My doctor told me Masturbation is healthy, normal and good

  • Thread starter Thread starter DepecheMode
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DepecheMode

Guest
…and I do see his point. Could this be a bridge to unite Catholics and other religions from reconsidering this as a sin? I do think so. From logical points:
  1. All polls I researched show 90-98% of boys/young men masturbate.
    from WebMD:
Is Masturbation Harmful?

In general, the medical community considers masturbation to be a natural and harmless expression of sexuality for both men and women. It does not cause any physical injury or harm to the body, and can be performed in moderation throughout a person’s lifetime as a part of normal sexual behavior. Some cultures and religions oppose masturbation or even label it as sinful. This can lead to guilt or shame about the behavior.

Some experts suggest that masturbation can actually improve sexual health and relationships. By exploring your own body through masturbation, you can determine what is erotically pleasing to you and can share this with your partner. Some partners use mutual masturbation to discover techniques for a more satisfying sexual relationship and to add to their mutual intimacy.

so my question is, why do so many NonCatholics and now even Catholics consider masturbation normal and not a sin?

I ask this is all honesty, and really do want to engage in a debate. However, I feel this thread will be erased and myself banned. I ask for compassion and dialogue.
thank you.
 
DepecheMode;12514350 Could this be a bridge to unite Catholics and other religions from reconsidering this as a sin? . [/QUOTE said:
I can’t speak for other religions. but Catholics are suppose to follow what Jesus said, not what the medical community says. We are to submit to God’s will, not decide amongst ourselves what is right and wrong.
Click to expand...
 
I’m sure that your doctor could very well present evidence that would support his claim that it is healthy, normal, and good. However, I’m sure there is also evidence from the other side. Instead, consider the possibility that just because something is “normal” or that just because “everyone does it” does not make it a morally good act. Even if masturbation does have health benefits, that will never make it a morally good act. On the flip side, I’m sure your doctor could also come up with supposed evidence that NOT masturbating is not healthy, but there are plenty of guys that masturbate little to none yet are just fine.

I am not a “sex expert” - meaning, I have never had sex, and I’ve also not really delved into the Catholic Church’s theological study on it - but I am pretty sure that “mutual masturbation” is okay provided the act ends properly (man finishing in woman). So that’s fine. What I have a problem with in your post - or rather, your quote from WebMD - is “you can determine what is erotically pleasing to you and share this with your partner”. Well, that in itself isn’t too bad, I don’t think, if this is taking place during a “sex session” or whatever and again, provided it ends properly, but really. Masturbation by oneself NOT in the context of the marital act is not necessary to “determine what is erotically pleasing to you”. I may not have had sex before, but I am quite sure that can be found out rather easily when actually doing it with your spouse.

Regarding your question of “why do so many NonCatholics and now even Catholics consider masturbation normal and not a sin?” - well, there are probably various ways to answer that. I’m sure there are plenty of “good” people out there that see no problem with masturbation, but here are some thoughts of mine on the matter. warning, they might be kind of jumbled.

Several factors at play here. I think the underlying factor, though, is that people simply are not fully aware what sex really is. Heck, it’s hard for me to say that, because as I said, I’ve never really studied the Catholic Church’s theology on it, but I am aware of the basics. That’s the key - so many aren’t fully aware of even that. I think one thing the Church teaches about sex is that it is, in away, a reflection of the self-giving love between God and man that we will only experience in Heaven. That’s pretty general, but if this is true, and faithful Catholics believe it is, then this gives a totally awesome meaning to sex! The reproductive organs weren’t meant to be used by themselves - that’s not what God made them for. Sexual acts are meant to be unitive and procreative. Well, masturbation is neither unitive nor procreative. Masturbation distorts the sexual act into a selfish act, rather than the self-giving act it was meant to be - that is, how God made it to be. Yes, it can be hard to deal with sexual tension; we are sexual beings made for union. But unless the sexual act is done with the opposite sex in the context of marriage, it is not being used the way it was meant to be.

Well, I could probably ramble on and on, but I probably wouldn’t get much further than I already have. So there you go - I’m done “lecturing”. 🙂
 
Some doctors perform abortions. The medical community is not our authority on morality.
 
Nelka said:
Masturbation is still a mortal sin whatever the doctor says.
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is true. Taking the pill is a mortal sin unless your doctor tells you you need it to treat a medical condition. Then it’s not anymore. It’s all about intention right?

If your intention in masturbating is to relieve stress/anxiety, or to treat migraines, or to improve cardiac or immune system function, that should fall under the same medical exemption.
 
QuasiCatholic said:
I don’t think this is true. Taking the pill is a mortal sin unless your doctor tells you you need it to treat a medical condition. Then it’s not anymore. It’s all about intention right?

If your intention in masturbating is to relieve stress/anxiety, or to treat migraines, or to improve cardiac or immune system function, that should fall under the same medical exemption.
Click to expand...
You are assuming the ends justify the means, which is untrue. Hormonal therapy, under the direction of a doctor, say for PCOS, is morally neutral. Sexual self-stimulation is objectively grave and thus to be avoided. There are many other methods to relieve the above symptoms that are morally neutral.

IIRC, St. Paul says that marriage is good for people because it helps them avoid sin. Whenever I hear this “masturbation is healthy” stuff, I wonder why the same experts don’t also say, “Or get married.” If it’s the sexual release that does it, why not with a spouse? For men in particular, being married correlates to other health benefits. (I’m not saying that it’s super easy to get married, but I find it odd that the suggestion is always about self-stimulation, not about sexual release in general, when from what I’ve read the latter is really what’s delivering any benefit.)
 
DepecheMode said:
…and I do see his point. Could this be a bridge to unite Catholics and other religions from reconsidering this as a sin? I do think so. From logical points:
  1. All polls I researched show 90-98% of boys/young men masturbate.
    from WebMD:
Is Masturbation Harmful?

In general, the medical community considers masturbation to be a natural and harmless expression of sexuality for both men and women. It does not cause any physical injury or harm to the body, and can be performed in moderation throughout a person’s lifetime as a part of normal sexual behavior. Some cultures and religions oppose masturbation or even label it as sinful. This can lead to guilt or shame about the behavior.

Some experts suggest that masturbation can actually improve sexual health and relationships. By exploring your own body through masturbation, you can determine what is erotically pleasing to you and can share this with your partner. Some partners use mutual masturbation to discover techniques for a more satisfying sexual relationship and to add to their mutual intimacy.

so my question is, why do so many NonCatholics and now even Catholics consider masturbation normal and not a sin?

I ask this is all honesty, and really do want to engage in a debate. However, I feel this thread will be erased and myself banned. I ask for compassion and dialogue.
thank you.
Click to expand...
It’s a sin! Accept it and stop belly-aching. Sheesh!
 
It’s a mortal sin.according to the Catholic Church. No debate.
If you die with unconfessed mortal sin on your soul you cannot get into Heaven and end up in Hell. How healthy is that? Catholics can’t reconsider if it’s a sin. The Pope, Vatican, bishops, bible, saints, revelations to the saints, and Jesus are all clear on this. 2000 years of God’s law.
There are priests who live celibacy, nuns, and single people, and God’s angels, Jesus, Mary, the apostles, saints -by God’s grace a pure life comes easily and is a joy.

There are doctors supporting abortion, euthanasia, contraceptive pill, etc… just because they say it’s ‘healthy’ doesn’t mean it’s not a Mortal Sin.

Its a misuse of the organs God gave you.
God gave man and woman those organs to be used only in marriage to create children.
Anything else is adultery against your own body to please yourself. That is the sin of carnality. Intercourse for the pleasure of it.

And God only designed this for a husband and wife to create children.

God is real and so are His laws.

Our Lady appeared at Fatima, she showed the 3 children hell and said: ‘More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason.’

MQUOTE=DepecheMode;12514350]…and I do see his point. Could this be a bridge to unite Catholics and other religions from reconsidering this as a sin? I do think so. From logical points:
  1. All polls I researched show 90-98% of boys/young men masturbate.
    from WebMD:
Is Masturbation Harmful?

In general, the medical community considers masturbation to be a natural and harmless expression of sexuality for both men and women. It does not cause any physical injury or harm to the body, and can be performed in moderation throughout a person’s lifetime as a part of normal sexual behavior. Some cultures and religions oppose masturbation or even label it as sinful. This can lead to guilt or shame about the behavior.

Some experts suggest that masturbation can actually improve sexual health and relationships. By exploring your own body through masturbation, you can determine what is erotically pleasing to you and can share this with your partner. Some partners use mutual masturbation to discover techniques for a more satisfying sexual relationship and to add to their mutual intimacy.

so my question is, why do so many NonCatholics and now even Catholics consider masturbation normal and not a sin?

I ask this is all honesty, and really do want to engage in a debate. However, I feel this thread will be erased and myself banned. I ask for compassion and dialogue.
thank you.
 
QuasiCatholic said:
I don’t think this is true. Taking the pill is a mortal sin unless your doctor tells you you need it to treat a medical condition. Then it’s not anymore. It’s all about intention right?

If your intention in masturbating is to relieve stress/anxiety, or to treat migraines, or to improve cardiac or immune system function, that should fall under the same medical exemption.
Click to expand...
You say that it is extremely common to masturbate? 99% of small children pick their noses, too. That doesn’t make it something they ought to be doing. Really–how many kids tell lies to cover up their bad behavior? Does the frequency of that behavior make it healthy? Not everything that is common is something we ought to take as our ideal standard.

Your doctor is recommending masturbation to treat migraines? Oh, yeah. They teach that in medical school. Who are we trying to fool, here?

There are morally licit means available to achieve the means by which masturbation might possibly have a positive impact on all of those conditions. I mean–cardiac function? You need to raise your heart rate, and masturbation is the best method you can come up with?

Some cultures and religions oppose masturbation or even label it as sinful. This can lead to guilt or shame about the behavior.

In this passage, guilt is talked about as if it is automatically a bad thing. You may as well say that a fever is a bad thing, because you so often get one when you’re sick! If you’re a diabetic and you’re eating so your blood sugar goes through the roof, is it a bad thing that you feel guilty about the choices you made? Shouldn’t you feel guilty for doing something that actually was wrong of you to do?

I think your doctor would not be too pleased if your pastor started giving you medical advice. Maybe he ought to stay within his field.
 
Nope.
Sure then Anyone could break any of the commandments with the ‘right intention.’ Like having an abortion because it’s less stressful than having a child. There’s the saying: ‘Hell is paved with ‘good intentions.’’ A lot of sin happens because we have to ‘lie’ to our souls listening to satan telling is the lie that the sin is ‘good’

Just because many people commit this sin does not mean it’s not grave:
‘narrow and difficult is the way to eternal life and there are few who find it.’

Is it harmful?
Is Eternal death in hell harmful?
Why lose infinite bliss in Heaven for the sake of a sin

Your actual choice is:
Heaven or Hell?
God or satan?
Which do you choose?

The church has said it’s a mortal sin if it’s deliberate, in free will, and full knowledge.
An unconfessed mortal sin means you are outside of God’s grace . Cannot get into heaven if you die without confessing. It also means you are in satan’s territory .

The bible says: ‘Refrain from unchastity.’
Intercourse is only for MARRIAGE. For creating CHILDREN.
Otherwise it’s adultery like a prostitute.

God told Moses:
‘I am offering you a blessing or a curse. A blessing if you should keep my commandments. A curse if you should break them.’
 
I Don’t come on here very often,but I think it’s funny that when I do.
There’s a debate about Masturbating… the things that I could say :doh2:

But Won’t
 
“your intention in masturbating is to relieve stress/anxiety, or to treat migraines.”
Take 2 Tylenol & call me in the morning!
 
St Padre Pio (who had mystical wounds of Our Lord for 50 years, could read souls, see angels, was beaten by devils at night, had the gift of bilocation, saw Our Lord and Our Lady), was once hearing confession from a man who told him he tells lies to make people laugh, Padre Pio replied, ‘Do you want to be laughing your way into hell?’

Sin is sin.

Don’t go to a doctor to find God’s law.
You need to confess this to a priest and stop this sin.
 
‘‘Our young people are great imitators. They like to ‘follow the crowd.’ This is fine so long as the crowd is going in the right direction. Otherwise, it can lead to serious trouble, especially in the matter of fashions. Too many teenagers say: ‘Everybody else does it, so why can’t we?’ If everybody else jumped in front of a fast moving train, would you do the same? Because’ everybody else does it’ is no reason for us to do wrong. There is no security in numbers. What was wrong centuries ago as far as sin is concerned, is still wrong today. God made no special provisions for the 20th century. If 99 people do wrong because ‘everybody else does it,’ God will punish the 99 and reward the 1 that follows Him. This was proven at the time of the deluge, when he destroyed all, save Noah and his family. Our Holy Father Pope Pius XII has stated repeatedly: ‘The greatest sin of our modern generation is that it has lost all sense of sin.’ This is true particularly in regard to fashions, and the virtue of purity."

they are blind and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit." (Matt. 15:14)
That pit is hell

Pope Pius XII, as he lamented this blindness in his allocution to the Sodality convention in Rome on July 17, 1954!
“You live in a world which is constantly forgetful of God and the supernatural, where the only interest of the crowd seems to be the satisfaction of temporal needs, well-being, pleasure,. . .”

“The good of our soul is more important than that of our body; and we have to prefer the spiritual welfare … to our bodily comforts. . . If a certain … grave and proximate occasion of sin, and endangers the salvation of your soul … it is your duty to give it up.” Pope Pius XII
 
Catechism to the rescue:
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.” “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.”
Click to expand...
When a chosen act is intrinsically disordered, no amount of good intentions can make it morally good.
All polls I researched show 90-98% of boys/young men masturbate.
Click to expand...
I’ll bet 90-98% of monkeys masturbate. God didn’t create you to be a monkey.
 
Scottgun said:
Catechism to the rescue:
Click to expand...
But you left out the rest of it:
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.
Click to expand...
 
EasterJoy said:
Your doctor is recommending masturbation to treat migraines? Oh, yeah. They teach that in medical school. Who are we trying to fool, here?
Click to expand...
Migraines are primarily a vascular disorder. They’re caused by the blood vessels in your brain either dilating or constricting in a way they shouldn’t be. Since sexual arousal has a major effect on blood flow, it is actually an incredibly effective treatment for many people.

So given the choice between taking high doses of artificial drugs – usually a cocktail of aspirin, acetaminophen and caffeine – and waiting up to 30 minutes for relief, or turning to a drug-free, all-natural and almost instant cure, yes, I’m choosing the latter whenever possible.

How is that any different than treating PCOS with the pill since there are alternate ways of managing those symptoms as well?
 
I have suffered most of my life, even when I was in my late teens with enlarged prostate problems. In my 20s I went to a Urologist who treated my Uncle with the same problem. He told me that I needed to maintain the same number of “experiences” a week, not more not less. Not following this advice led to Prostatitis. This meant that I had to take an antibiotic to cure the condition.

Prostatitis, which I suffer from even today off and on has an embarrassing result, and that is loss of the ability to empty my bladder completely, and the possibility of a urine stream after I have “zipped up” and left the bathroom. I have been given comments about this from co-workers and others.

All of this has left me with a fear of prostate cancer. I have even gone as far as to consider adult diapers, which is a bit depressing and slightly humiliating.

I have discussed this with a Priest, and they have said they are not sure how to advise me. So I have opted to masturbate VERY infrequently, and to be on the safe side, I confess it. I am not married as I have a slight touch of aspergers syndrome. I would drive my wife slowly crazy if I got married.

Now here are my thoughts on masturbation. It is a slippery slope. When I was a child and did this, I felt guilty afterwards. I grew up as an Episcopalian, so there was no guilt imposed on me, yet I felt it. No one told me it was wrong, yet I knew somehow it was.

To do this act, you often have to conjure up images that are very impure. This is the conundrum if you will. I pray that God takes all of this under consideration. Till I receive satisfactory dispensation for this, I have no choice but to treat this situation as mortal sin, and hope that I do not die between confession and the act, which I keep to a minimum, which is not so hard to do at the age of 52.

I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but if you have some thoughts on this, please share.

Blessings,
-E
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top