Mosaic Law is quite specific when it comes to its condemnations of sexual immorality. God specifically condemned certain sexual actions like adultery (Exodus 20:14, Deuteronomy 22:22), bestiality (Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 20:15-16), and rape (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). But nowhere in the extensive moral codes and laws from Exodus to Deuteronomy does God even hint that it is sinful for a person to 1) use his or her hands to stimulate his or her genitals to sexual arousal or 2) to enjoy doing so. And yet some Christians condemn this private act as if it were named among sexual sins listed in the Bible. People touch their own genitals in totally nonsexual contexts, like changing clothes or taking a shower, which is not the same as what is called masturbation, which I described two sentences ago. I will decimate the objections I've seen to this behavior and will show that Biblical ethics do not oppose intentional sexual self-stimulation in and of itself, meaning that if it is not a sinful act in itself, from which it follows that left to itself it is either an amoral or even a good act (I specify below where it might legitimately be called good). No, not all Christians engage in this behavior and not everyone finds it subjectively appealing. I know I don't find it appealing. But I will oppose stupid claims made by irrational people.
And now I will address individual points and objections.
"Masturbation is homosexuality."
Stimulating one's own genitals is not an act of homosexuality, as I have heard some people argue. Homosexual acts are sexual activities shared between two or more people of the same gender. Both the Old Testament and New Testament condemn homosexual behaviors involving two or more people, but never does either condemn self-stimulation. This is a laughable objection that someone has to assume in order to defend an assumed conclusion, thereby begging the question.
"Sexual activities that do not involve two people are wrong."
No, it does not follow from the fact that marital sex involves two people that God disapproves of all sexual self-stimulation. This is a blatant use of the non sequitur fallacy. Besides, where does the Bible say that a person touching his or her sex organs for the purpose of sexual pleasure is wrong? Does the Bible prohibit all sexual behaviors that do not involve two parties? No! The Bible instead condemns a variety of sexual behaviors other than masturbation.
"No one can masturbate without lusting."
No, it does not have to involve the objectification of or lust for another person (they're different things too). Lust is desiring to take someone's spouse from them and objectification is reducing someone to just one aspect of their personhood. When Jesus uses the word lust in Matthew 5, he seems to be using the Greek version of the Hebrew word for covet in the Old Testament. Coveting someone's spouse is not the same as having sexual desire, thinking a married or unmarried person is attractive or even sexy, or even having the desire to commit a sexual sin (which is itself different from lust and objectification by the definitions I have here). Note that although objectification, lust, and desire to actively commit sexual sins are all sinful, they are distinct moral offenses. One does not necessarily appear with the other. Masturbation in itself involves none of these out of pure necessity. Besides, it is objectively much better for someone to toy with his or her own genitals than to commit an act of actual sexual immorality which is condemned by name in the Bible. In fact, when explaining why masturbation is not intrinsically sinful, it is absurd to not elaborate on how it can actually help release sexual urges. This is where it can be good. Why some Christians can't see this is baffling--but hey, Christians can be pretty damn ignorant, as I am not ever hesitant to point out.
"Masturbation will dominate the lives of those who do it."
No, masturbation does not have to become an addiction. To say otherwise is to straw man a position to make it vulnerable to a criticism that has no basis in reality. It is also totally untrue to claim as some do that "everyone does it" (and yes, it's asinine to claim that one gender does it more than the other)--some people like myself are apathetic towards this and have no desire to engage in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment