10 Points Why Masturbation Is Not a Sin in Catholicism
C.J Ahmed-16.03.2023
Catholics are the followers of the Catholic Church and will blindly follow the church and the pope. The bible has no mention about masturbation and masturbation is not forbidden in the bible. Pope John Paul the II in his Catechism mentioned the following,
The above catechism forbids masturbation and the stance of the Catholic Church is that masturbation is a sin. The Catholic Church is going against the teachings of Jesus Christ and it is unfortunate that the Catholics are blind followers of the Catholic Church which worships idols of so called Saints. Jesus Christ ordered to follow his teaching without omitting anything. He said,
“For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
One example on how the Catholic Church goes against the teachings in the bible is that it promotes idol worshipping but the bible says,
“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 26:1)
The modern world has embraced masturbation as a healthy practice but still most religious Catholics are vehemently against it and this article is to answer all the common biblical arguments on self-pleasure.
Point-1-The Bible is Silent on Masturbation
With all the rhetoric you would have seen from so called Christian preachers, there is not a single direct verse in the bible forbidding masturbation. This is the single most powerful point to prove that masturbation is not a sin. Jesus said the following to the pharises,
“‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."
(Matthew 15:9)
The right context of this verse is when the pharises who asked why his disciples do not wash their hands before eating and Jesus Christ (PBUH) criticized them by telling them that they follow only their man made rules. This verse in the bible criticizes man made rules and laws. If masturbation was not forbidden by Jesus in the bible then stating that masturbation is a sin is nothing short of a man made rule.
Point-2-The Lust Argument
The following passages are misquoted to forbid masturbation,
"But I say unto you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
(Matthew 5:28)
The above verse has nothing to do with masturbation. This verse only talks about ogling at women. Some try to use this verse to argue that for you to masturbate you will have to think about a woman or a man and that is lusting in the heart. This argument is just a made up lie using this verse because this verse is prohibiting ogling at a woman and fantasizing is not mentioned here. Lusting by looking is different from fantasizing.
Point-3-The Verse of Onan has been taken out of Context
The story of Onan spilling his seed is used as evidence by many Christians to forbid masturbation but if you take a close look in to the verse you will realize that the verse speaks nothing about masturbation.
"Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother. “But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also"
(Genesis 38:8-10)
In this verse what needs to be understood is that Onan engaged in coitus interruptus and not masturbation. Some try to use this verse to argue that masturbation is wasting semen. Onan spilled his semen because his child would not be his and this is what is mentioned in these verses.
Point-4-Verses on the Emission of Semen
Another ludicrous argument put forward is by the quoting of the below verse,
"When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening"
(Leviticus 15:16)
Some try to argue by quoting the above verse to mean that masturbation is emitting semen and emitting semen is unclean. This is what happens when you cherry pick verses in the bible. The above verse does not mention seminal emission through masturbation. Seminal discharge can happen through nocturnal emissions too. The following verses mention that seminal discharged through intercourse with your wife is also unclean,
"Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening"
(Leviticus 15:17-18)
These verses mention about seminal emissions being unclean and has nothing to do with masturbation.
Point-5-Bringing Unrelated verses
Some who acknowledge that there are no verses in the bible forbidding masturbation, bring unrelated verses to argue that masturbation is a sin. For an example the below verse is quoted,
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”
(Ephesians 4:29)
This verse is used to argue that the bible does not mention what unwholesome talk is and does not give the finer points, and what is unwholesome talk is what is beneficial. First if all this is the opinion of Paul and not Jesus Christ (PBUH) and my question is, what has this got to do with masturbation? Unwholesome talk is relative and even the bible has many references of unwholesome talk. Here are a few of them,
“When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.” (Ezekiel 23:18-21)
“A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.”
(Proverbs 5:19)
"My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him."
(Song of Solomon 5:4)
These are a few vulgar verses in the bible and giving a specific definition based on the personal opinions of an individual will not make masturbation a forbidden act.
Point-6-Corinthians 7:5
Verse 5 of Corinthians is an argument taken to make up a false argument on masturbation. The verse says,
"Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control"
(Corinthians 7:5)
This verse is the opinion of Paul and once again has nothing to do with masturbation. This verse is specifically about the spouses and the satanic temptation mentioned here is what has been mentioned as sinful in the bible and not based on an individual's personal opinions and assumptions.
Point-7-Corinthians 7:9
The ninth verse in Corinthians is used as an argument that Paul forbade masturbation by allowing sexual relations between a husband and wife.
"But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion"
(Corinthians 7:9)
First of all this is not the saying of Jesus Christ(PBUH) and in this verse Paul tells to get married for those who cannot control their desires. In this verse masturbation is not mentioned and nowhere in this verse does Paul say that masturbation is forbidden. What he mentioned is to get married to control yourself if you cannot be celibate. Marriage is only an option given here and just because masturbation is not mentioned does not make it sinful.
Point-8-Misquoting the Story of Adam
Christian preachers are famous for cherry picking verses from the bible and then give their own interpretations to it. They quote the below verse to forbid masturbation,
"Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
(Genesis 2:18)
The argument is that man should not be alone and should have a woman hence masturbation is forbidden. The entire argument does not make any sense because this particular verse talks about Adam and Eve and once again has nothing to do with masturbation. Let me quote the following verses to give the right context to this verse.
"The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame"
(Genesis 2:18-25)
The above verses explains clearly that God created eve from Adams ribs and this is what's meant when God said,
"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God us referring to Adam and nit everyone.
Point-9-Corinthians 6:18
After reading this far it is clear for the reader that masturbation is not a sin. People will still quote unrelated verses to argue that masturbation is sinful and they quote the following verse saying that masturbation is a sin and is against the body.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body."
(1 Corinthians 6:18)
This verse clearly says about immorality meaning adultery and fornication. Adultery and fornication is what's forbidden in the bible and the sexual sin is adultery and fornication. Masturbation is not mentioned in the bible as immoral.
Point-10-Mind Governed by Flesh
Let us take a look at another cherry picked verse,
"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace"
(Romans 8:6)
This verse cannot be taken to forbid masturbation because desires of the flesh are what has been mentioned as sinful in the bible. Something that has not been forbidden in the bible cannot be considered as desire of the flesh.
Catholics are the followers of the Catholic Church and will blindly follow the church and the pope. The bible has no mention about masturbation and masturbation is not forbidden in the bible. Pope John Paul the II in his Catechism mentioned the following,
The above catechism forbids masturbation and the stance of the Catholic Church is that masturbation is a sin. The Catholic Church is going against the teachings of Jesus Christ and it is unfortunate that the Catholics are blind followers of the Catholic Church which worships idols of so called Saints. Jesus Christ ordered to follow his teaching without omitting anything. He said,
“For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
One example on how the Catholic Church goes against the teachings in the bible is that it promotes idol worshipping but the bible says,
“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 26:1)
The modern world has embraced masturbation as a healthy practice but still most religious Catholics are vehemently against it and this article is to answer all the common biblical arguments on self-pleasure.
Point-1-The Bible is Silent on Masturbation
With all the rhetoric you would have seen from so called Christian preachers, there is not a single direct verse in the bible forbidding masturbation. This is the single most powerful point to prove that masturbation is not a sin. Jesus said the following to the pharises,
“‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."
(Matthew 15:9)
The right context of this verse is when the pharises who asked why his disciples do not wash their hands before eating and Jesus Christ (PBUH) criticized them by telling them that they follow only their man made rules. This verse in the bible criticizes man made rules and laws. If masturbation was not forbidden by Jesus in the bible then stating that masturbation is a sin is nothing short of a man made rule.
Point-2-The Lust Argument
The following passages are misquoted to forbid masturbation,
"But I say unto you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
(Matthew 5:28)
The above verse has nothing to do with masturbation. This verse only talks about ogling at women. Some try to use this verse to argue that for you to masturbate you will have to think about a woman or a man and that is lusting in the heart. This argument is just a made up lie using this verse because this verse is prohibiting ogling at a woman and fantasizing is not mentioned here. Lusting by looking is different from fantasizing.
Point-3-The Verse of Onan has been taken out of Context
The story of Onan spilling his seed is used as evidence by many Christians to forbid masturbation but if you take a close look in to the verse you will realize that the verse speaks nothing about masturbation.
"Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother. “But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also"
(Genesis 38:8-10)
In this verse what needs to be understood is that Onan engaged in coitus interruptus and not masturbation. Some try to use this verse to argue that masturbation is wasting semen. Onan spilled his semen because his child would not be his and this is what is mentioned in these verses.
Point-4-Verses on the Emission of Semen
Another ludicrous argument put forward is by the quoting of the below verse,
"When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening"
(Leviticus 15:16)
Some try to argue by quoting the above verse to mean that masturbation is emitting semen and emitting semen is unclean. This is what happens when you cherry pick verses in the bible. The above verse does not mention seminal emission through masturbation. Seminal discharge can happen through nocturnal emissions too. The following verses mention that seminal discharged through intercourse with your wife is also unclean,
"Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening"
(Leviticus 15:17-18)
These verses mention about seminal emissions being unclean and has nothing to do with masturbation.
Point-5-Bringing Unrelated verses
Some who acknowledge that there are no verses in the bible forbidding masturbation, bring unrelated verses to argue that masturbation is a sin. For an example the below verse is quoted,
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”
(Ephesians 4:29)
This verse is used to argue that the bible does not mention what unwholesome talk is and does not give the finer points, and what is unwholesome talk is what is beneficial. First if all this is the opinion of Paul and not Jesus Christ (PBUH) and my question is, what has this got to do with masturbation? Unwholesome talk is relative and even the bible has many references of unwholesome talk. Here are a few of them,
“When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.” (Ezekiel 23:18-21)
“A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.”
(Proverbs 5:19)
"My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him."
(Song of Solomon 5:4)
These are a few vulgar verses in the bible and giving a specific definition based on the personal opinions of an individual will not make masturbation a forbidden act.
Point-6-Corinthians 7:5
Verse 5 of Corinthians is an argument taken to make up a false argument on masturbation. The verse says,
"Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control"
(Corinthians 7:5)
This verse is the opinion of Paul and once again has nothing to do with masturbation. This verse is specifically about the spouses and the satanic temptation mentioned here is what has been mentioned as sinful in the bible and not based on an individual's personal opinions and assumptions.
Point-7-Corinthians 7:9
The ninth verse in Corinthians is used as an argument that Paul forbade masturbation by allowing sexual relations between a husband and wife.
"But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion"
(Corinthians 7:9)
First of all this is not the saying of Jesus Christ(PBUH) and in this verse Paul tells to get married for those who cannot control their desires. In this verse masturbation is not mentioned and nowhere in this verse does Paul say that masturbation is forbidden. What he mentioned is to get married to control yourself if you cannot be celibate. Marriage is only an option given here and just because masturbation is not mentioned does not make it sinful.
Point-8-Misquoting the Story of Adam
Christian preachers are famous for cherry picking verses from the bible and then give their own interpretations to it. They quote the below verse to forbid masturbation,
"Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
(Genesis 2:18)
The argument is that man should not be alone and should have a woman hence masturbation is forbidden. The entire argument does not make any sense because this particular verse talks about Adam and Eve and once again has nothing to do with masturbation. Let me quote the following verses to give the right context to this verse.
"The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame"
(Genesis 2:18-25)
The above verses explains clearly that God created eve from Adams ribs and this is what's meant when God said,
"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God us referring to Adam and nit everyone.
Point-9-Corinthians 6:18
After reading this far it is clear for the reader that masturbation is not a sin. People will still quote unrelated verses to argue that masturbation is sinful and they quote the following verse saying that masturbation is a sin and is against the body.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body."
(1 Corinthians 6:18)
This verse clearly says about immorality meaning adultery and fornication. Adultery and fornication is what's forbidden in the bible and the sexual sin is adultery and fornication. Masturbation is not mentioned in the bible as immoral.
Point-10-Mind Governed by Flesh
Let us take a look at another cherry picked verse,
"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace"
(Romans 8:6)
This verse cannot be taken to forbid masturbation because desires of the flesh are what has been mentioned as sinful in the bible. Something that has not been forbidden in the bible cannot be considered as desire of the flesh.