question about masturbation

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foreveradoreHim

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Hello all,

I’ve been struggling with masturbation, and I want to know whether or not genital stimulation WITHOUT the intent to arouse, WITHOUT lustful thoughts, WITHOUT intentionally planning to do it, and stopping oneself as soon as it’s realized as wrong, is a sin. I’m very confused. help please!
 
Mortal sin requires:
A) Full consent
B) Full knowledge
C) Grave Matter

If you are not in fully consent of the stimulation, the culpability may be reduced to venial, or even to none (depending on how you react to the situation). If you quickly reject what is happening such that you fight against it, then there is no sin, because you have resisted. In fact, you have grown in strength and love in the Lord! Every time you say “no” to sin, you live out the faith that you profess every Sunday or Saturday night in the creed. I cannot explain to you how joyful this make the Church Triumphant. Your resistance does not go unnoticed!

Go in the love and peace of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Amen
 
Hello foreveradoreHim!

Welcome to CAF! These forums are wonderful resource to aid you in your spiritual journey. I hope you have a positive experience here. Please feel free to reach out to any of us at anytime!

Now, on to your question…
foreveradoreHim said:
Hello all,

I’ve been struggling with masturbation, and I want to know whether or not genital stimulation WITHOUT the intent to arouse, WITHOUT lustful thoughts, WITHOUT intentionally planning to do it, and stopping oneself as soon as it’s realized as wrong, is a sin. I’m very confused. help please!
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Certainly not a mortal sin because of the bolded portion. You need full intention for it to be mortal. Arguably, not venial as well depending on how little intention there was in it.

Also, habit reduces culpability. For example, say a young man masturbates at least once a day for several years. Then, later, he realizes that it is wrong and decides to stop. Now say, out of habit he starts masturbating, realizes what he is doing, and then stops. Such a situation would not be sinful because in that specific act he wasn’t intending but just more acting out of habit. It would only be a sin if he continued after realizing what he was doing.

Hope that helps!
 
foreveradoreHim said:
Hello all,

I’ve been struggling with masturbation, and I want to know whether or not genital stimulation WITHOUT the intent to arouse, WITHOUT lustful thoughts, WITHOUT intentionally planning to do it, and stopping oneself as soon as it’s realized as wrong, is a sin. I’m very confused. help please!
Click to expand...
Based on your description, you seem to be asking if scratching your crotch, or washing your genitals, is a mortal sin.

There are a lot of smart interesting people here. But really sometimes the place cracks me up.

I can’t speak for God or the Pope, but probably what you are describing is not a sin.
 
foreveradoreHim said:
Hello all,

I’ve been struggling with masturbation, and I want to know whether or not genital stimulation WITHOUT the intent to arouse, WITHOUT lustful thoughts, WITHOUT intentionally planning to do it, and stopping oneself as soon as it’s realized as wrong, is a sin. I’m very confused. help please!
Click to expand...
Frankly I do not believe anyone can have genital stimulation without intent to rouse, without lustful thoughts, or without planning to do it.
As you mention you are struggling with masturbation your question sounds like you want us to tell you its okay based on your question.
In my opinion the answer is NO!
 
I have also struggled with this temptation for years. Just do yourself a favor and don’t over think it. Trying to find some loophole to convince yourself that it’s somehow not a sin for you will only continue to lead you down a path away from God. Believe me, I know the little tricks you try to play on yourself to make it “ok for you”. Things like “if I just hurry up and do it I really didn’t have time to think it through”. Or, when you just wake up in the morning or middle of the night from a sexy dream and think “I’m still groggy so it’s not really my fault”. Or this, you know you’re being tempted to do this and should just kneel down and say some prayers for the temptation to pass but, “if I can just ignore the inclination to pray for 5 more minutes I can go jerk off quick”.
Brother, you can’t candy coat sin. You can’t reason your way out of accusing yourself of committing sin. I’ve played these mind games with myself for a long time and when it comes down to it you know it’s wrong but you give in to the pleasure of the climax. I KNOW! You can try to do this with open eyes and no impure thoughts but 2 things will happen. 1) you still commit the sin of masturbation. 2) your desire for a deeper satisfaction from the event will cause you to also use your thoughts.
It’s a horrible struggle for us. I mean us because I’m there to. I struggle almost every day to drive away these temptations. I KNOW how hard it is, believe me. The only thing we can do is do our best, OUR VERY BEST, (not just tell ourselves we’ve done our best) to overcome these temptations, with prayer, and trust in God’s mercy. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. And get to confession and communion as often as you can. God bless you.
 
No, you’re not sinning 🙂 Masturbation is the deliberate stimulation of the genitals for the purpose of sexual pleasure (see the Catechism, here). If there’s no lust, no pleasure, and no arousal, then there’s no sin either 🙂
 
suissemissed said:
No, you’re not sinning 🙂 Masturbation is the deliberate stimulation of the genitals for the purpose of sexual pleasure (see the Catechism, here). If there’s no lust, no pleasure, and no arousal, then there’s no sin either 🙂
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That’s naive. STIMULATION of the genitals is only done with sexual pleasure in mind!
 
suissemissed said:
No, you’re not sinning 🙂 Masturbation is the deliberate stimulation of the genitals for the purpose of sexual pleasure (see the Catechism, here). If there’s no lust, no pleasure, and no arousal, then there’s no sin either 🙂
Click to expand...
Be very careful. And be honest with yourself. What kind of genital stimulation are you referring to if not sexual? It sounds like you’re asking if it’s possible to masturbate without sinning. Really? Dude I live in that world every day. When it comes down to it I know I should just be praying constantly for this temptation to leave me. But then I would have to give up masturbation and part of me doesn’t want to give it up. Sound familiar? You have to make a choice. I’m in the same boat every day and I hate it. Most times I can, with God’s grace, avoid the sin. Sometimes I give in. Don’t give up. God will NEVER allow us to be tempted without sufficient grace to avoid the sin.
Oh and masturbation without sexual pleasure? Really? C’mon!
 
Thank you all for your advice and (name removed by moderator)ut. It makes more sense now. God bless.
For those who are also struggling with this temptation: May the blood of Jesus fortify us. Amen.
 
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