5 Steps to Breaking Free from Porn _Joe Dallas (2)

APPENDIX A
What About Masturbation?
Right now some of you are probably wondering, “Okay, Joe, so I conquer
my porn habit. But as a healthy man with a normal sex drive, what am I to do?
Especially if I’m single.” Good question. And any discussion of male sexual
purity should include masturbation, especially as it relates to sexual fantasy
and pornography. Masturbation is, after all, one of the earliest forms of sexual
expression we experience, and the most common form of sexual activity among
humans.
This topic is seldom discussed, widely misunderstood, and universally
considered an embarrassing topic. So let’s hit the question head-on: Is it all
right for you to masturbate? Let’s recognize, first, that there are no specific
references to masturbation in the Bible. Some people mistakenly quote Genesis
38, which is the story of Onan. He “spilled his seed onto the ground,” and
some people view that as a reference to masturbation. A closer look at the text,
however, shows that Onan was in the middle of sexual intercourse and
withdrew just before ejaculating, thereby spilling his seed to avoid
impregnating his wife. He wasn’t masturbating; he was practicing a crude form
of birth control.
Since there are no clear biblical prohibitions against masturbation, we
can’t say that the Bible specifically condemns it, but I offer at least three cases
in which I consider masturbation to be sinful.
First, since 1 Corinthians 7:4 teaches that a husband’s body “belongs” to
his wife, I believe that it’s wrong for a married man to masturbate. In doing so,
he is taking what belongs to his wife and using it only for himself, which seems
a violation of Paul’s guideline.
Second, Jesus condemned internal lust. “I say to you that whoever looks at
a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”
(Matthew 5:28). If it is impossible for a man to masturbate without fantasizing,