I think that the idea of sin exists only to put pressure on people to behave/act according to the wishes of religious leaders. The more things you make them feel guilty for doing, the more control you have over them. Otherwise, when I think about it, it would seem to be idiotic for God to be like 'here, you have these cravings, don't act on them.' So yes, I'm going to sin, but it's like drinking: I'm going to do it responsibly.

Sin is a human idea. Morals are decided by the majority. So its easier fkr a church to control what is morally correct as most people will listen to somebody who is "gods chosen"
That allows for things like smoking pot and being gay to be a sin. When smoking cigarettes and having sex with a 9 year old morally correct in certai Religions. Its pure insanity by which we decide to ourselves if we are right.

It is just another attempt by those who hold religious power to use the fear of punishment by a god to maintain control over the masses.

Young lady, you do, think, feel, sing, WHATEVER.. that you feel good with. Seeking happiness is often claimed yet rarely attained.

You can probably guess. Even thinking certain things are crimes under the Bible and Quran.
"Impure thoughts". What exactly is impure is up to the interpretation of the passages in the books.
Anyway, wrong or bad in a lot of cultures is linked to harm. Physical harm, not imagined.
Anyone of any age should feel obliged to explore their own body. We were all born with them.
Sin and wrongdoing as Biblically pertaining to human behavior is something to be left in studies and text books for seminaries.

Only in religious thinking so as to control the masses, does sin exist. The glory of masturbation. Thankfully I never feel bad about pleasuring myself. Do get tired of adding batteries to the dump the.......?

actually some people do point to the tale of onan to say masturbation is a sin, and that is why masturbation is also called onanism. however, the story of onan is just damned confused. read it. you'll see. was he being punished because he spilled his seed, which he had good reason to do, actually, or because he had a short name, or because it was time for god's periodic petulant kill, or...? there is just as good an argument in that story for masturbation as against, if you read it sideways, or is that the right way?

but i would not assume that every religious person said masturbation was a sin, especially considering that most religious people don't want to talk about masturbation to begin with. it's almost as if talking about it were a sin! it also depends on the religion... and the gender. in orthodox judaism (which represents a teeny tiny minority of jews) only male masturbation is a sin. it is spilling the seed in vain, and it somehow also related to having impure thoughts about someone other than one's wife (i don't know why one couldn't masturbate while thinking about one's wife, though). i have no idea whether or not buddhists masturbate. if i ever become well enough acquainted with a buddhist to ask, i'll let you know.

g

SIN is the snakeoil of the master salesman!

Wanking is good, real sex with someone you adore is much, much better!

In my opinion the only true worship is that which can be achieved between a man and a woman.

[No disrespect to the LBGT community, I'm only expressing my personal preference!]

Enjoy your body my friend! Do so without any hindrance of shame or guilt.

I know right? I think they had no idea what nature was back then and they're super slow to recognize that encouraging people to manage their bodily needs in a healthy way keeps them from committing crime and spreading disease but there they are... Breaking their own rules all the time.

Because in religion anything good and or fun is a sin.

No sin but you should suredly know thyself!

It’s the mind-body dichotomy. It’s a bias against anything sensual and non-procreation centered.

You have to remember, the bible was written before the development of KY jelly and tissues. Men were allowed to screw anyone they wanted, and women weren't allowed to complain about it. So why waste a perfectly good boner? (I kid, but not really.)

Its not a sin. Religious people are afraid of there bodies to some degree. Which is very sad.

Sin is a word to make people feel guilty and comply to their rules.

Focus on the Family has toned down their rhetoric on this topic considerably over the years. But here's their current "reasoning" on why masturbation should be discouraged. [focusonthefamily.com]

Be grateful for the experience of You and your opportunity to live, here, now-
God, really?

The word Sin and the word God should be placed in their rightful place, "The World of Make Believe" because they are Man Made Names.

That's a topic that actually creates a lot of atheists. Obsessive anti-masturbation and shaming because of it caused us both to doubt when we were Morning (although it was not what made us stop believing). I know several atheist former Mormons who stopped believing because of the faith's abusive treatment of people who masturbate. I also watched an interview with Guillermo del Toro where he said that Catholicism's stance on masturbation led him to stop believing.

Pratchett expressed the sentiment that sin is when you love things and use people. Right living means loving people and using things.

No sky daddy or hairy thunderer or cosmic muffin required.

There is no answer to the idiotic gawd assumptions. ...learn Atheism critical thinking while jerking off. ...belief is your first error. ...know thyself. ...27 centuries of Greek Materialist wisdom....and Onan "spilled his seed on the ground" instead of fucking his brother's widow....only Atheists READ bibles. ...believers only FONDLE a few pages

The Bible and other religions that say masturbation is a sin do so because they think it's selfish. They are correct that it's selfish, but that doesn't make it bad. Look at the Saints of the Catholic Church. How many of them are depicted with smiles? None. Suffering is the ideal in Christianity. Mother Teresa is their ideal. Someone who spent their life in misery, sacrificing herself for others. Christianity holds that sex is only for procreation, not enjoyment. It is a sick doctrine. Many of our modern ideas of sacrifice as the moral good came from Christianity and are also sick.

At one time in America circumcision was practiced to discourage masturbation. Religious nuts did this. Will they practice cutting off hands next? IDK.

They're in denial.

The sin of Onan is used a lot to justify that. He was cursed for spilling his seed on the ground rather than impregnating his brothers widow.