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A question from a twelve-year-old girl about masturbation
Is it a sin to masturbate?
I’m a Christian girl of twelve. I’m a real Christian, not just one who goes to church at Christmas.
I’m not sure but I think that masturbating means touching your own sex organs (genitals). Me and my girl friend do this. It doesn't feel right, and we’re trying to stop. But is masturbation sin? If it is I’ll stop and ask forgiveness. While I’m waiting for an answer I’ll not do it. Why do we like to do it?
Hi,
It’s a good idea to think about the fact that God created us and our bodies. Sexual feelings are a gift from God that we will enjoy with the person we marry.
When we reach puberty our bodies produce hormones that awaken sexual feelings in our bodies. At this point it can be interesting to explore our bodies and the feelings that are triggered by touching and stimulating the sex organs. These are natural feelings and there isn’t anything wrong in it.
The reason it feels nice to touch the sex organs is that God’s purpose for a sex life is that it should bind together two people who are married, just as strong glue binds things together. He wants them to long for each other and that they will always want to be with each other, be good to each other, experience intimacy and have sex. Sex gives us such good feelings that we want to experience it again, and that is the longing that God wants two married people to have for each other. The unity that sex gives between two people gives visible results in the sense that a new person can be created.
The Bible doesn’t say anything directly about masturbation or touching our own genitals. Nevertheless, it can be wise to be aware of what you’re doing and why you do it so that it doesn't take too much focus. Although masturbation in itself isn’t directly wrong, it can lead to things that are not good.
The sex drive is very strong and the more preoccupied you are with it, the more room it takes in your life. Masturbation takes many different forms and what starts as the innocent exploring of your body can end up in a more active and regular self-gratification. Masturbation can also lead us into fantasies, where you fantasise about having sex with someone while you masturbate, and according to the Bible that is sin (Matthew 5:28).
In a sense masturbation means having sex with yourself. You will want to keep on experiencing the good feelings, and it can be so consuming that you can have problems stopping. So masturbation is sex that you enjoy for your own sake, but God created sexual feelings and sex in order to bind us together with the person we marry, and it should be something we experience and enjoy together.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: A story about masturbation and sexual feelings.
The conclusion is that you are not doing anything wrong by touching yourself and exploring your body and your genitals, but you should think about why and how much you want to do this, and be aware of what this does to your thoughts and your focus.
Best wishes
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