“One way to deal with the sin of masturbation would be to describe the isolationism of a man or woman pleasuring themselves as utterly ridiculous.  After all, a man or woman, hidden alone in a bathroom/bedroom, masturbating is a tragedy. A married man doing the same thing is an even greater tragedy. But, as pathetic as the picture looks, that won’t stop a person from self-gratification.”

At an OPC youth camp over a year ago I had the privilege of addressing young men and women on the topic of masturbation, among other topics (e.g., Machen, Machen, and more Machen). As some of you may know, the OPC are notorious for letting the PCA do their theological dirty-work. But I digress…

So, what do you say to young men and women who, if they have hit puberty, are likely to have already masturbated or find themselves enslaved to the said practice? Do you quote Genesis 38:9 and move on quickly?

Those in the flesh have “eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin” (2 Pet. 2:14); they are given to sin. But even those in the Spirit still sin. And even the most sanctified saint, if there is blood running through his or her veins, probably has a problem with lust of some form. A former colleague – now excommunicated from the church – admitted to me that each morning the first thing he did was masturbate in order to get his lust out of the way! (There’s nothing like killing sin by sinning.) I wish I was as appalled at his sin as I was at the fact that I had once hosted him in my house for two nights. But I digress, again…

In addressing the problem of masturbation we cannot adopt a certain type of Baptistic hermeneutic – i.e., “show me just one text where it says we must baptize babies or cannot masturbate” – if we are going to get through to young men and women. Instead, “good and necessary consequence” enables us to address this sensitive issue.

One way to deal with the sin of masturbation would be to describe the isolationism of a man or woman pleasuring themselves as utterly ridiculous.  After all, a man or woman, hidden alone in a bathroom/bedroom, masturbating is a tragedy. A married man doing the same thing is an even greater tragedy. But, as pathetic as the picture looks, that won’t stop a person from self-gratification. Self-gratification usually wins over decency, unless you’re English.

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Read Another Commentary: You Don’t Have a Porn Problem