Cardinal Ratzinger recommended that Catholics explore Jewish exegesis of the Bible (in the document The Jewish People and their Scripture in the Holy Bible).
It is part and parcel of Judaism to study the Torah. Jews come to different conclusions and say things in refreshing ways that are liberating from the dry, rote formulas, like repeating the Catechism, over and over.
According to Jewish exegesis, sexuality is a gift. God gave humanity a command to reproduce. They consider it a tragedy if a man never marries and never has children.
On and on. Sexuality is a gift from God to be enjoyed.
Catholic exegesis that minimizes stuff like this has to be suspect at the least, and considered further as Ratzinger said.
If X was a mortal sin, plain and simple, then why does the Catechism not say that X is a mortal sin. In fact, the quoted section of the Catechism in a previous post says that a person’s culpability for masturbation may be “minimal.” So, I think it is unfair to burden people by judging their actions and pronouncing judgment on them.
Let’s stay committed to the truth, by all means, at all times, but READ what the Catechism says – culpability - minimal. when I was in Catholic high school in the mid-1960’s, the subject came up and the priest said that it was a venial sin, and COULD BECOME a mortal sin under some conditions.
Look at the sin of coveting, in the Ten Commandments. That must be a mortal sin, but nobody, or nearly nobody, worries about that, to begin with.
From a different standpoint, Jews consider the holiness code of Leviticus to apply to the Israelites (Jews) and to no one else. Even in the new testament, imposing the “law” on Christians was ruled out – e.g. no circumcision required for admission.
So, come on. Let’s be consistent. People who want the hell-and-brimstone message about masturbation, based on equivocal and unreflective interpretations of the old covenant, are Judaizers, as the translations of the NT call them.
We get squeemish about the subject of masturbation, admit it. It’s one of our favorite and most misrepresented venial sins, especially in this forum. Who wants to defend it? Well, nobody does, really.
What about gossiping or stealing? Mortal or venial sins? The Catechism says that stealing from somebody who can afford the loss is NOT A SIN. John Paul II said that one of the greatest temptations in our age is relativism. but, the catechism, itself is very relativistic. The culpability for the sin of masturbation is a BIG maybe. READ IT. I don’t think anybody should bully around in these forums with questions like this.
