Last updated on October 3, 2020
Question:
Hi,
I’m a 14-year-old male. I’ve been having problems with masturbation. I know that masturbation itself isn’t a sin, but my main problem is my thoughts. I can’t masturbate without thinking of something lustful. It rarely happens, and it’s difficult to do. So would it be a sin to look at drawings of sexual things to help with my sexual desire? Because the drawings aren’t real people it wouldn’t really be considered adultery right?
Please reply because I quit pornography about two weeks ago, and I’m trying really hard to resist the temptation, but it’s extremely difficult. The desire just keeps building up and it’s driving me crazy!
Please help.
Answer:
I’m glad you quit pornography, but two weeks is not enough time to develop new habits. What I’ve recommended in the past is that you first work on staying away from pornography. Try the best you can to avoid lustful thoughts, but realize that you are likely to slip up for a while. This is something that you will have to take a step at a time.
Pornography is defined as: “Material that deals with sex in a rude or offensive manner. Material designed to shock the viewer in how sex is depicted. Material that is sexually explicit and intended to arouse sexual passion.” It doesn’t have to be just videos. Pornography can be created in words or in drawings. In fact, if you think about it, videos haven’t been around all that long in human history, but pornography has been a problem for thousands of years. Prior to videos, pornography was in the form of drawings. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (I Thessalonians 4:3-5).