Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 10/10/2007

Question
I have been having trouble with this addiction for a while now. I'm only 15 and have been doing it for 2 years. I cant stop masturbating and whenever i do it i feel so guilty. i really want to stop but it always comes back to me. i would stop for several weeks but then it just comes back to me. I always pray to God to help me stop but it doesn't seem to work. i really need help.

A. Will i go to hell even though i know its the wrong thing to do?


Answer
Hi Dan,

Thanks for this great question.  Masturbation is a very difficult for young men to battle.  It is an addiction.  Studies have found that sex addicts are addicted to brain chemicals that form during stimulation.  You have a battle on your hands, but it is not an impossible one.  Here are several thoughts for you to consider:

1.  If you ask Jesus to save you from your sins, trusting what He did on the cross, then you will not go to Hell for masturbating.

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 10:9-10,13
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  Mastubation is an everyday battle.  If you are able to be clean today, then today you have gained a victory.  If you fall tomorrow, that does not take away today's victory.

3.  Every time you fall, you can get forgiveness, even if you have asked forgiveness before.

1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

4.  The Apostle Paul, who wrote half the New Testament, knew what it was like to struggle with sins of the flesh like masturbation.  Look at the story of his struggle:

Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

5.  The Battle is in the mind.  If you read the bible, go to church and pray, you can start to control your thought life on purpose.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

6.  It is a battle!  Sometimes you will lose, sometimes you will win.  God loves you through the process.

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