Masturbation confliction

[thewanderer]

Intrinsic evil is intrinsic evil. Masturbation is just as intrinsically evil as murder.

lol, you really don’t understand my point do you? Rape is clearly a worse sin than fornication or masturbation. Sure both are intrinsically evil and both can get you to hell, but one does more damage and is more sinful. “Intrinsically evil” just means that it is always sinful, it doesn’t say anything at all about how serious of an evil it is.

 

[HansTrappist]

lol, you really don’t understand my point do you? Rape is clearly a worse sin than fornication or masturbation. Sure both are intrinsically evil and both can get you to hell, but one does more damage and is more sinful. “Intrinsically evil” just means that it is always sinful, it doesn’t say anything at all about how serious of an evil it is.

Rape is more egregious than Masturbation because one is engaging in a violent act. Yes, thank you stating the obvious. But you seem to keep missing the point: when one goes to hell it hardly matters how one got there. Masturbating can send one to Hell just as easily as Rape can. Maybe there are “levels” to Hell. I don’t know. But I don’t think it really matters once one is there. One will have a glorified body in Hell, one that is capable of experiencing* perfect *suffering.

 

[thewanderer]

Rape is more egregious than Masturbation because one is engaging in a violent act. Yes, thank you stating the obvious. But you seem to keep missing the point: when one goes to hell it hardly matters how one got there. Masturbating can send one to Hell just as easily as Rape can. Maybe there are “levels” to Hell. I don’t know. But I don’t think it really matters once one is there. One will have a glorified body in Hell, one that is capable of experiencing* perfect *suffering.

Well since I’ve already said multiple times that masturbation can lead people to hell I really don’t understand why you think I’m missing that point. I already brought it up multiple times. I am just going further and also making another point. I really don’t understand why you seem to have a problem with that.

 

[HansTrappist]

Well since I’ve already said multiple times that masturbation can lead people to hell I really don’t understand why you think I’m missing that point. I already brought it up multiple times. I am just going further and also making another point. I really don’t understand why you seem to have a problem with that.

Point taken with no problem at all.

It is just that our society has turned masturbation into a normal, healthy behavior. Even some Catholics that I have met think that it is just a normal part of going through puberty. These are all lies.

The sins of the flesh provide the spiritual energy behind the culture of death. Societies that crave the sins of the flesh also crave the destruction of the flesh, whether unborn or born. Sins of the flesh lead to the utter destruction and desecration of the flesh. It is an age-old formula. Lust and War-Lust always go hand-in-hand.

 

[frizzgrig]

“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” (CCC 2352)

While masturbation may be an intrinsically evil act, it is not necessarily always a grave act.

For the OP - keep trying to avoid the act, avoid occasions that lead to it, and ask God for the grace to overcome.

 

[Catholic80]

“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” (CCC 2352)

While masturbation may be an intrinsically evil act, it is not necessarily always a grave act.

For the OP - keep trying to avoid the act, avoid occasions that lead to it, and ask God for the grace to overcome.

I agree. To use myself as an example, I learned to masturbate when I was 4 years old (no joke) and acquired the habit from an early age. It would be hard for me to believe that at 4 years old I was committing a mortal sin, but even as a child, I always felt bad afterwards without knowing why. Somehow natural law was telling me that it was wrong and intrinsically evil.

Now, as an adult, with full moral culpability, it would be a mortal sin because I am fully aware. At 4 years old, or even a teenager for that matter, while I was still responsible and it still was a sin, I wasn’t fully culpable because of immaturity and age of acquired habit.

 

[MidnightSun12]

Point taken with no problem at all.

It is just that our society has turned masturbation into a normal, healthy behavior. Even some Catholics that I have met think that it is just a normal part of going through puberty. These are all lies.

The sins of the flesh provide the spiritual energy behind the culture of death. Societies that crave the sins of the flesh also crave the destruction of the flesh, whether unborn or born. Sins of the flesh lead to the utter destruction and desecration of the flesh. It is an age-old formula. Lust and War-Lust always go hand-in-hand.

I think that there’s a lot of truth to the claim that masturbation causes blindness. When a young man masturbates, his moral compass becomes distorted. The lines between right and wrong become blurred as his focus becomes turned inward. He now views the world through the lenses of a distorted reality… a make-believe world where he can avoid the hardships and trials of real life by retreating into fantasy.

Instead of desiring to see women cloth themselves in chastity and holiness, the masturbation-addicted man merely looks for a piece of exposed skin or a tight fitting outfit with which to thrill himself. His walk down a busy street is merely a flip through a pornography magazine where the models are all still wearing clothes. Masturbation causes a man to become a serial rapist at heart and he will be judged accordingly. In fact, it would be better if a man were to go physically blind from masturbating as the actual blindness it causes is much worse.

Of course, the worst part of masturbation is the very real possibility of eternal damnation. Masturbation is a grave evil that is akin to spiritual suicide. It must be taught to young men that it would be preferrable to die a martyr then to masturbate even just once.

 

[frizzgrig]

Instead of desiring to see women cloth themselves in chastity and holiness, the masturbation-addicted man merely looks for a piece of exposed skin or a tight fitting outfit with which to thrill himself. His walk down a busy street is merely a flip through a pornography magazine where the models are all still wearing clothes. Masturbation causes a man to become a serial rapist at heart and he will be judged accordingly. In fact, it would be better if a man were to go physically blind from masturbating as the actual blindness it causes is much worse.

Masturbation is a selfish act. It does not necessarily require the person (man or woman - yes women masturbate too) to look at sexually suggestive images “to thrill himself” or see a walk down the street as “a flip through a pornography magazine where the models are still wearing clothes.” There is a difference between masturbation, pornography, and sex addictions. While sometimes (maybe even frequently) one involves another they can be and frequently are separate issues.

Claiming “masturbation causes a man to become a serial rapist at heart” is really over the top.

 

[frizzgrig]

Now, as an adult, with full moral culpability, it would be a mortal sin because I am fully aware. At 4 years old, or even a teenager for that matter, while I was still responsible and it still was a sin, I wasn’t fully culpable because of immaturity and age of acquired habit.

At 4 years old you were not morally responsible. The Church has a minimum standard for being morally responsible in terms of age/mental development usually cited as “having reached the age of reason” and it is generally found to be about 7 years of age. It may be earlier or later depending on the specific person’s intellectual capabilities.

 

[Shannon9791]

So I’ve been having some real trouble lately.
I went on a retreat two weeks ago, had my reconciliation and told myself that I would stop masturbating cold turkey and never do it again so that I could receive the Eucharist.
This last weekend has been SO tough for me and i feel like my hormones have just been raging OFF THE WALL. I literally could not stop thinking about it. I would sit there and my foot could not stop tapping and I couldn’t stop biting my nails- it was bothering me that much.

I wouldn’t know if I would call myself an addict, but from my crazy behavior this last weekend, I dont know what I’d call myself anymore. It was just strange- even for me!

So I’m wondering what to do. I actually caved and gave in with the mindset that I just need this release, just this once and that once it was out I would feel fine- but now I feel absolutely horrible! I feel so absolutely guilty and I honestly don’t know why I thought that everything would be fine if I caved in just once- it wasn’t like myself at all.

Does anyone have any advice? I’m also confused on when masturbation is considered a mortal sin and a venial sin (i’ve always considered it a mortal sin, but I’ve read that it can be considered a venial sin… what is it in my case??)

I give just about everyone who writes in on this topic this same advice because it works for me, and is quite simple. The first is anytime you feel the urge, say a Hail Mary and contemplate on our Holy Mother. If thinking about her doesn’t remove the urge…well…that’s all I’ll say about that.

The second piece of advice I give is exercise. Masturbation is a physical activity, and if you replace it with another, more strenuous physical activity, you can all but eliminate it. It’s really hard to masturbate if you can’t lift your arms after entering beast mode in the gym for an hour or so. Focusing that energy elsewhere into a positive activity is a great way to help you overcome the temptation because you will know that you can do something else instead of masturbating.

As far as considering when it is/is not a sin isn’t up to anyone on this forum so I’m not even going to comment on that. I will say that, to be safe, I would consider it a sin every time it happens and get to confession ASAP.

 

[HansTrappist]

There is a difference between masturbation, pornography, and sex addictions. While sometimes (maybe even frequently) one involves another they can be and frequently are separate issues.

Claiming “masturbation causes a man to become a serial rapist at heart” is really over the top.

Actually, masturbation and porn go hand-in-hand. When you masturbate to porn you are “doing drugs” and are in fact releasing feel good chemicals into your brain for a high. See the following article (salvomag.com/new/articles/salvo13/13hilton.php) illustrating how looking at porn and masturbating is comparable to an addiction to powerful narcotics.

Now, the OPs claim that “masturbation causes man to become a serial rapist at heart” is true at heart. When one masturbates or looks at pornography, he or she is committing adultery (in one’s heart) with the porn star involved. Now, one could argue that it is not really akin to rape because after all the porn star has consented to being photographed or filmed (yet I’ll wager that the majority of porn stars, especially the young women, are sex slaves), but it is still more or less a mutual taking advantage of another person. And the more hardcore a sex addict becomes, the higher their tolerance to hardcore pornography becomes. They continually need to find better and “more pure” forms of sexual excitement. This is why many hardcore porn addicts usually end up looking for child porn or violent porn. They end up building a tolerance to mere adult porn. Ultimately, they are tempted to act out their fantasies in real life, and this is why many hardcore porn addicts end up real sexual offenders or rapists.

 

[godismybestpal]

I am so praying for you
but aren’t there any quotes from great catholic theologians about this topic?

 

[Julian_Peters]

Please see the following thread for addtional insight and advice:

• [ List of Catholic Websites for Battling Impurity (http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=55427)