Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 8/30/2010

Question
Hello i am 14 years old and i want to know is masterbation
ok during adolescent years like right now i am going through
pruberty and my mom says that its ok because i wanna be with
a girl and plus i am pentecostal and i want to know if
masterbation normal and natural for pentecostal teens going
through pruberty ok or is it a sin.

Answer
Hi Isaac

Thank you for this great question.  You are one of many Christian teens to ask about this subject.  We do know that it is sin to lust sexually after someone, and most masturbation involves sexual fantasy and therefore is wrong.

Matthew 5:27-29
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

You asked if this is normal.  Most men and quite a few ladies struggle with this problem.  The Bible tells us that we all have to fight the urges of our flesh.  This is a battle that believers face.  The good news is that the fact that we have an inner struggle shows that we have the Spirit fighting our flesh, which proves we are truly saved.

Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don