Many people tend to think that if the Bible doesn't openly talk about masturbation, it's not an important subject, let alone a condemnable sin, given that the act is accepted in all societies around the world.

But what does the Bible reveal about this act?

Let's start with the etymology of the word masturbation. Previously called "onanism", the Latin word masturbation appeared in the 18th century. The most widely accepted derivations are manus (hand) + stuprare (to defile) or manus (hand) + turbare (to throw into disorder).

In the story of Judah, he married the Canaanite woman Shua, with whom he had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. According to Jewish legend, Er married Tamar, but YAHWEH took his life because of his wickedness, for he didn't want to have sexual relations with Tamar. When she became a widow, Judah asked his second son Onan to take her as wife, so as to give offspring to his deceased brother Er. Onan stayed with Tamar for a year, but didn't wish to give her any children.  He had sexual relations with her but not the traditional type. He would either sodomized her or masturbated on her and then poured his semen out on her. His actions displeased YAHWEH and his life was taken from him because, out of selfishness, he was wasting his seed. Tamar remained a virgin until Judah, her father-in-law, mistook her for a prostitute and accidentally slept with her. 

• Genesis 38:7-10 "But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother. But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother."

The word onanisme (masturbation), which refers to all auto-erotic practices aimed at achieving orgasm outside normal coitus, comes from the story of Onan.

In 1838, Jean-Etienne Esquirol, eminent psychiatrist and head physician at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, declared in his classification of mental disorders that masturbation is "recognized in all countries as a cause of insanity"; it was not until 1968 that this act was removed from the American classification of mental disorders.

Masturbation is placed in the same category as fornication. According to the dictionary, fornication is the opposite of chastity or purity of the mind. In Strong's Greek dictionary, the word "porneia" (strong 4202) means fornication in French. It is defined as:

► Illicit sexual relationship, Adultery, fornication, homosexuality, masturbation, intercourse with animals. Sexual relationship with a close relative, Sexual relationship with a divorcée, etc.

► Metaphorical to idol worship: defilement of idolatry, arising from the consumption of sacrifices offered to idols.

• 1 Corinthians 6:18 "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body."

People mistakenly think that YAHWEH is silent about the act of masturbation. Although the Bible does not directly refer to the word "masturbation", YAHWEH strongly opposes any discharge of semen outside a woman because semen has a sacred nature. When it's released outside a woman, it becomes unclean or polluted.

• Leviticus 15:16-17 "When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean until evening. Any clothing or leather on which there is an emission of semen must be washed with water, and it will remain unclean until evening" 

• Leviticus 15:31-32 "You must keep the children of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernacle, which is among them. This is the law of him who has a discharge, of the man who has an emission of semen whereby he is unclean."

Thus, masturbation and the release of sperm outside a woman are dangerous practices for 2 reasons:

1. Masturbation is a form of mental pornography that involves desire with the eyes and lust in the mind ("phantasm"). The Bible mentions that this is idolatry, which opens you up to fornication, impurity, passions and evil desires.

• Colossians 3:5-6 "Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience."

• 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 "For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God"

YESHUA  condemned this type of lust and desire in his Sermon on the Mount.

• Matthew 5:28 "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

2. Since medieval times, it has been reported that the sexual element in the relationship between man and the spirit world occupies a prominent place in demonology. In effect, details of relationships based on spectrophilia (sexual relations with supernatural beings) are based on the assumption that these demons have no capacity to beget their own offspring, so they steal human seeds in order to multiply. The succubus demon (in female form) often appears in a dream as a beautiful woman. She then subjects her victim to intimate touching, leading to erection and ejaculation. The victim often wakes up in the morning exhausted, distressed and fearful.

The Kabbalah emphasizes that any pollution of semen gives rise to demons. Masturbation, especially among men, almost always results in the discharge of semen. This wasted semen can potentially be harvested in the pandemonium world for the reproduction of demons.

The next time you indulge in masturbation, think carefully about what you are doing.

May the Holy Spirit guide you in understanding this message.