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[musturde]

Is there any doccument of the Catholic Church that specifically calls Masturbation a mortal sin? I'm argueing with Catholics lol.

[StColette]

Dear Grace, What is the Catholic Church's teaching on masturbation? Is it viewed as a mortal sin or as a venial sin? Could it prevent us from getting into heaven?
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To answer this, let us look, first of all, at the Church’s teaching. In 1975, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Declaration on Certain Problems of Sexual Ethics, and it is this document that the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes regarding this issue. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" (CCC# 2352). Whatever the motive, solitary sex in itself contradicts the meaning of human sexuality, which is meant by God to be shared between a man and a woman in marriage.

You ask if masturbation is viewed as a mortal or venial sin. Remember, that for a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met. It has to be a very serious and grave matter, which is committed with full knowledge and with deliberate consent. What we are saying is that for it to be mortal sin, it would have to be done deliberately, knowing that it is not what God wishes for us and without any regard for that. In order to judge the morality of a human act, certain conditions have to be considered. The Church recognizes, for example, that in the practice of masturbation, psychological factors including adolescent immaturity, lack of psychological balance, and even ingrained habit can influence a person’s behavior, and this could lessen or even eliminate moral responsibility.

The condition that many persons claim for their innocence regarding masturbation is habit, and we certainly know how difficult habits are to break. We must keep in mind, however, that habit does not completely destroy the voluntary nature of our acts. As Christians who are going to be held accountable for our actions, we must strive to unite ourselves to the Lord and, therefore, do all we can to curb or eliminate all habits that detach us from Him. So, if a person is masturbating and knows fully that it is wrong, and does it willingly without doing anything to resist, then he or she is guilty of grave sin.

If they are in doubt about the morality of any sexual activity, a person should talk to his or her confessor, a priest. After listening to all of the circumstances and conditions surrounding an individual’s actions, he will make a judgment and give the proper guidance. Sometimes, professional help will have to be sought. But we should be careful with this because some professionals will actually encourage masturbation, and this would be wrong. God knows that we will sometimes fail, but He does expect us to do our best to live according to His ways. He knows when we have done all we can to resist sin. If we have done that and have acknowledged and confessed our sin, then we can rest in the knowledge that we have done our best, and that He will forgive us.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Grace MacKinnon. "Masturbation: Mortal Sin?" (March, 2004).

Reprinted with permission of Grace MacKinnon.

[url="http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0706.html"]http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0706.html[/url]

Catholic Catechism

2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.

2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.

Edited September 30, 2004 by StColette

[StColette]

IX

The traditional Catholic doctrine that masturbation constitutes a grave moral disorder is often called into doubt or expressly denied today. It is said that psychology and sociology show that it is a normal phenomenon of sexual development, especially among the young. It is stated that there is real and serious fault only in the measure that the subject deliberately indulges in solitary pleasure closed in on self ("ipsation"), because in this case the act would indeed be radically opposed to the loving communion between persons of different sex which some hold is what is principally sought in the use of the sexual faculty.

This opinion is contradictory to the teaching and pastoral practice of the Catholic Church. Whatever the force of certain arguments of a biological and philosophical nature, which have sometimes been used by theologians, in fact both the Magisterium of the Church--in the course of a constant tradition-- and the moral sense of the faithful have declared without hesitation that masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act.19 The main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting this way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes "the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love."20 All deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved to this regular relationship. Even if it cannot be proved that Scripture condemns this sin by name, the tradition of the Church has rightly understood it to be condemned in the New Testament when the latter speaks of "impurity," "unchasteness" and other vices contrary to chastity and continence.

Sociological surveys are able to show the frequency of this disorder according to the places, populations or circumstances studied. In this way facts are discovered, but facts do not constitute a criterion for judging the moral value of human acts.21 The frequency of the phenomenon in question is certainly to be linked with man's innate weakness following original sin; but it is also to be linked with the loss of a sense of God, with the corruption of morals engendered by the commercialization of vice, with the unrestrained licentiousness of so many public entertainments and publications, as well as with the neglect of modesty, which is the guardian of chastity.

On the subject of masturbation modern psychology provides much valid and useful information for formulating a more equitable judgment on moral responsibility and for orienting pastoral action. Psychology helps one to see how the immaturity of adolescence (which can sometimes persist after that age), psychological imbalance or habit can influence behavior, diminishing the deliberate character of the act and bringing about a situation whereby subjectively there may not always be serious fault. But in general, the absence of serious responsibility must not be presumed; this would be to misunderstand people's moral capacity.

In the pastoral ministry, in order to form an adequate judgment in concrete cases, the habitual behavior of people will be considered in its totality, not only with regard to the individual's practice of charity and of justice but also with regard to the individual's care in observing the particular precepts of chastity. In particular, one will have to examine whether the individual is using the necessary means, both natural and supernatural, which Christian asceticism from its long experience recommends for overcoming the passions and progressing in virtue.

[url="http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5201"]Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics[/url]

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

The quotes from the Catechism she posted above would be the only Church documents that mention masturbation (that I know of).

[StColette]

Also the document I posted about "Declaration on Certain Problems of Sexual Ethics" it was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. So that's a pretty good thing for them to read.

[musturde]

Thank you soo much.

[StColette]

yw

[goldenchild17]

What about the dude it the OT, can't remember his name. Got killed(if I remember right) for spilling his seed. Wouldn't that be what we're looking for?

[StColette]

Goldenchild I believe you're referring to Onan

Gen 38: 2-11

2 And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.
4 And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.
5 She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. After whose birth, she ceased to bear any more.
6 And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was Thamar.
7 And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.
8 Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
[b]9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his
10 And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:[/b]
11 Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter-in-law: Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way, and dwelt in her father's house.

Edited September 30, 2004 by StColette

[goldenchild17]

Yep, that's him.

[StColette]

[quote name='StColette' date='Sep 30 2004, 02:21 AM'] Goldenchild I believe you're referring to Onan

Gen 38: 2-11

2 And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.
4 And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.
5 She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. After whose birth, she ceased to bear any more.
6 And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was Thamar.
7 And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.
8 Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
[b]9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his
10 And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:[/b]
11 Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter-in-law: Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way, and dwelt in her father's house. [/quote]
Okay lol I just noticed that part of a verse was deleted somehow lol And I didn't notice until after the edit button went away lol So here it is in it's complete form:

Gen 38: 2-11

2 And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.
4 And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.
5 She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. After whose birth, she ceased to bear any more.
6 And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was Thamar.
7 And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.
[b]8 Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.
10 And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:[/b]
11 Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter-in-law: Remain a widow in thy father's house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way, and dwelt in her father's house.

God Bless,
Jennie

[HartfordWhalers]

[quote name='goldenchild17' date='Sep 30 2004, 02:01 AM'] What about the dude it the OT, can't remember his name. Got killed(if I remember right) for spilling his seed. Wouldn't that be what we're looking for? [/quote]
That is more of a condemnation of contraception than masterbation, but you are right that it goes to show the purpose of the act, which is not for pleasure but for procreation.

[MC Just]

I hate the public school systems. When I was young I had to go to sex educatation classes, where they would say that masturbation is the "safest sex" it's "perfectly normal" and "ok"..

[goldenchild17]

:shame:

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

[quote name='HartfordWhalers' date='Sep 30 2004, 10:33 AM'] That is more of a condemnation of contraception than masterbation, but you are right that it goes to show the purpose of the act, which is not for pleasure but for procreation. [/quote]
That's what I was thinking.