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Matter-eater Man said:
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Dave the Wonder Boy said:



4) Neither pornography or masturbation are specifically addressed in the Bible. ( Nor are television, movies, the internet, air travel, antibiotics, guns, atomic weapons, recorded music, music videos, abortion, birth control, or a million other issues, that could all be argued to be protective, enlightening and beneficial to mankind, or decadent, unnatural and destructive.)
And there is VERY diverse opinion on these issues among the Christian community.

Whereas the Bible is extremely specific about the severity of adultery and homosexual behavior.

Your interpretation is your own interpretation, and NOT from the Bible.

The Matthew verse "he who looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery in his heart", does not clearly draw the line between desire and adultery. To look at a woman in a dress or a bikini and think she's attractive, is much different than planning to have sex with her, and conspiring a plan to do so.
One analysis of that verse is that only when that desire becomes a plan to seduce her, does it become a sin.

One Christian book on sexuality I read called masturbation "God's greatest gift", a way to satisfy desire without committing adultery.
But again, the Bible does not clearly say masturbation or pornography are a sin. These are interpretations, and interpretations vary.

By your standard, I can't watch rated R movies, watch TV sitcoms, or look at a pretty girl at a shopping mall or the beach, because any of those things could incite desire.






Well not that I care what you or anybody does for sexual pleasure (as long as it's not harming anyone) but the Bible does make it clear that lust is a sin. To masterbate you must lust (sin). So for people that take the stance that everything in the Bible is 100% true & overlook the obvious because it would mean they would have to control their sexual impulses is hypocrasy.



I might actually take your accusations
of "hypocrisy" seriously, if I thought you had a clue
what you were talking about, and had some actual
familiarity with the Bible and what it says.

I mean geez, first off, you can't even correctly SPELL the word
hypocrisy.

And I'd wager you know even less about the Bible.

I just explained, partly in the section you quoted from me
above (that you clearly didn't thoroughly read), that the
Bible doesn't have any specific discussion of
masturbation. So again, there is no contradiction in what
I've said.

And that's irrelevant anyway, because masturbation and porn
has nothing to do with what I posted.

You assume just because I post to the WOMEN section,
that everything I posted there is porn, or approval of
porn.
As I said, the title is the WOMEN section, not the PORN
section.

It is assumed that just because I posted a few pictures, or
simply commented on a few pictures, that this is some
grand endorsement of all porn.

Like I said, the pictures I posted and commented on are
pretty mild. They're just pin-up girls, almost none of
them exceeding what you'd see at the beach. And I don't
think any of them rise to the level of stroke fodder.


I can honestly say I've never masturbated to internet
porn. I'm still the master of my domain.

Most of the time I just delete this stuff when it's e-
mailed to me, and for a change of pace, I'd seen a lot of
similar stuff in the WOMEN section, and what the heck, I
posted a few pictures.
I posted there regularly for a few weeks, and then got
bored and drifted elsewhere. Like I told Amy off the
boards, you can only say "Woo !" and "This girl is SO
hot !!" so many times.

In the WOMEN section, there are discussions of
relationships, actors and actresses, dating, what men and
women find attractive in the opposite sex, and other
aspects of women.
But mostly discussion of attractive movie and TV stars,
swimsuit models, and other high-profile women, including
the occasional porn star. But that's not all the
WOMEN section is.

It's a lighter, more humor-laden topic section, and was a
welcome break for me from the recently smothering
seriousness and knock-down drag-outs in the DEEP THOUGHTS
section.
The WOMEN forum is not exactly the forum where you make
political posturing on the right or wrongness of
masturbation, porn, and so forth. Pretentious schmucks who
take themselves way too seriously (not naming names )
probably wouldn't enjoy it much over there.

And truth told, I was getting a little bored with it as
well, like I said. because it's more just pictures, and I
began to crave more discussion again.
I posted there regularly for about two or three weeks, did
my best to contribute what I could, and then moved on. I
went there and posted again for the first time in over a
month a few days ago, when someone e-mailed me privately
and asked me to contribute to one of his topics.

On the issue of porn and masturbation, like I said, there
is no specific Biblical stance on it, so I don't have any
real objection to either. My stance may change on that, if
a Christian well versed in the Bible can convince me
otherwise.

I know there's porn addiction out there, but just like
drinking too much wine or eating too many twinkies on a
regular basis, anything abused to an extreme can be bad.
Basically, if porn takes a form that is depraved or
degrading to men and women, I object to it (bondage and
discipline, urination videos, violent porn, etc.)

Or if it becomes an obsessive addiction.

And sex between couples in porn is obviously fornication,
and porn actors and actresses are exchanging money for sex,
which is prostitution, which the Bible obviously condemns.

But centerfolds in magazines like Playboy and Penthouse,
I don't see as wrong (although I'm thinking of 80's-and-
prior Penthouse, I haven't looked through it in a number of
years, and it may be a lot more explicit now than I remember).
Or even female masturbation in pictures or video, which
still doesn't cross the fornication/prostitution line.


Since nude or semi-nude women posing is just images and not
sex or prostitution, and someone can feel desire but
cannot actually pursue the woman in the images, I don't
see that as leading to sin.
Arguably, if a guy looks at porn and loses mastery of his
domain, that satisfies his desire and lessens his
inclination to premarital/extramarital sex.

And stepping away from singles, among married couples, one
partner often desires sex more than the other, and
masturbation is a way to let the one with the stronger
libido get it out of their system. Which could ease
tension that would otherwise exist in the marriage.

And other examples, but you get the point.

So since there's no specific verse dealing with it, I'm
still on the fence regarding how I feel about porn, despite
the arguments of many in the Christian community.

Maybe sometime I'll talk to someone familiar with scripture
who will convince me that pin-up girls are wrong too, but
until then I remain ambivalent to some degree on the
issues of porn and masturbation.