Adolescence – 1
Childhood and adolescence are the beginning of our human experiences with sexuality. A percentage of children for various reasons will discover masturbation at a young age but will not have the knowledge or understanding to relate it to sexual things and it is best for parents to withhold the knowledge of sexual matters from their children until adolescence in such instances. Once the appropriate age is reached then children can be educated about what is happening in their bodies and be encouraged at that point to develop their sexuality in a healthy and godly way.
As we have made clear in some of our earlier articles, we believe that masturbation is a healthy part of sexual development for Christians provided that it is not conducted in a sinful way, which mean that there is no lustful or impure intent in the activity. It is important that the Church in its teaching provides for the means for which adolescents have to deal with sexual pressures in their bodies which happen naturally as a result of the development of their bodies and that this means provides not for a healthy physical release but also a way of maintaining sexual purity while remaining single and in a worshipful relationship with God.
Singleness is a very important component of a godly life for those for which sexual purity can only be achieved in a context of celibacy, i.e. those who are unmarried. It is imperative that adolescents are equipped with the means to be able to remain single and sexually pure throughout this period until such a time as they are able to enter into a marriage relationship.
Whilst we generally think of adolescence as a fixed time period after which a young person is expected to have achieved maturity, the physical adolescence may run for a particular period regulated by a body clock, but for some people, their sexual adolescence may last for a longer period before maturity in this area is reached. This can be for various reasons and for Christians the end result may be a longer period of singleness before marriage.