Masturbation: NOT A SIN

[distracted]

Masturbation is not necessarily a sin. It is, however, an intrinsic moral evil. While the evil inherent in the act is in all people, at all times and places, the sinfullness of the masturbater depends on circumstance and intent. There are circumstances and impediments to free will which may mitigate or even eliminate personal culpability. Your confessor is your best initial source for healing.

Peace,
O’Malley

it is always a serious sin…

it’s just that certain “things” mitigate the “culpability” one has… but that hardly means much considering that even those less culpable will have to be purified and

***purification is painful… whether here or in Purg… but in Purg it is more excrutiating… and so, we should, obviously, avoid sin like the plague… ***

Jesus tells us to cut off the foot that causes us to stumble… Jesus would prefer that we have both feet (so we can go places more easily… spread the Gospel, etc…) However, if the foot causes us to sin, we are to hate that foot… (although it occurs to me that it is very rare that the FOOT is the offending body part… )

cutting off your foot is mutilation & is a sin condemned by the Church… but if the foot causes us to commit an even more serious sin… mortal sin… well, it’s time to do something drastic… (again, it isn’t the foot that is usually the problem…)

even if masturbating is seen as NOT being a sin, as you say… it does cause one to stumble and leads to more serious sin… It is a very selfish act and therefore, breeds more selfishness… and gets the mind focused on sex (selfish, perverted sex) rather than higher things… (like working out our salvation with fear and trembling - Phil 2;12)

and again, if nothing else, it is (also) a serious waste of time…

you could be out trying to help people instead, the less fortunate… one way or another…

which would increase grace in your soul… By grace we are saved…

grace is lost through masturbation… and the devil walks in the door it opens…

 

[stina2bina]

WEll, I think your lucky U can avoid it, again, maybe I am wrong, but I think with men it is harder. Maybe not with all men, but then again not everyone has the same sex drive

I know anyone can try hard enough to stop maturbating, even men. With God, anything is possible. I have about 10 devout Catholic guy friends (and we’ve had discussions at Youth Group since we were 13) and about 3 of them have had problems with the temptation, the other 6 say they’ve done it, but have basically stopped completely, and 1 never found it appealing. But, by the age of about 17, they were ALL proud to say that they can easily overcome their temptation. Thankfully, my boyfriend is one of them It required A LOT of prayer and time, but they’ve done it, and so can anyone else.

I actually have a bit of a history battling this too. For some reason, everytime I watched Sex and the City, I would have a higher sex drive. For awhile I convinced myself that “maturbation is natural and good for you”. But then I prayed about it and honestly felt that God was asking me to stop. So, I stopped watching Sex and the City and every other time I was tempted I would pray. I can honestly say I will never do it again

Yes, many people in this world masturbate, but many of these people don’t believe God is a big part of their life. The vast majority of devout Catholics either don’t masturbate, or acknowledge that it is very evil/sinful, and are trying everything they can to stop. Why should we as Catholics compare ourselves to the unfaithful who masturbate and find nothing wrong with it, instead of the devout Catholics who don’t NEARLY as much and try to stop. We are not animals, and to be honest, my lustful thoughts were a lot LESS under-control when I was battling this. It uses your sexuality for lustful purposes and I am so grateful I now know the truth.

If someone puts their mind to stopping and prays for God’s help, it is 100% possible for both men, and women to quit.

 

[Julian_Peters]

Thank you to all who have participated. This thread is now closed.