Noel has all of the information as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That’s all… Peace…teachccd
 
Noelwashere said:
I was learned to not masterbate because of my religion(catholic). I’ve been searching for this answer for about 2 years, when I started, and for the past 2 years, I have been feeling alot of guilt after every time I have masterbated, I am 15 years old. When I google’d if it was a sin or not. The majority said It is not a sin, and i have seen few who say it is. And today, I was researching I was coming across this site. I’ve prayed for the answer multiple signs, but I can’t seem to find it. Hopefully this site, will give me the answer to my prayers. So my question is, is masterbation a sin and is it ok to continue masterbating?

Noel.
Click to expand...
It is indeed a sin, and has always been viewed as such by the Church. Coming from a fellow 15-year-old, one who’s kicked the habit, your #1 weapon for fighting it is Confession.
 
In the future, don’t rely on Google to tell what is and isn’t a sin. Unlike the church it is fallible and not to mention it has a lot of stuff that promotes sins.
 
Mathew 5:28

But I say to you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Of course the Caticism is a little more detailed.
 
there are a number of things that i would like to know; 1) WHY is it a sin to masterbate 2)why is it a sin to be gay/homosexual when they can’t help it. i know that the church believe that you r born like that but why are they not allowed to act on it. why would God make them like that if they were never allowed to show any affection towards anyone. does that mean it is a sin for them. they r outside a relationship but according to our church (Catholic) they can’t marry. what then. helpful answers are appreciated. I am 15 and am now trying to stop masterbating as i have now only found out that it is a sin. have i still committed a sin by doing it even though i had no idea or should i still go to confession. ???
 
Gandalf said:
there are a number of things that i would like to know; 1) WHY is it a sin to masterbate 2)why is it a sin to be gay/homosexual when they can’t help it. i know that the church believe that you r born like that but why are they not allowed to act on it. why would God make them like that if they were never allowed to show any affection towards anyone. does that mean it is a sin for them. they r outside a relationship but according to our church (Catholic) they can’t marry. what then. helpful answers are appreciated. I am 15 and am now trying to stop masterbating as i have now only found out that it is a sin. have i still committed a sin by doing it even though i had no idea or should i still go to confession. ???
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Masturbation is a grave offense against chastitiy. It’s all hard to explain in one post, but if you look back on the thread you’ll see some good reasons given why it is grave matter.

Homosexual people can’t masturbate for the same reasons, heterosexual people can’t masturbate. The reason why homosexual people can’t act upon thier feelings with each other is that sex was designed for man and women when they are married.
 
Gandalf said:
there are a number of things that i would like to know; 1) WHY is it a sin to masterbate 2)why is it a sin to be gay/homosexual when they can’t help it. i know that the church believe that you r born like that but why are they not allowed to act on it. why would God make them like that if they were never allowed to show any affection towards anyone. does that mean it is a sin for them. they r outside a relationship but according to our church (Catholic) they can’t marry. what then. helpful answers are appreciated. I am 15 and am now trying to stop masterbating as i have now only found out that it is a sin. have i still committed a sin by doing it even though i had no idea or should i still go to confession. ???
Click to expand...
 
Gandalf said:
there are a number of things that i would like to know; 1) WHY is it a sin to masterbate 2)why is it a sin to be gay/homosexual when they can’t help it. i know that the church believe that you r born like that but why are they not allowed to act on it. why would God make them like that if they were never allowed to show any affection towards anyone. does that mean it is a sin for them. they r outside a relationship but according to our church (Catholic) they can’t marry. what then. helpful answers are appreciated. I am 15 and am now trying to stop masterbating as i have now only found out that it is a sin. have i still committed a sin by doing it even though i had no idea or should i still go to confession. ???
Click to expand...
  1. That question was well covered by the previous post, it is a sin against chastity and every Christian, single, married, religious, holy-orders (priest, deacons, bishops) are called to chastity in accordance with the circumstances of their vocation.
  2. It is not a sin to be same-sex-attraction orientated. It is a sin to engage in sexual acts outside the boundaries of marriage, marriage between one man and one woman, exclusively.
  3. That fact that a person is born with same-sex attraction does not free them from the requirement of chastity. Is it hard for them, yes, but not any harder than it is for many others who no fault of their own are born with disabilities, impediments, chronic illness, whatever, that might keep them from fulfilling sexual relationships in the context of marriage, or keep them from any other normal fulfilling activity most others enjoy.
  4. We are only obligated to confess what we know (have known), understand (have understood) to be sin. What is done in the past in ignorance is not held against us. That does not mean that there are no consequences for immoral acts committed in ignorance. There can be and often are. Has a habit formed, have normal relationships been harmed, has the act led to other things that are immoral and harmful to oneself and others?
 
If masturbation is a sin because it separates the function of sex [to procreate within marriage] from the pleasure, then isn’t a lot of mundane stuff sinful? For example: wouldn’t chewing gum be sinful? Eating is for nutrition, but by chewing gum, we are essentially getting the pleasure of eating [from the gum’s taste] without the function [maintaining a healthy body.]

Perhaps this sounds troll-ish, but I’m asking an honest question here. I’ve been abstaining for 2 months, and as an 18-year-old male, this is getting very frustrating. I still cannot determine if masturbation’s truly sinful.

Please do not simply quote the catechism here as a response. I know what the Church says. I know what the Church has said on many things, and that’s what leads me to seek other answers.
 
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