Masturbation: Only a Problem of Lust?
Captain Sensible writes: Read any Christian literature relating to the act of masturbation, and the emphasis will be on the sin of lust. Masturbation involves lustful thoughts, and as such, it is the sin of lust that is to be condemned, so the thinking goes.
You are unlikely to read anything that would suggest God would be unhappy with the deliberate waste of semen involved...
But let's see what the Bible says.
Genesis 38:8-10 says this: 'Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also.'
Charles Provan (quoted here) says this about the word "spilled" which is used: 'The verb used is not for merely emitting semen. Out of all the verses which mention the emission of semen in the Old Testament, the Onan verse "he wasted his seed on the ground" is the only verse to employ the word "shachath" (which means "to waste, corrupt, destroy, devastate"). This word is used in many passages as a synonym for "killed", "destroy". (For example see Gen. 6:17, 9:15 and Judges 20:21) Does one not see that there might be a reason for Onan's emission of seed to described as a "killing" of seed, while all other passages use words which merely mean "emit"? The reason is that in all other passages, no one does anything to intentionally harm the semen--but in Onan's case, he deliberately killed his. If "there is nothing in the whole Bible that specifically condemns the spilling of the seed", then why does Scripture use the very negative word "shacath" in Onan's case but not in any of the others?'
So then, is the act of male masturbation to be condemned not only, or even primarily, for lust, but because it is a deliberate killing or destruction of seed that is created by God to be used to bring forth life?
Maybe something for "contented" Christian bachelors and church leaders to think about?
Should our attitude be that they are most likely godly men who have the correct attitude towards singleness? No need for contentment lectures or dire warnings about making an idol out of marriage for these self-made eunuchs!
Or rather, should their deliberate refusal to father a child and raise that child in the ways of the Lord, be challenged? Particularly when they know that the lack of men in the church has devastating repercussions on Christian women that desire to be mothers.
Might they even be held responsible for leading a Christian woman into sin, by effectively forcing her to marry unbelievers?
After all, her longing is to be fruitful in the manner for which her body was designed, and to bring forth the godly offspring that God states is his desire...
Just a little food for thought! Don't have nightmares!
You are unlikely to read anything that would suggest God would be unhappy with the deliberate waste of semen involved...
But let's see what the Bible says.
Genesis 38:8-10 says this: 'Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfil your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also.'
Charles Provan (quoted here) says this about the word "spilled" which is used: 'The verb used is not for merely emitting semen. Out of all the verses which mention the emission of semen in the Old Testament, the Onan verse "he wasted his seed on the ground" is the only verse to employ the word "shachath" (which means "to waste, corrupt, destroy, devastate"). This word is used in many passages as a synonym for "killed", "destroy". (For example see Gen. 6:17, 9:15 and Judges 20:21) Does one not see that there might be a reason for Onan's emission of seed to described as a "killing" of seed, while all other passages use words which merely mean "emit"? The reason is that in all other passages, no one does anything to intentionally harm the semen--but in Onan's case, he deliberately killed his. If "there is nothing in the whole Bible that specifically condemns the spilling of the seed", then why does Scripture use the very negative word "shacath" in Onan's case but not in any of the others?'
So then, is the act of male masturbation to be condemned not only, or even primarily, for lust, but because it is a deliberate killing or destruction of seed that is created by God to be used to bring forth life?
Maybe something for "contented" Christian bachelors and church leaders to think about?
Should our attitude be that they are most likely godly men who have the correct attitude towards singleness? No need for contentment lectures or dire warnings about making an idol out of marriage for these self-made eunuchs!
Or rather, should their deliberate refusal to father a child and raise that child in the ways of the Lord, be challenged? Particularly when they know that the lack of men in the church has devastating repercussions on Christian women that desire to be mothers.
Might they even be held responsible for leading a Christian woman into sin, by effectively forcing her to marry unbelievers?
After all, her longing is to be fruitful in the manner for which her body was designed, and to bring forth the godly offspring that God states is his desire...
Just a little food for thought! Don't have nightmares!
posted by Captain Sensible at 3:21 PM
6 Comments:
You've raised an interesting question, Captain. I have to assume that your focus is on "deliberate" emission, as opposed to that of "wet dreams."
However, I also have to take exception to your one line about Christian men who do not marry in a timely fashion "effectively forcing" Christian women to marry non-believers. While that may be a very real temptation for such women, especially as they approach a certain age, there is no actual force involved, but it is still a deliberate choice on the part of the woman. (And I'm speaking as a woman myself.)
It will be interesting to see others' comments.
The whole spilling of semen thing, and wasting it bla bla bla
what about the use of condoms! Surely all that semen is being wasted and killed! Are married people who are using birth control methods sinning?
Good point, Kymbugs, I don't know. Maybe they are? Would it be such a bad thing for Christian families to populate the earth with lots of children? Maybe it is cultural, rather than Biblical, for Christians to use birth control? The Roman Catholic church is still against it, I believe.
I think the main point though is that the "contented bachelors" aren't willing to please God with ANY godly children. At least a married man with a small family is doing something to fulfil the creation mandate.
Regarding the point raised by Anonymous, again, I don't know, but does the passage in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 have any relevant application here, with regard to causing a weaker brother (or rather sister in this case!) to fall into sin? Obviously we are talking about two different things - food sacrified to idols and the command to be fruitful - and I would argue that a Christian man isn't actually given the Biblical "freedom" to choose singleness as a lifestyle option anyway. But still...
"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
"Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall."
In response to Kymbugs, there was a time when the whole of the church (not just Catholics) shared a universal dislike of birth control and felt that it infringed on the prerogatives of the Sovereign to control the womb. After the 1920s, the ban on birth control became a uniquely Catholic position. Because of the acceptance in the church, we have essentially paved the way for sexuality to be divorced from marriage, and sexuality to be divorced from the siring of children. We have essentially ushered in Roe. Because most evangelicals have grown up in an atmosphere believing that sexuality, marriage, and child-making are not intertwined, but can be had on one's own piecemeal terms, this is why wasted seed through singleness has no accountability today.
Most modern texts that attempt to treat Onanism do so very lightly and seem bent on limiting the scope of God's judgment. I find most of it wishful thinking. There is a connection here between the fruitless fig tree cursed by Jesus and the wasted seed of Onan.
Keep up the good work Captain.
Debbie Maken
Christian women are in a very difficult position at the moment, with so few men in the church, and the men that there are, are either married by their mid-twenties (those are the good-uns! ;-)) or they are the "contented bachelor"/commitment phobe types, who frankly are not much use to anyone! They're usually so flaky as to not be very committed to anything -- not even church ministries, never mind the thought of making a commitment to a wife! The only exception are late male converts to the Kingdom -- but how many of those are there???!!! Or the Christian men that are trying, and repeatedly failing, to find a wife. They should be helped through pastoral care, to examine why exactly they are facing rejection after rejection. Are they perhaps punching above their weight, only looking at women 10 years younger than themselves, or maybe there is a personal issue that needs dealing with? Trouble is, even if these men were brave and courageous enough to admit they need help in finding a wife, the chances are that church leaders won't help them! They'll just tell them to wait on the Lord!
So, the end result is that Christian women often face the dilemma of being a barren spinster and thereby failing to fulfil the creation mandate themselves, or looking at Plan B...
Plan B doesn't necessarily mean marrying "unbelievers" as yes, that would be wrong. But it SHOULD mean looking outside of the men in the church and outwards towards men in the world, who are believers but need their faith to be nurtured through the loving care and prayers of a devout wife...
After all, if the "contented bachelors" in the church are so perfectly content without such a blessing, we should seek to bless believing men outside of the church with a godly wife.
It reminds me of the wedding banquet parable, where all the invited guests make excuses for their non-attendance, so the host tells his servant to go out and find others from out on the streets to take their place...
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