I am so encouraged to see everyone’s responses, and I hope that those who have questions would find answers here. I appreciate very much everyone who agrees with me, and just as much I appreciate anyone who, with a good heart, would try to rebuke what I say. My heart is broken by the struggle that we all share, and I hope that I can speak to your hearts.
On my last post there was an inquiry brought up about the health of masturbation. To be honest, I did not know that the world of science thought that masturbation was healthy. But I am not ashamed in my ignorance. I will not research this topic in worldly sources, I will only look to the Bible for the answer to this question. I raise 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Then in verse 20 “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” Verses 22-25 “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: as a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
So I say this. Masturbation and pornography have been a stumbling block for me pursuing my relationship with Christ. It is like a spiritual sickness. And if I could trade that spiritual sickness for a physical one, if I could stop masturbating by the grace of God, but I would have to take on this terrible disease, I say bring it on.
I am not trying to lessen the trial of a physical ailment, I know many who struggle with things, and I praise God for my health. But a physical ailment is not something that hurts us spiritually. Bitterness because of the ailment can hurt us, but the physical ailment itself cannot.
I would also like to address another question raised in the comments on my last post. Is it lust when you are lusting for your wife? I am not married, but I offer an insight I believe to be true. The reason lust is a bad thing is because of what we are lusting for. We are lusting for the naked girl on the screen, we are lusting for an unhealthy sexual relationship. And in that lust we will be hurt, because that girl on the screen will never be anything more then that girl on the screen. We are going through a very sexual (in the relational sense) experience with that girl, and we will never have anything else. Sex is supposed to be a part of a relationship. God created sex to be had between a man and a woman in marriage, a “next step” in the relationship.
If you are having sex with your wife (in a Godly relationship), then you are fulfilling God’s image of sex, which is perfect, and you ultimately should lust for that. I look forward to the sex I am going to have if I marry. And once I’m married, I’m sure I will look forward to it day to day. I think this is a healthy Godly lust.
In Christ,
Ben