Zelder wrote:"Prophets anciently and today condemn masturbation. It induces feelings of guilt and shame. It is detrimental to spirituality. It indicates slavery to the flesh, not that mastery of it and the growth toward godhood which is the object of our mortal life. Our modern prophet has indicated that no young man should be called on a mission who is not free from this practice. - Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, Pages 77-79, 81-82
Can someone please tell me which ancient prophets condemned masturbation? There are no scriptures on this subject. It does not induce feelings of shame unless you come from a culture that shames you for it. Nobody in the church said anything about masturbation untill long after Joseph Smith was dead. It seems the churchs' views on masturbation are based on scriptures that don't exist, puritan cultural views.
The church seems to get most of its revelation by borrowing from conservative American folk beliefs.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
As for the history of masturbation, it's an evolved behavior. Males of many species will actually masturbate just before mating. This gets rid of the older sperm. Fresher sperm have a better chance of producing healthy offspring and reduces chance of miscarriage. Also, masturbation prevents prostate cancer. It's an adaptive behavior in males. In females, well there's no evolutionary reason for it, but it exists because it's awesome.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
keithb wrote:I think SWK had some major issues in life.
I've wondered this, too. Perhaps it is coincidence, but isn't it interesting that preachers who condemn the loudest end up being some sort of closet homosexual, molester, or found with a hooker?
Makes me wonder what skeletons were in Kimball's closet...
"There is no shame in watching porn." - why me, 08/15/11
"The answer is: ...poontang." - darricktevenson, 01/10/11
Daniel Peterson is a "Gap-Toothed Lizard Man" - Daniel Peterson, 12/06/08
What is the history of masturbation? Well, you see, men grew penises, and then longer arms, and the rest, they say, is history.
H.
"Others cannot endure their own littleness unless they can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level." ~ Ernest Becker "Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death." ~ Simone de Beauvoir
This is a must read for anyone intersted in the topic. I'm going to give a copy to my stake president.
From reading this one might wish for the professional medical community in the Church to step forward and help seek a more reasonable understanding regarding masturbation - to bring it closer to a current 21st Century medical understanding. At the same time, these professionals must feel both cautious and daunted by the prospect of providing this insight for fear of incurring the animosity of Church leaders.
Nihil admirari (or “Nil admirari”) is a Latin phrase. It means “to be surprised by nothing”.
Marcus Tullius Cicero argues that real sapience consists of preparing oneself for all possible incidents and not being surprised by anything, using as an example Anaxagoras, who, when informed about the death of his son, said, “Sciebam me genuisse mortalem.” (I knew that I begot a mortal). Horatius and Seneca refer to similar occurrences and admired such moral fortitude.
Last year he set the record with 9 hours and 33 minutes, but this time he held on til 9 hours and 58 minutes. ... I'm very happy that my family understands me well. Ordinary families in Japan don't do so. I wonder how US families are like...."
The Masturbate-a-thon is an annual affair sponsored by the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco, where events are held in a place appropriately titled the "masturbatorium." If a man is taking part in a competition, he must stay aroused without ejaculating for as long as possible, a 2010 article in the San Fransisco Weekly explains.
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco - To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
Zelder wrote:Almost everybody throughout all time and across all cultures has masterbated. It is and always has been a ubiquitous human behavior. Despite this fact, it seems to me that nobody paid it any attention to masturbation until the midieval Catholics misinterpreted the story of Onin, thinking that the crime was the spilling on the ground rather than disobeying the command to have a child.
masturbation is such a big deal that we think it is necessary to confess it to a bishop. Why? Jesus never said a word about it. None of the Bible authors said a word about it. None of the Book of Mormon authors said a word about it. The doctrine and covenants says nothing about it nor the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith never said anything about it. At what point did the church decide it is a sin? Why did they decide it is a sin? There is no scriptural or revelatory foundation for this teaching.
Do they think it leads people to be promiscuous? Where is the logic, if that were true everyone would be promiscuous?
I think masturbation as a sin stems from cultural tradition with its foundation in Catholic views. I'm afraid the church's teachings on masturbation serves no purpose except to make people neurotic. I'm afraid it has done nothing but harm to people and marriages. Its morally wrong to shame people for masterbating. It is especially morally wrong to tell young girls that they should confess their shameful deed alone to a man they probably don't know very well. They grow up feeling neurotic and then get married and realize that she can't have a vaginal orgasm and feel shame to have extra help reaching orgasm.
The masturbation doctrine needs to go the way of the birth control doctrine, sweep it under the rug and forget about it. I'm thinking about complaining to my Stake President about my views. Maybe if lots of Mormons speak up, we can shame the church leaders into shutting up about this subject.
Any thoughts?
replace the word masterbation with something like rape or adultery and you can easily see whats wrong with this way of arguing. the law of chastity is about all kinds of sex.