SAFE. Sex. Ain’t. Masturbation.

OK…

If you’ve been reading these long enough, you *might think* that I would start this off by saying, “The only safe sex is abstinence.” Eh. Kinda. Actually, I would probably say, “The only safe sex is the combination of a pure mind and a marital covenant.” However, I’m not really in that lane, per se, today.

I thought about the term “safe sex” after reading yet another riveting (LOL) article  about how boys who masturbate have a greater chance of using a condom than those who don’t (although for girls, interestingly enough, this doesn’t seem to be the case). It provided this info as well:

The results: boys were found to masturbate more often than girls, both overall and across all measured time frames.

For example, while nearly three-quarters of boys surveyed reported having ever masturbated, that figure was slightly less than half among girls.

For both sexes, the likelihood of engaging in masturbation appeared to increase with age. Among boys between the ages of 14 and 17 the percentage of those who had masturbated at least once rose from about 63 to 80 percent. Among girls, those figures were lower but still followed an upward slope, rising from about 43 percent to 58 percent across the same time-frame, according to the report.

Yet while boys also were increasingly likely to say they had “recently” masturbated as they got older (rising from 43 percent at the age of 14 to almost 68 percent among 17-year-olds), the same observation was not made among girls.

Boys also engaged in masturbation more frequently than girls: about half of the boys said they engaged in the activity at least twice a week, but that figure fell to about 23 percent among girls. An estimated 46 percent of girls reported masturbating only a few times per year.

First, that “girls masturbating a few times a year” bit? I *highly* doubt. It’s kinda like what they say about (most) gals when it comes to how many partners they’ve had. There’s the *real* number. Then there’s the number that you are comfortable telling. Shoot, I reveal mine (14) because I heard (well, read) a wise man say some time ago, “Tell all of your business before someone else exaggerates it.” 😉 Oh, and this: “Confess your faults that you may be healed.” (James 5:16) Oh, and this: “Look well to yourself [to your own personality] and to [your] teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (I Timothy 4:16-AMP)

Anyway, back to the message at hand (no pun intended). Look at what other information the article presented:

In addition, for both boys and girls, engaging in masturbation was associated with a greater odds of engaging in sexual relations with a partner, compared to adolescents who did not masturbate. For boys, masturbation was linked to higher odds of engaging in oral sex and vaginal intercourse, while for girls it was linked to higher odds for oral sex, partnered masturbation, and both vaginal and anal intercourse.

Lastly, the study authors found that condom use was linked to masturbation among those boys (but not girls) who also engaged in vaginal intercourse.

You know, I’ve read a lot of info (including commentors on these blogs) that support masturbation. Personally, as a former masturbator on an almost two-year fast from it and five-year fast from other forms of sexual activity, I don’t see the point in “eating a cracker while you’re fasting”…but that’s just me. And, that’s just the carnal reason for why I would prefer going without now. All or nothing. That is how I prefer my sex these days. And “all” would include,”with God’s blessing” (Genesis 2:24-25, Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 19:6), by the way.

Yet, I’m hoping you caught what the article said about those who masturbate *increasing their odds* of participating in fornication. And so you see what it upped the risk for in girls? Anal intercourse as well. MANY stats support the physical health risks alone with that particular act:

According to data released earlier this year [2005] by the Centers for Disease Control, the probability of HIV acquisition by the receptive partner in unprotected oral sex with an HIV carrier is one per 10,000 acts. In vaginal sex, it’s 10 per 10,000 acts. In anal sex, it’s 50 per 10,000 acts. Do the math. Oral sex is 10 times safer than vaginal sex. Anal sex is five times more dangerous than vaginal sex and 50 times more dangerous than oral sex. Presumably, oral sex is far more frequent than anal sex. But are you confident it’s 50 times more frequent?

OK, so masturbation ups your chances of participating in acts that are…dangerous? Yet some choose to believe it’s a form of safe sex. Something doesn’t gel here.

I mean, we could (and probably *should*) get into how lust is not of God (Colossians 3:5, James 1:14-16) and I’m still amazed by the amount of people (mostly men) who try and convince me that they can (and do) masturbate without lusting. The Word, which is God, makes it clear on the type of things that we should be thinking about. If people can *honestly* say that they are following the Philippians 4:8 formula while engaging, yeah, I’d *love* to hear about it!

Yet, if we were to stick with just the physical, it still amazes me how much people overlook the warnings of complying with man’s wisdom (I Corinthians 3:18-20, 2 Corinthians 1:12, James 3:14-16) in re: to how little God thinks of it. You can try and find a justification all day long for what you do (or want to do). You can try and find loopholes in Scripture. However, there’s a verse in the Bible that says, “…whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” (Proverbs 29:25-NKJV) This would include trusting in his Word. Hebrews 13:4 tells us that fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. I Timothy 5:22 (NKJV) says, “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.” I Corinthians 5 speaks *quite clearly* about how to deal with sexual immorality. We have to trust that God is telling us those things to keep us truly safe.

Safe: secure from liability to harm, injury, danger or risk.

Yeah, and here’s the thing about “harm” that a lot of people may not know. It’s not just “physical injury” but (hello!) “MENTAL DAMAGE” *and* “moral injury; evil and wrong”.

Now, if you’re not married (or if you’re not applying Philippians 4:8 to your marriage bed), I don’t care how many condoms or other forms of birth control you may use. We are not just made up of flesh. We are also made of spirit (Galatians 5:16-17). With that in mind, *how safe IS the sex that you’re having?*

Cause if it’s liable to bring you harm…or injury…or danger…if it’s going to be a risk to your mind, body or spirit…

It’s not really safe at all.

Never was.

Never will be.

Masturbation is probably the *least safe* of sexual activities because it has so many people believing otherwise. *Just like deception does*.

Hmph. They don’t call ’em “gateway drugs” for nothin’ and we have the stats to support it.

Choose (and do) wisely. And purposefully.

AND *TRUE* SAFELY.