Question: Why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider the practice of masturbation sinful?

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Question: Why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider the practice of masturbation sinful?

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Introduction to Question

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints views the practice of masturbation or self-stimulation of the genitals to be sinful. Many have wondered why this is the case.

The modern scientific community views the practice as normal in humans ranging from infants to young adults to married couples. Many benefits are associated with masturbation such as improved sleep, a better immune system, a better cardiovascular system, reduced stress, and reduced sexual tension—especially when a partner is not available for sexual relations. Many clinical professionals recommend masturbating to mitigate tension in relationships where one partner has a higher libido than the other and doesn’t want to demand intercourse of the lower libido partner (or the lower libido partner doesn’t want to accept demands). Two studies have associated masturbation with reduced risk of prostate cancer.

This article will explore why the Church might take the stance that it does on masturbation even given the potential benefits of it.

Response to Criticism

Sexual Desire is a Fundamentally Good Thing

Before we proceed with the rest of our response, it should be first noted and emphasized that our sexual desires are fundamentally good things, given to us by God to be used to strengthen emotional and spiritual bonds with our spouses and to bring children into this world. Thus, sexual desire in and of itself should not be considered bad. They indeed should be celebrated. Since sexual desire has a particular use though, a proper use, it then follows that it should be exercised or put to use for that purpose and that boundaries should be placed around sex so that we can put our desires to that particular purpose. It is not a sin to have a sexual desire. It may be sinful to dwell on that desire or to fantasize about exercise that desire in illicit ways as defined by God.

Now we outline the potential reasoning behind the Church’s restrictions on masturbation.

The Sexually Relational Telos of Men and Women

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle considered all things to have a telos or end for which they were created. He believed that human beings flourished when they adhered to their telos.

The theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a similar view of human sexuality. Scripture teaches that men and women are designed to be united with each other sexually after marriage. Any sexual act that takes men and women away from their design is going to be viewed as sinful by the Church.

How Masturbation Might Take Away from Marriage

While masturbation does appear by most metrics to be harmless when done in moderation, it does have the potential to become addictive. When turning addictive, masturbation can quickly become a deterrent from having normal sexual relationships with a spouse. It can become more pleasurable to the person engaging in it over other relationships. Taking away sexual relationships from a spouse can cause deep dissatisfaction and distrust in the relationship—thus potentially leading to the breakup of families.

Masturbation and View of Others

Masturbation most often affects the way that you look at others similar to how pornography does—even if only temporarily. When masturbating, one makes use of others or the image of them as the object of their own self-gratification. With repeated masturbation and over time, this can come to make it so that you regularly see others as potential objects of your own pleasure. Using others as a means to an end and treating them as an object (even in your own mind) is contrary to the Lord's command to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Masturbation and Escalation

The highs that one gets from masturbation and the potentially ensuing addiction that might follow from it can result in escalation of that sexual behavior to include viewing pornography, attending strip clubs, requesting various forms of local prostitution, and even forced sexual advances on the unwilling.

The Scriptural Case Against Masturbation

The scriptures are the law to govern the behavior and beliefs of the whole Church. They contain a constellation of many words that inform our perspectives about illicit sexual activity. Among those that are perhaps most relevant to this conversation are adultery, carnal, chaste, fornication, lasciviousness, lewdness, and lust. A concordance of these words will be placed in an appendix to this article.

Fornication is defined as any sexual activity outside of marriage. If masturbation falls under the definition of sexual activity (which, by most standards, it does), then masturbation is condemned scripturally for those that are not married. Adultery is defined as sexual activity when one is married with someone who is not your marriage partner. When a person masturbates to the thought of someone else while in marriage, could this be adultery?

Lasciviousness is defined as “sexual behavior or conduct that is considered crude and offensive, or contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior.” If masturbation falls under this category, then it is condemned scriptually. On top of these words, one may review the word of the prophet Alma who tells us to bridle all our passions. Alternatively, there is the author of James who looks positively on the man who is able to “bridle the whole body.”

Other scriptural reasons that one might want to abstain from masturbation might be to be a peculiar people so as to encourage missionary work, to keep unspotted from the world, to practice meekness/lowliness of heart/humility/easiness to be entreated, to follow the commandment to receive all the words and commandments of the prophet as if from the mouth of God in all patience and faith, and be anxiously engaged in a good cause without God compelling you to do something by explicit revelation.

Deriving the Benefits of Masturbation Elsewhere

But what about the many benefits of masturbation? Shouldn’t one care about the risk of prostate cancer at least? The problem is that the benefits of masturbation can be derived elsewhere and there is no net negative to abstaining from masturbation. We can take the potential benefits one by one and see what there is to help us derive those health benefits.

1. Improved sleep: The Mayo Clinic suggests six things to improve one’s sleep. These include sticking to a set sleep schedule, pay attention to what you eat and drink, creating a restful environment, limit daytime naps, including physical activity in our daytime routine, and managing our worries.
2. Improved cardiovascular system: UC Irvine Health recommends that one exercise, quit smoking, lose weight, eat heart-healthy foods such as guacamole and vegetables, have some chocolate in moderation, not overeat, and manage stress in order to have a healthy heart.
3. Improved immune system: Harvard Health recommends that one not smoke, eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, get adequate sleep, wash hands frequently, minimize stress, and keep with current vaccines in order to maintain and improve one’s immune system.
4. Reduced risk of prostate cancer: The Mayo Clinic recommends that one keep a healthy diet (such as doing a low-fat diet, increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat each day, and reducing the amount of dairy products you eat each day), maintain a healthy weight, and exercise most days of the week to reduce risk of prostate cancer.
5. Differing Libidos: This is a question best left between the couple and God through prayer (and maybe the local bishop or stake president). However, if one is truly trying to lower their libido, Janet Brito and Daniel Yetman recommend focusing on your diet, getting medication, focusing on relationships, and stopping illicit drug use.

Is there something within us that biologically determines us to masturbate?

Some people construct an identity around the practice of masturbation. People say that “we’re sexual beings” (which is mostly true) and “masturbation is a part of our natural development.” What these people often mean is that “engaging in masturbation is a behavior that is biologically determined and thus prohibiting it goes against who and what we are. It serves as a net detriment to our well-being” We often construct these identities to justify bad behavior and protest against certain standards by saying that those standards go against who we are. Thus, the imposition of a prohibition on masturbation starts to feel like an assault to our personhood.

The reality is that we are not merely “sexual” beings. We are marital beings. We are built with the purpose of being joined maritally and, after marriage, sexually as man and woman; husband and wife. Sex should is always a relational act for Latter-day Saints. We learn this especially from the creation accounts recorded in Genesis, Moses, and Abraham as discussed above. Sex was designed for a particular purpose by God and we should create our sexual ethics around fulfilling that purpose.

There actually is a biologically determined human function that serves the purpose people might think masturbation serves: nocturnal emission. We most often don’t need masturbation to pull double duty.

Other Questions About Masturbation

Other questions and concerns about the Church’s general prohibition of masturbation may arise given differing practical or health considerations. These may be best answered by being in good dialogue with God in prayer, a local bishop, a local stake president, and/or a qualified medical professional.

Conclusion

It is the author's hope that this article will serve as a point of hope for those that would like to discontinue masturbation and remain in line with the Church, as a point of clarity on the Church's stance of masturbation for those that are confused about it, and as a source of great insight to those that are generally looking to understand the utterly sacred nature of human sexuality.

Notes