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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyAugust 4th, 2010
I was tipped that ExodusYouth, (which, just as its name implies, is the youth arm of the ex-gay group Exodus International) has a blog post on the sin of masturbation. Well, actually, the title asks whether masturbation is a sin or not. I assume the rest of the post answers the question, or at least examines it somehow. And I assume it is somehow relevant to the whole struggling ex-gay what-do-I-do-with-my-sexuality conundrum when you’re not allowed to form romantic interests in people who you find interesting.
I assume the post goes into all that, but to be honest, I wasn’t able to read the whole thing. It’s because it’s long — and yes, it’s very long, at some 1,600 words. And not because it has such inane stuff like “An orgasm was not originally designed for relaxation or for self-indulgence,” or “Can you imagine what it would be like, men, to never have masturbated,” or (in the worst advice ever) “We also must daily deny ourselves, our fleshly desires, and self-focused motivations to Christ. The longer we starve an addiction, the easier it becomes to resist.”
No, none of that is why I stopped reading. It’s this: go to the blog post and this is what you’ll see:
Excuse me while I go find some paper towels.
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sam
August 4th, 2010
Paper towel? Be green and reuse the towel you keep hidden under your bed for that purpose.
Lindoro Almaviva
August 4th, 2010
Well, they do say that a picture is with 1000 words don’t they?
anteros
August 4th, 2010
isn’t masturbation a key tool for maintaining celibacy / abstinence? …sounds like they’re selling a recipe for a nasty “relapse” (an almost involuntary indiscriminate bonking binge).
Mark F.
August 5th, 2010
These people are f*****g insane. But we knew that.
Greg
August 5th, 2010
Monty Python already handled this one: “Every Sperm is Sacred.”
Michael Smith
August 5th, 2010
Talk about a mixed message! Towel indeed!
Ryan
August 5th, 2010
Why would they intentionally undermine their own “Christian” message like that? So bizarre.
David
August 5th, 2010
Every page has that splotchy background, not just the article about masturbation!
Emily K
August 5th, 2010
I think itwasn’t supposed to be for just the masturbation page, but rather the entire site, as a “cool” background – splatter paint is “edgy” I guess, cuz it doesn’t fall inside the lines – and ended up a weird visual metaphor.
If I had seen a different page first, I would’ve assumed it’s trying to represent blood (the magical blood of Jesus).
Priya Lynn
August 5th, 2010
Where in the bible does it say god’s perfect design is for sex to be a relational deeply intimate expression between one man and one woman of sacrificial love that excludes masturbation?
After reading that it seems they have this bizare idea that if there is any sexual excitement during sex its bad. It doesn’t seem to have occured to them that a man can’t perform unless he has some measure of lust in him and virtually all male/female sex must be sinful.
Paul in Canada
August 5th, 2010
Chained and in a deep, dark prison. Poor bastards!
Jon
August 5th, 2010
Priya Lynn, I think they’re looking to the story of Onan in Genesis — under law and custom at the time, if a man died and left a young widow who had no children, the deceased’s brother was to sleep with her, and the chilren she conceived would be considered the children of the dead man (which was presumably important for purposes of inheritance). Onan’s brother died, so Onan went to his sister-in-law, but he knew the children they had wouldn’t be considered his own, so he “spilled his seed on the ground” (i.e., withdrew), and God punished him mightily.
johnathan
August 5th, 2010
How stupid am I? I actually READ the entire blog “spotch” without seeing the “splotch.” In fact, I didn’t even notice the artistic “facade” until reading the commentary here, and then … DUH!
Funny indeed. I wonder if some “unrepentant teen” at Exodus decided to pull a fast one (pun intended) on Alan Chambers.
Burr
August 5th, 2010
I’ve never understood how the Onan story is about masturbation at all. It’s a delusional interpretation. He got in trouble because he disobeyed a direct order from God, where the hell do they get masturbation from it?
Gregg In Seattle
August 5th, 2010
“The longer we starve an addiction, the easier it becomes to resist.”
By this logic, the longer I go without eating, the easier it becomes to resist food.
Emily K
August 5th, 2010
I don’t think masturbating is *quite* as necessary as eating, but it *is* a natural tendency and nothing is wrong with it.
I have no idea how the Onan story was translated to masturbation. According to Jewish law, you don’t *have* to marry the deceased’s brother in law – the woman or the man have the right to refuse the marriage and perform a ceremony of rejection, so to speak. This is in the Talmud, a collection of writings seldom-read by Christians.
Rob San Diego
August 5th, 2010
Are these not the same people who say sex is only for procreation? So even once your married, you can’t have sex or masturbate unless your going to have a kid.
Maurice Lacunza
August 6th, 2010
As my grandma would say, I am flabbergasted! Is that really sperm? Are we to believe that the “edgy” background was unintentional? Now, I have an image in my head of some young gay dude breaking the Exodus rule.
Really…? Spugh? Wow!
Well, most of us already know that if you suppress your natural urges, they leak out of you like a siv.
Priya Lynn
August 6th, 2010
Maurice, that’s spelled sieve.
CockyZ
August 6th, 2010
Mr Stump (yeah, that’s the name believe it or not) concludes: “This is indeed a reality that so many men struggle with. It is now becoming a prevalent struggle for women as well.”
Becoming?! Is masturbation a new and growing epidemic among females? Gasp! Girls jerk off? How do like… do it?
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