Re: To Ben and the rest of you......
Submitted by Ben on May 29 1999 at 08:56:48
In reply to To Ben and the rest of you...... Submitted by Don on May 24 1999 at 19:07:35
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Hi Don - Sorry it took me so long to get to your post. It's been a busy week :) Don, I'm really happy that you have made the changes to your life that I also made. I wasn't surfing gay porn sites, but I certainly was spending every free hour at legal boy sites, masterbating 2-3 times a day, constantly in need of more pictures and more sexy stories to fill a void that I didn't understand. While I certainly did stay involved with helping kids, I think that this was less important to me than filling my sexual appetite. Like you, I have been celibate in all respects and masterbation has always filled the temporary need. With the help of God however and with the knowledge that Jesus died for me, I have reduced masterbation to 1-2 times a week. In the 19 years since I hit puberty this is UNPRECEDENTED. I haven't known, since I was 9 years old, what it was like to NOT be a slave to my sexual desires. Although my church CLEARLY condemns all masterbation (we are fundamentalists :-), I agree more with your view, since there really is no specific biblical reference to masterbation. In the old testament, impurity among men who were at war (ie away from their wives) required that they go outside of the tent to be cleansed. Clearly masterbation was not something which was favorable and constant, addictive masterbation would definately turn you away from God (it also causes you to be overly lustful). My solution has been to try to stick to my churches teaching, with the belief that less is better. But I accept that I am not perfect and that I will falter. As is often said in my church, "I am a work in progress..." Good for you for working on yourself as well. Someday, in the later part of your life, you will certainly be remembered for the lives that you richened, not the fantasies that you had. You are not alone. 
Ben |