“But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
Romans 14:23
Around 55,000 Christians go online every month and search to discover if masturbation is a sin. They boot up Google and type: “is masturbation a sin” (15,589 searches), “is masturbating a sin” (6,544 searches), “is masturbation a sin according to the bible” (6,494 searches), “what does the bible say about masturbation” (4,774 searches), “is jerking off a sin” (2,400 searches), “is touching yourself a sin” (1,900 searches), “what does the bible say about self satisfaction” (921 searches).
As you can see, some Christians are too embarrassed to even type the word into Google. They call it “jerking off,” “touching yourself,” “self satisfaction,” “playing with yourself,” “sex with yourself,” and other euphemisms. All of this proves that tens of thousands of Christians (a whopping 660,000 a year on Google alone) don’t have a clear conscience when it comes to masturbation. And these are just the ones we know about by analyzing Google keyword search volumes. Others use Bing or another search engine. But the majority likely don’t search at all.
Why do so many Christians search to discover if masturbation is a sin? Because their conscience troubles them. Their conscience makes them feel guilty and ashamed after the act, so they suspect that the act must be wrong. They do the act in private, and keep it a secret from their fiancé or spouse, so they naturally suspect that it must be sin. But they don’t find a clear command in the Bible prohibiting masturbation, so they turn to Google.
But the better place to turn to is the 14th chapter of the Book of Romans, verse 23. Here Paul spells out the universal rule to use whenever contemplating a dodgy act. “Whatever is not from faith,” says Paul, “is sin.” In other words, if you cannot do something with full conviction that the action is right, that action is sinful. If you doubt that something is correct, don’t do it, because doing it is sin. For you to take any action, you must be persuaded that it is right, proper and good. You cannot doubt. If you doubt, you are condemned (read the first part of the verse again).
Bear in mind that the converse of this rule is not true. Just because you believe something is OK, that doesn’t mean it’s not a sin. Saul thought he was right in persecuting the church. He was wrong. The Jews thought they were right in killing Jesus. They were mistaken. Which brings us back to the topic of masturbation. You can’t do it with a clear conscience because you can’t masturbate in faith. Since you doubt, don’t.
Need a daily kick in the pants to quit porn biblically? Buy the book, or subscribe to my daily kick.
Was this post helpful? Share it now:
