I was in a band called Lust Control for six years. It was a good experience and gives me a heck of a perspective on what I write about (music, bands, albums, touring, the music biz, the scene, etc).
Anyway, we had a song on our first self-recorded tape called “The Big M.” The chorus was the headline above. The first time we played it, as we were tracking live-to-two-track in a studio in Austin, our engineer/producer fell over in his chair laughing as soon as we hit the chorus for the first time. He fell over backwards laughing. What a riot. This song caused more than a few laughs throughout the years, I’m sure. We recently re-released it on Retroactive Records with the title We Are Not Ashamed: Getting It Right The Second Time. One of the 18 bonus tracks was a karaoke version of this song. We dared/challenged/invited people in the liner notes to perform the song live to this track, video-taping themselves for the reward of some cool prize. To date no one has taken us up on the offer. I’ll attach a download of the track here if you’d like to give it a shot.
Besides the humor aspect, some people take this subject pretty seriously. I’ve heard interpretations of Scripture passages that use allegories (like fountains and such) that make a fairly strong argument to abstain. There are some classic misuses of Scripture in this argument as well (Onan being one character that didn’t impregnate his dead brother’s wife, found in Genesis 38). We’ve been asked as a band more than once if we thought masturbation was a sin or not. Over the years I’ve given more of a balance answer to that question. Unfortunately, there is a video document of me slipping up and calling it a sin. It was our first show ever, which was at Cornerstone ’89 and I called it “sin” in passing. Oh well. Mistakes happen. The bottom line with this issue (with guys mostly) is not whether it’s a sin, but they’re looking for advice on avoiding this behavior. Sin or not, they don’t wanna do it. I’m getting ahead of my blog, though, because today someone emailed me with this question. Here’s how I replied:
Is masturbation a sin? Why? How can I control my lust?
No, the Bible isn’t clear on it, so it cannot be concluded that it’s a sin.
It’s one of those “gray areas” where our conscious is our guide and we come up with our own “conviction” on what to do.
Some believers, for example, abstain from alcohol 100%, even though the Bible prescribes wine and strong drink, as well as warns against brawling and drunkenness. Some conclude they will use in moderation, others abstain. Both are theoretically pure in their relationship to the Lord in following their conscious.
Maybe the word is spelled conscience.
I’m sorry.
How to avoid lust?
In some ways, it’s a discipline issue. Like an athlete that trains his body to perform well by pushing it and tearing his/her muscles in strengthening and increasing speed and stamina, so we can train our minds to avoid porn, or leering at a woman’s body or even “going down a certain road” in our thought life. We can create habits that “turn” us from this direction. I’ve used Scripture memorization to help me. One I’ve used is “I take all thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.” I claimed that verse, I whisphered it out loud, and prayed it silently. It’s helped me through some hard times.
Purity is a possibility with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. Focusing on the negative or thinking “I can’t do this!” or “I have to stop” or “Don’t do this…” is one way, but it can lead us to fail under our own weakness/lack of strength. Sometimes it’s focusing on the positive or giving yourself an alternative that helps. In this way you “dig a groove” or “make a habit” of obedience. Then, when you’re tired and your defenses are down, you can slip into the groove of purity that you’ve developed as a habit. Sometimes it’s easy to be obedient when we’re strong, alert, and wide awake. But when we’re tired and our “defenses are down,” then we can be vulnerable and weak.
This are some general guidelines. I hope they can help.
One thing you’ve done that is GREAT is you’ve reached out and talked to someone. You’ve asked for advice and now (I assume) you’re listening. That’s huge. That can be repeated by reading a book on this subject (there’s plenty in the Christian bookstore. I remember a book that we used to recommend when I was in the band Lust Control. It was called something like Christians in the Wake of the Sexual Revolution by Randy Alcorn. I bet he’s still got copies on his website (google him), but they might still be in print, too. Listening to speakers (podcasts of sermons, etc) are other ways to help.
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