Christians and

masturbation on this edition of Truth and Love.

I'm Heath Lambert and you're listening to Truth and Love, a podcast of the Association

of Certified Biblical Counselors where we seek to provide biblical solutions for the

problems that people face. We are talking this week on the podcast about a problem that so many

Christians deal with, but far too few Christians are willing to discuss. The topic of masturbation is one that can create a lot

of anxiety on the part of Christians even to talk about it. But the reality is the Bible weighs

in on this topic. People are struggling with this topic, and so we're going to talk about it

on the podcast this week.

I want to talk about this issue in three different categories.

And in the first category, I'm just going to cut right to the chase and say that Christians should not masturbate.

I realize that this is controversial in some circles. There are some people

who believe that masturbation is an acceptable practice. There's some people who believe that it's

actually a blessing for teenagers, for example, who aren't yet allowed to have sexual relations

when you're unmarried. There are other people who think that we

should try to make allowances for this practice in some way. I'm just going to say that Christians

should not masturbate, and I want to tell you five reasons why. First of all, there is the biblical

command to purity.

In Matthew, chapter 5, verses 27 to 28, Jesus Christ says,

You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her

has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

...