Subject: is masterbation a sin explain thxs |
Bible Note: Inmyheart, I'm neither condemning masturbation or nor am I defending it. As the Bible does not speak specifically to this ACT, I am not going to be dogmatic on it. If others want to be, that is their option. The woman who was brought to Jesus, caught in the act of adultery, should have been stoned. That is what the Law said. Did Jesus break the Law? As you have said, the Bible does speak to issues like lust. Is it possible to engage in masturbation without lusting? Yes it is. But satan and the world tempt us to sin in almost every area of our lives and they will use this area to cause us to sin through lusting. They will also use this area to condemn other brothers and sisters in Christ without mercy. Have you ever looked at another person with lust? Then, according to Jesus' standard, you have already masturbated in your mind, haven't you? The problem is that we love to rate sins. That way, my sin of worrying is not as bad as your sin of lusting. My sin of a critical spirit is not as bad as your sin of masturbation. My sin of running another brother or sister down with my tongue is not as bad as what you may do with the other parts of your body. Sin is sin in God's eyes. Did you ever tell a lie? Then you are just as guilty as a cold-blooded murder in the eyes of God (James 2:10). Popular Christianity is so consumed with what is a sin and what is not a sin that we never get around to finding life in Christ. We're too busy rating sins and trying to judge ourselves against others. Hebrews says that whatever is not of faith is sin. By the time the legalist piles the 10 Commandments, the Mosaic Law, the sins of omission, and the sin of living life apart from faith in every act on top of people, the "good news" of the gospel is nullified. We spend our whole lives trying to keep short accounts with God and trying to keep our sins (which God says He no longer remembers - Heb 10:17,18) confessed. The goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning. The goal of the Christian life is to abide in Christ and let Him live it. As we do, we will sin less but, while on earth, we will never be sinless. Sure God wants to renew our minds. This is how He changes our thinking and therefore our actions. As we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But the flesh is not just "evil" deeds. It is self. The flesh can look very good: self-discipline, self-confidence, self-effort, self-achievement, self-righteousness. But it is all evil in God's eyes. It is only when we come to see that our righteousness comes from God alone that we will be set free to "think on these things." Christ in us will cause us to fulfill the law of love. You write: "we are not to associate with those who call themselves Christians who are idolaters (1Corinthians 5:11)" I wouldn't believe how judgmental Christians can be if I wasn't being set free from it myself. Anything you put before God makes you an idolator. You can stick the word "habitual" in there is you want to, but the scriptures don't. We do it so that we can say, "Well, I'm only occasionally idolatrous. I'm not like so-and-so who is habitually idolatrous." Even the church at Ephesus who was doing everything right had left their first love. We would do well to teach people about how much Jesus loves them and how He has shed His blood to forgive them. His perfect love casted out all fear of punishment. As I said, I'm not going to be dogmatic on an issue that the scriptures to not speak directly to. And even the ones where scripture is definately clear on call for us to restore others in a spirit of love, not condemnation. Let the one without sin cast the first stone. Any sin. Don't rate them. There was only One who was not and He didn't condemn. Neither will I. ChristLifer2001 |