Self-abuse

[ccgr]

no worries on rebooting it

[JOJ650s]

I prayed for some verses and this is what I got.

Eph 5:1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

Eph 5:2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us [fn] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Eph 5:3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people.

Eph 5:4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.

Eph 5:5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

Eph 5:6 Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

Eph 5:7 Don't participate in the things these people do.

Eph 5:8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

Eph 5:9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Eph 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Eph 5:11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose
them.

Eph 5:12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

Eph 5:13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them,

Please take the time to read all of these.
I am pretty disappointed with some the posts posted here.

[jester747]

I prayed for some verses and this is what I got.

Eph 5:1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

Eph 5:2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us [fn] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Eph 5:3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people.

Eph 5:4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.

Eph 5:5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

Eph 5:6 Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

Eph 5:7 Don't participate in the things these people do.

Eph 5:8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

Eph 5:9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Eph 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Eph 5:11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose
them.

Eph 5:12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

Eph 5:13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them,

Please take the time to read all of these.
I am pretty disappointed with some the posts posted here.

Holy frickin' this.

I wanted to give an argument this whole time but couldn't think of one.

Eph 5:10 really caught my eye. "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord."

[Truthseeker]

I don't know. That Bible verse only answers anything if you've already decided that masturbation is sexually immoral or impure. Nothing in there suggests that conclusion, however.

[JOJ650s]

I don't know. That Bible verse only answers anything if you've already decided that masturbation is sexually immoral or impure. Nothing in there suggests that conclusion, however.

Well, I had no idea that those verses were even there.
I did however prayed for a verse or verses, and I found these.

The verse jester highlighted,
Eph. 5:10 alone was good enough for me.
Especially after praying for a verse about this.

[Truthseeker]

Hold on, what do you mean you had no idea those verses were there? What specifically was your process for finding those verses? Did you pray and then you heard God's voice say "EPHESIANS FIVE" to you? And then you looked up the passage and lo and behold it was fairly on-point?

I don't see how 5:10 answers anything. It just says "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." That would only answer the masturbation question if you've already decided on whether or not masturbation pleases the Lord. Your argument presupposes a belief in your conclusion.

[JOJ650s]

No, I did not find it just like that. XD
I prayed for a verse and heard Eph.
So I read the book of Eph till I got to Eph 5:01.
These verses just hit right on.
Especially after praying for a verse that would tell me if it's wrong or right.

Yes,
I did not hear Eph 5:1 - 5:13,
I just heard Eph.
The bible though originaly didn't have verses.
It was done in books.

Any ways,
Your username is truthseeker. (awesome name by the way)
Well, the best way to seek truth,
is to pray to God for the answer.

Just keep seeking/praying and he will give you the answer.

[Truthseeker]

But couldn't you pick up almost any book in the Bible and find something condemning sexual immorality if you read for long enough?

But let's just accept that God lead you to Eph. and Eph 5 was the passage He meant for you to find. Does that necessarily mean the answer you think it does?

Your premise seems to be that if we ask God if masturbation is sexually immoral and God directs us to a passage that tells us to stay away from sexual immorality, then that is God's way of telling us that masturbation is sexually immoral. But is that premise necessarily true? Are there other ways of interpreting Eph. 5?

[jester747]

But couldn't you pick up almost any book in the Bible and find something condemning sexual immorality if you read for long enough?

But let's just accept that God lead you to Eph. and Eph 5 was the passage He meant for you to find. Does that necessarily mean the answer you think it does?

Your premise seems to be that if we ask God if masturbation is sexually immoral and God directs us to a passage that tells us to stay away from sexual immorality, then that is God's way of telling us that masturbation is sexually immoral. But is that premise necessarily true? Are there other ways of interpreting Eph. 5?

Uhm.

Mebbe.

But my point in highlighting that verse was because of simplification really.

Once you take away all the red tape, you're left with the simple fact that you are told to carefully analyse what it is that pleases the Lord, and go with that. This argument has spent so long arguing that masturbation is 'okay,' or that it's not all that bad, but the point is, how can masturbation possibly please the Lord? Sin or not, you're taking a function of the human body meant for the beauty that is procreation, and you're using it to pleasure yourself without the Lord directing to it beforehand.

[Truthseeker]

What makes you think God wants to limit bodily functions to a single purpose? Maybe that bodily function was primarily designed for procreation, but God knew that other uses were possible and He was fine with that. Why rule that out as a possibility?

[JOJ650s]

What makes you think God wants to limit bodily functions to a single purpose? Maybe that bodily function was primarily designed for procreation, but God knew that other uses were possible and He was fine with that. Why rule that out as a possibility?

Why did God not limit speaking to only the truth?
Does that mean telling lies is ok?

God gave every one a free will,
It's up to every one to use what they can do for right, & not for wrong.

[Truthseeker]

What makes you think God wants to limit bodily functions to a single purpose? Maybe that bodily function was primarily designed for procreation, but God knew that other uses were possible and He was fine with that. Why rule that out as a possibility?

Why did God not limit speaking to only the truth?
Does that mean telling lies is ok?

God gave every one a free will,
It's up to every one to use what they can do for right, & not for wrong.

Perhaps I did not make myself clear. I did not mean to say that just because you can do something with your body, then that means it is okay to do. The fact that humans can lie, but lying is not okay, is a great example of why that isn't true.

But I was saying something different. My point was that God having a primary purpose in mind for body parts does not mean that other uses for those body parts are not okay. This was in response to your argument that masturbation was wrong because the bodily function involved was designed for procreation.

Let's look at these arguments in a different way:

1. "My body can do X, therefore X is okay." This statement is false because there are some things "X" can be that make the statement untrue. Your example about lying shows why it is false. However, my argument was never "my body can masturbate, therefore masturbation is okay."

2. "God designed X for a specific purpose, therefore using X for any other purpose is wrong." This is another false statement because there are some things "X" can be that make the statement untrue. Feet were clearly designed for walking, but does that make it wrong to use them to peddle a bicycle? Of course not. So this argument is not sound, at least not by itself. But it was the argument you were making when you basically said "God designed sexual organs for reproduction, therefore using sexual organs for any other purpose is wrong."

Please note, I am not advancing any particular view on masturbation of my own. I am simply trying to ask questions that allow people to examine their beliefs a little more closely.