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h1478971
Guest
Was the sin of Onan masturbation?
If so I guess Onan’s sin is hateful in the sight of God since He struck him down.
If so I guess Onan’s sin is hateful in the sight of God since He struck him down.
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1ke
Guest
The sin of Onan was contraception.
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Wowbagger
Guest
The others have answered the question.
As added trivia, the Bible does not refer specifically to masturbation at any point. (There is one passage in the NT [1 Cor 6:9] where I’ve heard people say, “Oh, that’s about masturbation,” but it really depends too much on translation to be clear.) That does not mean that masturbation isn’t a sin; there are plenty of sins that aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible.
The earliest mention of masturbation I can find in a Christian text is from the 4th century, in one of the desert fathers:
As added trivia, the Bible does not refer specifically to masturbation at any point. (There is one passage in the NT [1 Cor 6:9] where I’ve heard people say, “Oh, that’s about masturbation,” but it really depends too much on translation to be clear.) That does not mean that masturbation isn’t a sin; there are plenty of sins that aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible.
The earliest mention of masturbation I can find in a Christian text is from the 4th century, in one of the desert fathers:
I have found it that passage quite moving for people who struggle with masturbation.
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benidict
Guest
No, it was not masturbation, and not contraception. sorry. The sin of Onan was not having a child with his dead brothers widow. He violated the Law of Moses, in that he was required to give her a child. It was contraception, but it was the a violation of the Law God was concerned about, dealing with family rights. I know I will have a bunch of people in a tizzy. But there are several ways to look at this minor verse. Peace
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benidict
Guest
Nor is abortion. The only refernce in the bible to abortion, is the formula God himself gave to the levitical priest, to induce one, should a married woman prove unfaithful. Hmmmm.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
Genesis 38:9-10 Spilling ones seed on the ground is a reasonable expression for masturbation.
The later penalty for refusing to raise up an heir for ones brother was
Deuteronomy 25:7-10 Death for this offense seems disproportionate.
Note also
Genesis 38:26. Juda and Shelah also refused to do Shelah’s duty, but neither died.
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mark_a
Guest
If these haven’t already been posted:
Here is a great article on the subject:
rtforum.org/lt/lt67.html
And here’s a great article about how Protestantism ran right off the tracks:
touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-04-020-f
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Abu
Guest
There can be no question that Onan’s sin was that of contraception.
**ONAN
Answer by Fr. John Echert on May, 3, 2008 (EWTN): **
The sin is NOT that of adultery, which is to take the wife of another man. In fact, it was expected and eventually required that if a man died without a son to continue his posterity, his brother was to take his wife after his death as his own and raise up a family by her. So the sin was not in taking his deceased brothers wife but in spilling his seed on the ground. This action is explicit in the text–spilled his seed on the ground–and is the most obvious cause for which he was put to death by God Himself. This is an important text which supports the moral teaching of the Church–and nature–that contraception is mortally sinful.
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TrueLight
Guest
I agree. His sin was that he was spiteful and slept with her without giving her a child as was the law.No, it was not masturbation, and not contraception. sorry. The sin of Onan was not having a child with his dead brothers widow. He violated the Law of Moses, in that he was required to give her a child. It was contraception, but it was the a violation of the Law God was concerned about, dealing with family rights. I know I will have a bunch of people in a tizzy. But there are several ways to look at this minor verse. Peace
People, do we really believe no one in those thousand of years practiced withdrawal, ever?
The reason that verse is so graphic is not because of the lawfulness of contraception, but t the breaking of a promise to do what was right.
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OrdinaryMelkite
Guest
I disagree and agree with Patrick Sebast (for once)----it was contraception and the direct disobedience of God’s command.No, it was not masturbation, and not contraception. sorry. The sin of Onan was not having a child with his dead brothers widow. He violated the Law of Moses, in that he was required to give her a child. It was contraception, but it was the a violation of the Law God was concerned about, dealing with family rights. I know I will have a bunch of people in a tizzy. But there are several ways to look at this minor verse. Peace
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Abu
Guest
The perennial confusion and “opinions” do little to reveal truth. The Catholic Church was founded by Christ and has His authority to teach truth infallibly and contraception is infallibly defined as a grave evil. The natural moral law is part of human nature and God killed Onan because of his sin of contraception.
Fr John Echert is an authority on Sacred Scripture
**Onan’s sin
Answer by Fr. John Echert (EWTN)on May-14-2006: **
"The account of Onan’s refusal to carry out the obligation to raise up children in place of his brother is found in Genesis 38:
"38:4 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 38:5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore him. 38:6 And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar. 38:7 But Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. 38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 38:9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. 38:10 And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him also.
"By the ancient custom–later to become the law of God in the time of Moses–in order that the family name would live on through a man’s descendants, if a brother died leaving a widow and no sons, then it was the duty of his brother to take his widow as his own and produce offspring from the relationship. Onan not only failed to fulfill this command of God, but committed an additional violation of the law of God by spilling his seed on the ground, that is, withdrawal during the act of sexual intercourse. His sin was twofold and showed contempt for God and nature. Incidentally, this biblical account is important to keep in mind in the whole matter of contraception which is against the law of God and nature. Sexual intercourse is intended to be fruitful and one must have at least the openness to the possibility of new life; Onan showed contempt for life and law.
"There are some who argue that the severe punishment of God upon Onan was for his failure to fulfill the Levirate law of raising up offspring; however, the punishment for this was specified by God as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy:
"25:5 "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 25:6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 25:7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, —My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 25:8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he persists, saying, —I do not wish to take her,’ 25:9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, —So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 25:10 And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, The house of him that had his sandal pulled off.
“The penalty imposed by Mosaic Law was not a death sentence upon the guilty brother but public humiliation–a far cry from execution. This leads us to conclude that the death punishment upon Onan was not for his failure to raise up posterity for his deceased brother, but for the crime of wasting the seed upon the ground–a primitive and vulgar form of contraception. Incidentally, with regards to contraception, many people today are ignorant of the fact that many forms of contraception actually act as an abortifacient–they kill the newly conceived child in some manner.”
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AnthonyPadua001
Guest
I wonder how you understand Mt 5:30 then. Given the context of Jesus talking about adultry and the sin of lust (see Mt 5:27-30), it seems pretty clear to me that the right hand is not referring to stealing but instead to masturbation. Any thoughts?
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Holly3278
Guest
The sin of Onan was contraception. We know this because it says in the Bible that God killed him for spilling his seed on the ground.
Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:
(Genesis 38:8-10 DRB)
If his sin were actually refusal to give his brother’s wife a child, he simply would have refused to have sex with her.
Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:
(Genesis 38:8-10 DRB)
If his sin were actually refusal to give his brother’s wife a child, he simply would have refused to have sex with her.
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benidict
Guest
And I am happy to fascillitate an agreement between you and patrick for once…I do try!I disagree and agree with Patrick Sebast (for once)----it was contraception and the direct disobedience of God’s command.
Thats me! bringing idealogical adversaries together since 2009 on CAF!
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Wowbagger
Guest
I’m afraid that’s not quite correct. See Deut 5:12, Gen 4:10, and Matt 18:10.Nor is abortion. The only refernce in the bible to abortion, is the formula God himself gave to the levitical priest, to induce one, should a married woman prove unfaithful. Hmmmm.
It is really friggin’ impressive that Onan was able to commit a violation of the Law of Moses, seeing as Moses would not even be born for another thousand years.
But I nitpick.
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mark_a
Guest
What?
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mark_a
Guest
From rtforum.org/lt/lt67.html
The Encylopedia Judaica (Vol. 4, p. 1054, article “Birth Control”) states: “Jewish tradition ascribed the practice of birth control to the depraved humanity before Noah (Gen. R. 23: 2, 4; Rashi to Gen. 4: 19, 23).” (For further confirmation of Jewish views on this point, cf. H. Hirsch Cohen, The Drunkenness of Noah [University of Alabama Press].) The Encylopedia article adds that on the basis of Gen. 38: 9-10, “the Talmud sternly inveighs against ‘bringing forth the seed in vain’, considering it a cardinal sin (Nid. 13a). . . . Strictly Orthodox [Jews], . . . for religious reasons, refuse to resort to birth control.” In the same Encyclopedia, under “Onanism” (Vol. 12, p. 1495), it is stated that the act of Onan “is taken . . . by the Talmud (Yev. 34b) to refer either to unnatural intercourse or (cf. Nid. 13a) to masturbation. The Zohar [a 13th century work] expatiates on the evil of onanism in the second sense.” Other works by Jewish authors corroborating this tradition include D. Feldman, Marital Relations, Birth Control and Abortion in Jewish Law (New York: Schocken Books, 1974) and J. Cohen, ‘Be Fertile, Increase, Fill the Earth and Master It’ (Cornell University Press, 1989).
The Encylopedia Judaica (Vol. 4, p. 1054, article “Birth Control”) states: “Jewish tradition ascribed the practice of birth control to the depraved humanity before Noah (Gen. R. 23: 2, 4; Rashi to Gen. 4: 19, 23).” (For further confirmation of Jewish views on this point, cf. H. Hirsch Cohen, The Drunkenness of Noah [University of Alabama Press].) The Encylopedia article adds that on the basis of Gen. 38: 9-10, “the Talmud sternly inveighs against ‘bringing forth the seed in vain’, considering it a cardinal sin (Nid. 13a). . . . Strictly Orthodox [Jews], . . . for religious reasons, refuse to resort to birth control.” In the same Encyclopedia, under “Onanism” (Vol. 12, p. 1495), it is stated that the act of Onan “is taken . . . by the Talmud (Yev. 34b) to refer either to unnatural intercourse or (cf. Nid. 13a) to masturbation. The Zohar [a 13th century work] expatiates on the evil of onanism in the second sense.” Other works by Jewish authors corroborating this tradition include D. Feldman, Marital Relations, Birth Control and Abortion in Jewish Law (New York: Schocken Books, 1974) and J. Cohen, ‘Be Fertile, Increase, Fill the Earth and Master It’ (Cornell University Press, 1989).
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benidict
Guest
Oh My Goodness! I made an error in my timeline!I’m afraid that’s not quite correct. See Deut 5:12, Gen 4:10, and Matt 18:10.
It is really friggin’ impressive that Onan was able to commit a violation of the Law of Moses, seeing as Moses would not even be born for another thousand years.
But I nitpick.
My Bad! I shall get down on my knees and repent for this immediately. I can already tell you and I are going to be great friends…Its ok. I still love you, even if I think you are a little bit stiff. - Status