Thanks again for all the questions. I really am leaving this thread now! If you've come to my posts late, can you please scan them all to see if I've responded to a similar query. Thanks.
I've discussed nocturnal emissions with Uberpod on p5. It's much the same issue. These are natural and, crucially, unconscious functions of the body. Sin requires conscious agency.
The purpose of sperm is it's potential for conception. If foreplay leads to sex, it's not a conscious waste of gametes. In the act of sex, sperm fulfils its purpose. Namely, the gametes have the potential to fertilise an egg. The act of withdrawal, like foreplay, can't be considered spilling...
I'd like to take my leave of this thread. I've said about all I can. Alone, it's difficult for me to answer everyone's queries as fully as I'd like. It's been a good debate though, and I respect all of your opinions. I hope I've demonstrated that my position isn't the sieve some think it to be...
The Jews and the Christians, whose Book it is, disagree. Masturbation obviously falls within the bracket of spilling one's seed.
As I said earlier, if the semen is used for conception it's not wasted. Both male and female reproductive systems overproduce gametes. I discussed nocturnal...
Not 'rather than', as supplement to.
This is another straw man. If the semen is used for conception, that's fine. 'Spilled' infers wasted, not just drawn to the earth by gravity.
It's not absurd. 'Injurious to human flourishing' is a fluffy and subjective phrase. There is a sound scriptural basis for the condemnation of masturbation. Your argument is, I looked at Genesis 38 and God didn't shout "stop w*****g everybody." Both Jews and Christians have considered it to be...
I think the one thing that you're all failing to appreciate is that I'm not an American Protestant. I believe that sacred tradition supplements the scripture. Not all truth is contained in the Bible. Given the passage from the First Epistle to the Corinthians et al. do you really think that...
Can everybody please consider that lust is a cardinal sin. It's true that masturbation isn't discussed at length in the Bible. Lust, on the other hand, is condemned regularly. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to say that masturbation is an expression of lust. There's only you, and it's solely...
Where does it say what?
Yes, Onan was punished for disobeying God. His disobedience consisted of spilling his seed when God told him not to. The sacred tradition is that it's still disobedient to spill one's seed.
Genesis 38 - Onan is punished for spilling his seed.
John 7:53-8:11 - Jesus and the woman taken in adultery. He prevents her from being stoned and says "go, and do not sin again."
I Corinthians 6:9 - St. Paul says "Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor...
Believe it or not, the Scholastics foresaw such counterexamples. Natural Law ethics is more refined than you give it credit for. In essence it's concerned with the realisation of man's purpose. This purpose isn't jeopardised by balancing a bucket on your head. Natural Law ethics has been honed...
Not with no thought to consequences. Many theologians have argued that Christians may do 'the lesser of two evils' in certain situations. There are just wars for example. As an extension of this, empirically observing the consequences of actions can help us to decide between evils. What I have...
I live in England. I know the USA has a codified constitution, but the United States Congress still passes laws doesn't it? If so, my criticism of morality modelled after law does extend to the USA too.