We are continuing our focus on masturbation as a spiritual gift especially focusing on the benefits adolescents may obtain from its use in the key development phase of adult sexuality. One of the key issues to be addressed in any adolescent’s life are the benefits of masturbation, which we believe are both physical and spiritual. And whilst we generally up to now have tended to focus on the depth of spiritual engagement a female can get with her sexuality by using masturbation, we are keen to acknowledge that this is no less relevant for males, the main difference being the difference in emotional responses to this engagement rather than the ability to engage itself.
What we want to focus on most today is the spiritual benefits of masturbation in validation of an adolescent’s sexuality. In turn it follows that this is of prime importance in affirming this sexual development phase of an adolescent’s life. Physical benefits of masturbation are, of course, represented by the considerable pleasure that an individual receives from the stimulation of their genitals and/or other key areas of their body. Spiritual benefits vary and include the actual messages that can be sent by the experience of physical pleasure, but also a consideration of the symbolism of what takes place at orgasm and its relevance to the overall purpose of sexuality.
We believe that the key spiritual affirmation of masturbation as a form of sexual fulfillment that is particularly relevant to males stems from the most significant purpose of sexual activity, which of course is procreation. The act of masturbation in males culminates in ejaculation of a quantity of semen which typically contains many millions of sperm. This act is highly physically satisfying to males and also represents a spiritual validation as it is effectively bringing forth life by the production of sperm, but at the same time in a very valid way that does not create problems for other people and is therefore consistent with Christian beliefs especially in relevance to maintaining sexual purity. Ejaculation of sperm is an important goal of male sexual activity and is therefore strongly relevant to the act of masturbation. Therefore a Christian man who masturbates is getting the opportunity to validate his sexuality through the climax of ejaculation at the conclusion of a masturbation session, and it is important for adolescent males to ensure they are able to take this opportunity to affirm and validate their sexuality through masturbation.
Christian women also do have a desire to affirm and validate their own sexuality through masturbation, although the imperatives are naturally different than for men. A godly woman can focus her attention mainly on the more accessible parts of her reproductive system and her breasts, both of which are key to bringing forth life, but there is not really a similarity to male production of sperm except at the monthly time of ovulation. Moreover, as to some extent as is true for males, it is not really clear as to why individual women vary in their level of sex drive, and what factors influence it outside of testosterone levels, which affect both genders. As noted elsewhere in this blog, we do not attempt to determine or judge on the basis of sex drive levels due to this lack of clarity, our only concern being to counsel believers to avoid addictive behaviour by limiting their uptake of masturbation within certain frequencies.