Lie #4: It's Okay, or It's an Unforgivable Sin

Lie #4: Masturbation is okay, or it's an unforgivable sin. 

Okay, I really never intended to write about this topic, but you can't address the larger topic of this series without talking about it . . . so, here we go . . .

There seems to be two sides to this one. Neither of them really helpful. In fact, I would say that both are harmful.

On the one hand, I've heard people say that, in the absence of a partner to fulfill sexual desire with, there is only one right choice. On the other, I've heard people say that because it's not exactly as God designed it, it's an unforgivable sin.

Both of these views cause hurt. The both provide an over-simplified answer to the question of how to handle sexual desire. As I wrote in my post on Lie #3, this is a challenging topic & one that makes us uncomfortable.

Let's go back to where I started many of these posts. God created sex & gave us sexual desire. The fact that we have it, is not a sin or something we should seek to remove from our lives.

What we should be doing is seeking to honour God in how we handle it. And that actually means we can't just speak in absolutes about it.

Questions & conversations around this come from a desire to live a life that honours God & we cause harm when we just declare an absolute without acknowledging the real struggle of people.

In my opinion, I don't think either statement is right. They're different sides of the same lie.

I will leave you with this. God's design for our sexuality is clear in Scripture. And we have to wrestle with what it looks like for us to live it out.

While this may not be God's intended plan for how we deal with sexual desire, it also isn't sin that God can't forgive us for. Like all sin, God offers forgiveness when we repent. 

God's forgiveness doesn't give us a license to just do whatever we want. But, it should make us think.

How can I handle this in a way the honours God & live according to God's commands in Scripture?

 As with all things, our handling of sexual desire should be something we're constantly taking to God.