Hi Pastor,<\/p>\n
Paul says that married couples should not deprive one another, but they should rather come together for intimacy. How does his reasoning work if masturbation is not a sin? Wouldn’t the man and woman simply meet their own needs individually? I may be missing a way to harmonize these two ideas.<\/p>\n
Thanks ahead,<\/p>\n\t
People tend to focus strongly on what is physically seen instead of looking at spiritual problems. For example, knives and guns are used to kill people. Does that make knives and guns sinful, or are they merely tools used to sin, and the real sin is the hatred people have for others?<\/p>\n
A husband or wife denying their partner sex and using masturbation to satisfy their own need is sinful. But is masturbation the sin or the selfish disregard for their partner the sin? Technically, wet dreams are a form of masturbation done in your sleep. Does this also become labeled as sinful? What if a husband denies his wife sex and allows wet dreams to satisfy his need to ejaculate?<\/p>\n
What happens when a husband is deployed for six months? I’m not saying masturbation must be used. I’m merely pointing out that a large number of males are only able to ejaculate through masturbation when their seminal vesicles get too full if they are not having sex.<\/p>\n
Then, there is the problem of your question being focused on married men. What about single men?<\/p>\n
What you did was take a passage that states a denial of sex is sinful and then assuming that masturbation is the cause of the denial. That isn’t proper reasoning.<\/p>\n\t
That’s a helpful response.<\/p>\n
My qualm before was that because men and women could meet their own needs, perhaps the idea of depriving would no longer exist. But actually, saying masturbation is a sin does not mean it is a replacement for intimacy in marriage (like you mentioned). A Christian couple still needs to come together.<\/p>\n
All the best to you,<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hi Pastor, Paul says that married couples should not deprive one another, but they should rather come together for intimacy. How does his reasoning work if masturbation is not a sin? Wouldn’t the man and woman simply meet their own needs individually? I may be missing a way to harmonize these two ideas. Thanks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[171],"class_list":["post-79119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-masturbation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21638,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-this-article-prove-masturbation-is-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":0},"title":"Does this article prove masturbation is a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I clearly understand that what you are saying is that the act of masturbation is not a sin. But look at what I found. [A link to an article is then given.] Answer: If masturbation bothers you or you are not confident that it isn't sinful, then you shouldn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-is-clear-that-masturbation-is-sinful-why-are-you-saying-it-is-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":1},"title":"It is clear that masturbation is sinful. Why are you saying it is not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you truly search the heart and mind of God and the Scriptures it is clear that masturbation is a sin. Sex outside of marriage is a sin. Period. That's how the Word of God defines it. Go a little deeper, please! Just because the Bible does not mention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-a-sin-offering-was-required-is-masturbation-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":2},"title":"Since a sin offering was required, is masturbation a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if masturbation was a sin even if one didn't have any sinful thoughts when he does it. In Leviticus 15:14-15\u00a0it says that the person who had a discharged should offer two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and other for a burnt offering. Does this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22301,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-sexual-immorality-porneia-include-masturbation\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":3},"title":"Does “sexual immorality” (porneia) include masturbation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to just say in\u00a0some previous answers\u00a0you have said that masturbation is not mentioned as a sin, but it is. We are told in Acts 15:20 to flee from sexual immorality. Today, most of the world sees masturbation as sexual immorality, and it has always been considered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29344,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-explain-spontaneous-erections-and-masturbation-to-my-stepson\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":4},"title":"How do I explain spontaneous erections and masturbation to my stepson?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: During some research, I found on your site, which was named \"Growing up in the Lord: A Study for Teenage Boys.\" My stepson is beginning a new stage in life, puberty, and he has been getting spontaneous erections. Now, I realize that this can happen at any time and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23022,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-masturbation-a-sin-and-can-god-give-me-a-sign-to-increase-my-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":79119,"position":5},"title":"Is masturbation a sin and can God give me a sign to increase my faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi. I am 12 and I just wanted to know if masturbation is a sin. I've researched it on Google and it said it was, so I stopped for a while, then I did it again and I still am. I also have another problem. I believe in God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}