WHY MASTURBATION IS EVIL AND HOW TO FREE YOURSELF FROM IT

WHY MASTURBATION IS MORALLY EVIL & HOW TO FREE YOURSELF FROM IT

This article is going to point out the clear reasons why masturbation, when performed with the purpose providing an artificial form of sexual pleasure is always morally evil. I will then offer three helpful ways to combat this very addictive behavior. I will build my arguments against masturbation upon the Natural Law and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

As in my other articles on chastity and sexual purity, we also begin here with the premise that everything that God created has a distinct and unique purpose to itself for the benefit of all of creation. From the trees to the elements, to the metals, to the animals; each thing of creation has its own purpose and these things are also a part of a community of things purposed by God for the betterment of the whole, and, ultimately, the salvation of humankind. In other words, all of these distinct and unique things created and purposed by God are ordered to glorify Him.

MASTURBATION INVEIGHS AGAINST NATURAL LAW

What is Natural Law? Natural Law is the axiomatic law of God that cannot be changed or altered in any fashion. Natural Law is God’s created order of things that is distinct from other forms of law, such as ‘positive law’ (meaning “man-made law”, not “good law”; cf. posit) that arises to govern political communities, societies, or nation-states, and thus can function as a standard. The nature and purpose of things inform our understanding of Natural Law. For example, the nature of gravity is to always pull things towards the center of mass. That is, no matter how many times that we may vote to make gravity stronger, or no matter how many decrees, edicts, or opinions of the Supreme Court that may be issued to reduce the pull of gravity, nothing can change its nature – God designed it and we cannot change it.

In regards to masturbation, we know that male and female genitalia were only created for each other because it is only when those two sexual organs come together that new life has the potential to be created. Indeed, that is the only manner in which new human life naturally reproduces itself. Moreover, there is no other place where a man can place his genital that can result in the creation of one of his own kind than inside of the female genital. It is also a part of the natural order of things that reproduction between the sexes should be physically pleasing. If sex were painful perhaps the human race would be radically smaller. Therefore, when a man or woman artificially stimulates their genitals, outside of conjugal sex in marriage, it violates and defeats the very purpose for which they were given to us in the first place. It’s like using an automobile for a sailboat. Not only are you not using it for what it was created and purposed for, but you’re going to ruin the darn thing.



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It is difficult enough for us to always honor the purpose and order of those things truly created by God, but at least if we would take the time to consider their Creator we might be able to relearn and recommit ourselves to using what God has given us rightly. For when we truly trust that God is Holy, we simultaneously trust that the purpose and order of things that He has made are also holy. Our body has a created purpose and masturbation violates that purpose.

WHAT SACRED SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT MASTURBATION

Perhaps the clearest thing Scripture has to say about using our bodies for immoral purposes, which masturbation unarguably is, comes from 1 Corinthians 6:13C-15A, 17-20:

“Brothers and sisters: The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES ABOUT MASTURBATION

Paragraph No. 2352 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure.” Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.” “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of “the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.”

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, the force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.”

Here the Catholic Church points to her long Tradition of always teaching that masturbation is morally evil, then raises the elements of why it is morally evil according to the natural law and concludes with a treatment on factors in the moral culpability of the offender.

Masturbation is a selfish act to please self. It’s not about anyone else but you doing what you want to do to please you. It is true that many factors can contribute to one’s commitment to masturbation; such as the level of knowledge that masturbation is morally evil, length and frequency of exposure to pornography, how long they have been engaged in that pattern of behavior, environmental influences in children and/or adulthood, and etcetera.

3 ACTIONS TO FREE YOURSELF FROM MASTURBATION

1. Make a Decision to Stop: I think it is the most obvious thing in the world to say that if you want to stop masturbating then you need to make a clear, conscious, and firm decision to stop. Anyone can stand on the train tracks and think about jumping off before the approaching train hits them, but if you really want to save your life, then you need to make a decision to do so. No one else is going to make this decision for you. And this is not a decision that you make just once and be done with it forever. On the contrary, you have to wake up every morning and make a decision to honor your body as the Temple of God. Every time you feel the temptation to violate your sexual purity is yet another occasion when you need to recommit yourself to being chaste. One day at a time is this battle fought.

In fact, society is going to tell you that nothing is wrong with masturbation. You will hear that masturbation is healthy and that body needs your assistance to artificially release built-up sperm. You will hear that it is natural even though I have already proven that it is not a part of the natural order. You will hear these things because people love the easy way, and masturbation is a tough addiction for many people to quit. But if you want to be free the self-lust of masturbation then start by making a firm decision. Write it down, tell someone, and stay committed to it, even if you fall down and do it again – just get back up and recommit yourself to being free from it.

You will hear people tell you that masturbation is a personal choice, that what they do in the privacy of their own bedroom does not affect you. There are two errors with that line of thinking. The first is the issue of relativism; that is, it is either true or not true that masturbation is morally evil – it can’t be both. Therefore it is not just a personal choice; it is either a bad personal choice or a virtuous choice, and I have already proven that it masturbation is not a virtuous choice. Secondly, if you are living your life in a way that brings glory to God then you are living your life in a way that somehow positively affects me. In contrast, if you are living your life in a way that glorifies Satan then you are living your life in a way that somehow negatively affects me. We are all connected beings – no one is living unto himself on an island. There are not many degrees that separate us or our children from each other. Therefore, our decisions somehow always affect one another, and it is all of our responsibility to help one another make better choices so that we all might make it to Heaven.

2. Call Masturbation what it is: Call it what it is – it’s not just masturbation, it is the Unclean Spirit of masturbation. This unclean demonic spirit is not of God, and no matter how many times you masturbate, you will never please God by serving this unclean spirit. God is never going to praise you or bless you for masturbating. Masturbation never helps you spiritually – it always hurts. By giving into the unclean spirit of masturbation, you grieve the Holy Spirit. Masturbation can never draw you nearer to God. It is morally evil and if you want to stop doing it then recognize it as a sin and call it a sin that, inasmuch as it feels good to the body, is not worth spending eternity in Hell for.

Most people will do many things in the company of their friends or in private that they would not do around their children because they know that that particular behavior is morally wrong. If masturbation were truly a virtuous act then we could do it right there in front of our children, parents, family, and boss. If masturbation were truly a virtuous act then it wouldn’t be featured in pornography. On the contrary, masturbation is something that most people always do in secret. But even in secret, it doesn’t please God. Even in secret, it is still morally evil.

3. Don’t do it Alone – Rely on God and His Patient Grace to Help You: I have known people who have decided to quit masturbation and were immediately able to stop – cold turkey (as they call it), but for many people, especially for those who have masturbation as a real addiction it takes time to learn how to feel good about self without having to turn to false, temporary, and artificial substitutes for true joy. Our God is a patient God. Therefore, don’t give up on yourself, because He won’t give up on you. Keep praying – keep cooperating with grace.

CONCLUSION

Your best help to quit masturbation or any addictive or sinful behavior is the grace of God. Recognize that masturbation is self’s attempt to make self-feel good in a way that is not pleasing to God. Therefore, when you feel the urge to masturbate recognize that that is what is going on with the body, and what you want to do right then is repeatedly invite God into your sinful desire by calling on the name of Jesus Christ and He will give you the grace to move you past your urge.

Again, this may take time, and you may fall down more times than you feel like you have been standing up, you might despair and begin to think you can’t stop, but keep calling on the grace of God, persevere in grace, take advantage of intercessory prayer, and the Sacraments of the Church. What has helped me the most, especially during those moments when the temptation is beating me down, is asking our Blessed Mother Mary to pray for me. Without fail, her prayers always come through and help to put my body at peace. The purest and chaste Virgin Mother is of great help and support. But, most importantly, just be patient with yourself, because God will not lose His patience with you. He loves you and desires for you to be Holy and will go to any means necessary for you to be all that He has created you to be. Therefore, trust Him and trust your commitment



Clifford on January 14, 2012 at 12:58 pm

This article has really inspired me and encouraged me to be the kind of young man God has created me to be. Thank you so much may God continue increasing you. My life will never be the same again.



bambam on March 21, 2012 at 9:40 am

i had a porn and masturbation addiction and it was killing my love life, getting me way uninterested in actual female counterparts.
first i gave up porn (it was pretty difficult with all the content flooding every aspect of our lives and the internet) and i suddenly found myself using my imagination (which whatever the consensus might be never measures up to the real thing) when i masturbated thinking about real people not pornstars and then, after a while giving up masturbation too.

needless to say, my hormones and my body reacted and gave me the nerve to approach women towards i previously had no interest or drive. Stopping masturbation boosts the testosterone levels and both you and the women around you can feel this, it’s just that simple and nature has made it so simple for humans to understand each other.



Chiafahang Tom on January 28, 2014 at 7:14 am

down with corruption.



Chiafahang Tom on January 28, 2014 at 7:14 am

thank you for writing this, after reading this, i hope that i can reincarnate in a world without obsession for sex or masturbation.

those who said that masturbation is healthy for their mind are the equivalent of saying drugs are good for your health.

masturbation is maybe healthy physically, but the dangerous part is it’s like morphine. Extremely addictive.

i would put a stop to masturbation and only have sex with my wife when im married

Destroy lust, destroy rule 34, destroy dark souls



The Don on December 10, 2014 at 11:21 am

Because clearly staying pure for Jeebus is way better than avoiding prostate cancer later on in life because you’re too stupid to understand that there is literally nothing wrong with Jerking off.

Please evacuate yourself from the Earth. Go meet your God, we don’t want you.



Michael S Clifford on April 24, 2016 at 10:06 am

In real life, masturbating has nothing to do with avoiding prostate cancer.



Jeff on June 17, 2015 at 8:04 am

See i hate whole thing but the one truth is rule 34 needs to go



The Truth on February 23, 2014 at 6:40 pm

Very true that there is a Natural Law. We are all created in the image and likeness of God. We all have a conscious to differentiate between good and evil and we have free will to choose between the two freely. As we commit evil acts against Natural law our conscious will let us know. There is a reason why women who commit the act of abortion feel great remorse and guilt. Off course after many abortions, the feeling of guilt may become deadened due to the repeated sinful act. The same thing applies to masturbation. The very first time one masturbates one is permeated with a feeling that this is not the human or right thing to do. This is the spiritual part of your being telling you in plain terms that a violation of Natural Law has occurred. After repeated acts of masturbation over time, this feeling of guilt will fade away. Don’t listen to the ignoramuses of the day, masturbation is wrong – it is not the natural human thing to do.