Masturbation and Addiction

[nsper7]

I’m not surprised. Some Priests don’t label the act a sin.

Let’s clarify this. If the act has become habitual in the person, responsibilty and culpability are lessened, but it doesn’t free the person from the responsibility of the sin.

Make sense?

But does it remain mortal though? The sin is still grave matter, but does full consent still exist?

 

[davymax3]

But does it remain mortal though? The sin is still grave matter, but does full consent still exist?

I think this is a silly point to argue. It’s hard to know the state of the guy committing the sin. There are instances were compulsive or deranged behavior that would normally result in mortal sin, is not because of that.

 

[LumenGent]

I don’t know, only God can judge a person’s conscience. It also depends on the individual and the extant of freedom which they have to avoid the sin. Getting an urge every now and again does not equate to addictiveness, every healthy male will get that urge.

In most cases it may be mortal, but then again if the person lacks full consent and we need to stress alot on the meaning of full consent, then it won’t be mortal. From what i have read, it is very difficult to lack full consent

 

[TLM08]

It would seem to be difficult to masturbate w/ ‘malice’. After all, malice, in a legal sense, means the “evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others”. Well, I know, personally, my ‘goal’ in masturbation is not to do evil, but to pleasure myself.

Well stated. I might add that there is a lot more to this activity than pleasuring oneself. There are hormonal, psychological, and neurological factors at work here that are still a bit beyond human understanding. There is a lot of science and biology at work in the mind that governs sexual behavior.

That said, there remains using good judgement. It’s wise to avoid keeping company with loose women, staying out of strip clubs, avoiding pornography and doing your best to maintain a healthy spiritual life and being a good provider and protector for one’s family.

Furthermore, since we know that food and our drive to obtain it sustains life, How is eating huge piece of double chocolate fudge cake with chocolate chip ice cream right after dinner any different than pleasuring oneself sexually? This cake has nothing to do with the intended purpose of food which is to sustain life. Why isn’t “pleasure eating” like this considered evil? I am just not seeing much of a difference when logic is applied.

 

[Dchsknight]

My Suggestion to the OP, is Get some love in your Life. Girlfriend, get married, something. Not saying get married cause you masterbate, but, Love, true God given love, can destroy all strongholds. I know i have dealt with this issue since i was like 14, I am now 24. This Easter i became Catholic and since then, a habit that was daily, now i have only done once. The kicker for me was, I had to confess the issue. I dont want to do that. Plus, I have a woman whom I am gonna marry, who by just being near her, makes all those Evil urges go away. Because it is the love that God designed for me, When she is around, I dont need nor want Masterbation.

also Remember, it is ok to think woman are beautiful. It is never wrong to look at a woman and be like wow she is nice looking. Never wrong to admire God’s handiwork. IT is were you take those thoughts. It becomes wrong when you start undressing her in you mind and imagining what she looks like underneath it all. It is wrong when you think of things you can do with her. That is what Christ meant when he said, when you look at woman with lust in your heart.

Remember it is ok to admire the beauty that God makes, It is one of the things that God did not make us with and gave to woman, but it is never ok to take it to places that you should never go.

Then some might say that is not ok to want your wife or Girlfriend. Now agian you need to be careful with your girlfriend because she does not belong to you. But if it is the woman that God designed for you, let her love and the love the God made for you destroy the strong hold of mAsterbation. because if you let that happen soon you find the love that destroys Pornography, Slothfulness, passiveness. When you find her, do everything in your power to hold on to her and to love her like Christ loves her.

That is my Advice…

 

[davymax3]

Furthermore, since we know that food and our drive to obtain it sustains life, How is eating huge piece of double chocolate fudge cake with chocolate chip ice cream right after dinner any different than pleasuring oneself sexually? This cake has nothing to do with the intended purpose of food which is to sustain life. Why isn’t “pleasure eating” like this considered evil? I am just not seeing much of a difference when logic is applied.

Seriously? You don’t see the difference between sex and food? You might went to get that checked out…

 

[buckr02]

Furthermore, since we know that food and our drive to obtain it sustains life, How is eating huge piece of double chocolate fudge cake with chocolate chip ice cream right after dinner any different than pleasuring oneself sexually? This cake has nothing to do with the intended purpose of food which is to sustain life. Why isn’t “pleasure eating” like this considered evil? I am just not seeing much of a difference when logic is applied.

Since we all know that food and our drive to obtain it sustains life, how is killing a rabbit for food any different than killing a human for food?

Arguments like that don’t exactly work.

 

[Dtmccameron]

Seriously? You don’t see the difference between sex and food? You might went to get that checked out…

No, I think his point was he sees them both as sensless indulgence. And in a way he’s right, we are on this earth for a purpose, and outside of our purpose, I think it extremely unhealthy to have anything to do with worldy things. Pretty much, dull acetism.

I used to say, in regards to those protestant “gospel of prosperity” preachers,

“God doesn’t want you to be happy!”

He wants us to be obedient. It’s important, to remember, I think, that our happiness is in heaven, and our only peace in Him. Outside of this, any attempt, really, to derive satisfaction is quite practically idolatry.

 

[davymax3]

No, I think his point was he sees them both as sensless indulgence. And in a way he’s right, we are on this earth for a purpose, and outside of our purpose, I think it extremely unhealthy to have anything to do with worldy things. Pretty much, dull acetism.

I used to say, in regards to those protestant “gospel of prosperity” preachers,

“God doesn’t want you to be happy!”

He wants us to be obedient. It’s important, to remember, I think, that our happiness is in heaven, and our only peace in Him. Outside of this, any attempt, really, to derive satisfaction is quite practically idolatry.

No. Not at all. God certainly does want us to be happy. He loves us more than you can possibly imagine, so it would be pretty ridiculous if He wanted us not to be happy…

We are also supposed to enjoy the gifts God has given us. Enjoying time with our friends and family is most certainly something God wants us to do amongst many other things.

I don’t see where you’re getting all this.

 

[Dtmccameron]

No. Not at all. God certainly does want us to be happy. He loves us more than you can possibly imagine, so it would be pretty ridiculous if He wanted us not to be happy…

We are also supposed to enjoy the gifts God has given us. Enjoying time with our friends and family is most certainly something God wants us to do amongst many other things.

I don’t see where you’re getting all this.

Everything has it’s season, and the season for happiness is Heaven, or, Eternity, I suppose. Take the married folk, they want eachother to be happy, yes? Which is why they wed, so that they might spend every waking hour of their days working to get the other closer to heaven.

So, God, yes, wants us to be “happy”, you’ll notice, I said ‘used to say,’ implying, however ambiguously, that I not longer hold that idea. You’ll notice I said our Happiness lies in Heaven, how good it is then, to know that God wills the death of no man, eh?

And you’ll notice it was in response to the “gospel of prosperity” where people think, that by living Christain lives, God will bless them with comfort, with security, with money, and possessions!

So then, He wants us to be happy. And He wants us to realize we’ll never be happy without Him, and He wants us to join Him, and in order to do so, He wants us to obey Him, and not seek out satisfaction through worldly means.

What is masturbation? Without lust, it simply remains the tantamount rebelillion against God, taking up arms, so to speak, against the natural and good order of this reality; seeking satisfaction outside of God, outside of His plan and the good things He has made.

He wants us to see that we can never, by any of our feeble clawings at Heaven reach Paradise, rather, it is only, through His Son, that we might be lifted up, as He was, exalted, as He was, upon a Cross, that we might enjoy true happiness.

For, to all the pleasures of this world we ought be dead, dead to this world, this wicked world, and live solely, and only for Christ.​

Heaven! You wont get there with stuff, or by eating cake, but only by living as Our Lord has lived! His was a happy death! And one that, should we be so blessed, might share in!

It is by His passion, His terrible passion in reperation to our sins, for our sins was His holy, pure flesh shredded and beated and bruised; that we are saved!

 

[davymax3]

Okay. That sounds a lot better except for the last line:

“For, to all the pleasures of this world we ought be dead, dead to this world, this wicked world, and live solely, and only for Christ.”

The world pro se is not wicked. It is good. It’s God’s creation. Aquinas amongst other doctors has spoken of this a lot. Existence, in itself, is a good thing.

However, since evil (the lack of God, the will to destroy or pervert the good things God has created) is in the world, those things can be perverted and used for sin.

Take for instance the Garden of Eden. Was this not made for man’s pleasure? So that man could be happy in his existence on Earth?

 

[Dtmccameron]

Okay. That sounds a lot better except for the last line:

“For, to all the pleasures of this world we ought be dead, dead to this world, this wicked world, and live solely, and only for Christ.”

The world pro se is not wicked. It is good. It’s God’s creation. Aquinas amongst other doctors has spoken of this a lot. Existence, in itself, is a good thing.

However, since evil (the lack of God, the will to destroy or pervert the good things God has created) is in the world, those things can be perverted and used for sin.

Take for instance the Garden of Eden. Was this not made for man’s pleasure? So that man could be happy in his existence on Earth?

And like some perverse special on one of those daytime gossip shows, “Where is it now?”

Regardless, I was simply echoing the words of St. Paul, I claim to have no understanding!

Still, I hold it better to live for that alone which is Good (God) than that which can be good, is often neutral, and really does tend towards evil; meaning of course, that my reference toward “the world” wasn’t to the planet earth or this physical existance, but rather—

A thought hit me. Y’know how…We try to say we came from a long line of gradually more sophisticated creatures…Well, I had proposed once in jest that Angels had evolved…And thought came to me now…that there would have to be…Angelic apes! Oh, the image of a Gorilla with wings and a halo!

ahem

but rather this state into which we were born, this sinful state. This state-without-grace. Society, really.​

I’ve also danced with Dualism, so, it’s very good of you to keep watch for any heresy I might spout!​

On that “God made it, it’s good” bit…God made us, yes? But then, Our Lord hath said, “No one is good but God.” Does that not imply that, probobly through our sinning, namely, our Original Sin, we are no longer good?

 

[davymax3]

On that “God made it, it’s good” bit…God made us, yes? But then, Our Lord hath said, “No one is good but God.” Does that not imply that, probobly through our sinning, namely, our Original Sin, we are no longer good?

God made it, so it’s existence is good, not it is good. Those are different things. Satan is not good. But his existence in and of itself is good. Existence itself is a good thing. Satan if he got what he wanted would cease to exist himself since he seeks to destroy everything of God’s. He can not create, only destroy.

Similar to humans, angels have free will, and as Satan chose to sin, so do many of us. One reason sin is bad is because we are perverting our purpose, which as you have stated is to obey God. However, I think we obey God when we take advantage of his gifts. When we go to the park and play with our children, or read poetry, or look at beautiful paintings, or do any number of other things. Obviously, we can abuse these gifts by over-indulging and neglecting other more important gifts of God. For instance, if I excused myself from church to go to my son’s soccer game. That would be wrong.

Part of being human is of course having free will. So, we can choose to do good, and thus become closer to goodness (God), however infinitsemal our efforts are in respect to God, or to do evil, and thus, become further from God, and closer to death and destruction.

Let’s take something mundane, dirt for instance. We could say, okay, it’s neutral by itself. Neither good nor evil, a tabala rasa. However. I think that we can confidently say, that it is good. Since, from Genesis, we know God saw that it was good. Only, by an active agent with free will, can dirt become used for evil.

 

[Peter_Dawson]

Part of the sin of masturbation is to focus in on masturbation as a sin, rather than focusing-in on the larger context of your role in the world around you. Obsessing feeds obsessions.

Ask yourself, “Why am I such a loser that I am sitting around thinking relentlessly about thinking about masturbation?”

Stop worrying about the sin, and start worrying about what you are not doing, instead of masturbating.

Right there is where the sin is.

 

[Dtmccameron]

Part of the sin of masturbation is to focus in on masturbation as a sin, rather than focusing-in on the larger context of your role in the world around you. Obsessing feeds obsessions.

Ask yourself, “Why am I such a loser that I am sitting around thinking relentlessly about thinking about masturbation?”

Stop worrying about the sin, and start worrying about what you are not doing, instead of masturbating.

Right there is where the sin is.

Ah, that we should all act, in our hour of temptation, to virtue instead of vice; and was it not correctly said that idle minds wander in dark places, and idle hand are the devils workshop?

Should it not be, then, that when our minds are not about our tasks, they should be meditating upon the Lord, and our hands, when no longer clasping tools, folded in prayer?

 

[Peter_Dawson]

Ah, that we should all act, in our hour of temptation, to virtue instead of vice; and was it not correctly said that idle minds wander in dark places, and idle hand are the devils workshop?

Should it not be, then, that when our minds are not about our tasks, they should be meditating upon the Lord, and our hands, when no longer clasping tools, folded in prayer?

You have to do what I say. There is no other way out. The masturbator’s problem is not his habit. It’s his priorities about everything else.

Oddly, praying about masturbation is a form of obsessing about masturbation. You’ll ultimately fail.

Pray, instead, about everything else in your life. That is where the problem is.

Masturbation is not a sex problem. It’s an “Everything Else Problem.”

 

[Dtmccameron]

You have to do what I say. There is no other way out. The masturbator’s problem is not his habit. It’s his priorities about everything else.

Oddly, praying about masturbation is a form of obsessing about masturbation. You’ll ultimately fail.

Pray, instead, about everything else in your life. That is where the problem is.

Masturbation is not a sex problem. It’s an “Everything Else Problem.”

No, see, I was, ah, agreeing with you. What I said I kinda meant to apply to life as a whole…

 

[Peter_Dawson]

No, see, I was, ah, agreeing with you. What I said I kinda meant to apply to life as a whole…

I know. And I appreciate it. I was just being clear for readers with the masturbation problem. It is the way out, and so few know it.

 

[TLM08]

Part of the sin of masturbation is to focus in on masturbation as a sin, rather than focusing-in on the larger context of your role in the world around you. Obsessing feeds obsessions.

Ask yourself, “Why am I such a loser that I am sitting around thinking relentlessly about thinking about masturbation?”

Stop worrying about the sin, and start worrying about what you are not doing, instead of masturbating.

Right there is where the sin is.

You are absolutely right. Some men and even some woman I suspect create more stress and guilt obsessing about NOT masturbating that they wind up doing it a lot more than if they would simply STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!

Men, if you want to take the focus off this practice, the first thing you need to do is give up all porn cold turkey. This will bring your hormone output levels and sexual thoughts back to a more reasonable level. Will you be perfectlty chaste? NO! Just clean up your life as best you can and stop worrying about the occasional “slip of the hand” so to speak.

Is it a sin to masturbate? Well, in my opinion, our sexual abilities were not given to us for our own amusement. Regular and habitual masturbation is a manifestation of self-centeredness. There lies the bigger problem. The husband or wife who resorts to regular masturbation while denying relations with their spouse is guilty and needs to get right with God …and their spouse. Furthermore, the primary purpose of the sexual capacity is procreation.

Young men in particular need to know that this is a very normal part of growing up. During the maturing process however, the young man learns to focus that energy into a loving marriage as his deepest expression of love for his wife.

But the fact remains, not all men (and women) are suited or ready for marriage. Not everyone is capable of being a good parent for many reasons, some of these include health issues, mental disabilities and such. Are these people doomed unless they live celibate? Few people are actually capable of living that way.

It’s a complicated issue and we need to stop shaming ourselves and others over it. In order to live sane lives, we must keep the masturbation issue in perspective.

 

[LumenGent]

Is it a sin to masturbate? Well, in my opinion, our sexual abilities were not given to us for our own amusement. Regular and habitual masturbation is a manifestation of self-centeredness. There lies the bigger problem. The husband or wife who resorts to regular masturbation while denying relations with their spouse is guilty and needs to get right with God …and their spouse. Furthermore, the primary purpose of the sexual capacity is procreation.

The Church teaches it is a grave sin. It is a sin both for the Married and unmarried.

Young men in particular need to know that this is a very normal part of growing up. During the maturing process however, the young man learns to focus that energy into a loving marriage as his deepest expression of love for his wife.

Do you speak as a Psychologist or are you stating what the Church teaches? If it is the latter, then you are wrong in the first sentence.