Last updated on August 29, 2020
Question:
It is very difficult for me to talk about this, but since my father told me the Bible said it is a sin to waste sperm, I can’t help but masturbate at least one time a day. I try to pray and sometimes the desire goes away, but by the end of the day, I can’t help busting my nut. Sso if I eat the sperm, and it goes back in my body, is it still a sin?
Please help! My father said his priest told him when he was a young boy to jerk off every morning before leaving the house so he would not have impure thoughts, and he should recycle his jizzim, so it would be acceptable in the eyes of God.
Answer:
“And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother” (Genesis 38:8-9). Onan’s sin wasn’t that his semen touched the ground, but that he refused to get his wife pregnant because it would decrease his inheritance. Some translations render this as “he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother,” but it is “wasted” in the sense that it wasn’t put to the use of getting his wife pregnant.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say it is a sin to waste semen. The only time “wasted” and “semen” appear is in this one passage, which wasn’t even talking about masturbation. Onan was having sexual intercourse with his wife, but he withdrew before ejaculating to prevent conceiving a child.
In fact, there is mention of semen getting on other things: “If any man has an emission of semen, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening. And any garment and any leather on which there is semen, it shall be washed with water, and be unclean until evening. Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and be unclean until evening” (Leviticus 15:16-18). Since the last statement is talking about sex, the earlier statements are talking about ejaculating when sex is not involved. Being unclean wasn’t a sin, though it was a sin to ignore the rules of uncleanness. For example, a woman becomes unclean when she has her blood flow. It doesn’t mean she sinned, but that she had to follow certain rules.
When a guy has a wet dream, the semen also gets on other things. This is the way God made men. Thus it isn’t sinful. “If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp. But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:10-11).
There is no reason for a guy to consume his own semen. The Roman Catholic priest had told your dad a falsehood that is not taught in the Bible and not even encouraged in Catholicism. In fact, Roman Catholicism says “Masturbation constitutes a grave moral disorder.” They are wrong in this stance, but I wanted you to see that the priest told your father something that goes against his own church’s teachings.
Instead of going by rumors, let’s talk about what God actually did say was sinful. See: Is masturbation unacceptable? and Is masturbation sinful or not?