She’s involved in helping and counseling people and one girl who she was counseling turned the table on her.
My friend is young, been married for more or less five years and has informed me that she has a very active sex life with her husband. Unlike me, she’s very open, outgoing and is honest about herself.
Being Christian, some things are discouraged, like sex and sexual behaviors (like fondling) before marriage. Probably a lot of people are guilty, but thanks be to God, He forgives us when we confess our sins and truly mean it. We then have to turn away from our sins.
That Sunday my friend confessed to me that for a long time she had been struggling with masturbation. It troubled her and she confessed to God and asked for His help to overcome this struggle. He did. However the next day, the girl she was trying to help asked her directly if she masturbated. My friend was shocked and confessed she did, and this girl let her know, in her own way, that if my friend masturbated, then she can be sexually active with her boyfriend.
After my friend told me this I felt disturbed for her. But that night thoughts from God came to mind, where it states in the Bible that if we confess our sins He’ll forgive them and wash us clean (1 John 1:9). So if we lie (as most people do now and then) and ask for forgiveness, God will forgive us and that sin is then forgotten. The same will happen is we steal, we can ask God for forgiveness and we’ll be washed clean. So as my friend had asked God for forgiveness, it can be concluded that she does not masturbate.
People might think ‘well it can happen again’, like lying, people can lie again in their lifetime, so it does not mean that she does not masturbate anymore? Well, I think most people don’t consider themselves murderers, but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen. If we think about Moses in the Bible where he killed an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12), I’m almost sure he did not consider himself a murderer before it happened. But it did happen. And then later, he presented the Israelites with the 10 commandments – One of them being do not kill.
So the same applies for all sins. We may not consider ourselves liars, thieves, deceivers, etc. but when it happens, we are. But then when we confess our sins, we are no longer these things.
So when my friend was confronted with the question, her answer should have been “no, I do not masturbate”.
Below are some Bible verses on sins and forgiveness:
1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 28:13: Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Isaiah 1:18-20 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Romans 2:4-6 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
“The only sin God that can't be forgiven, is the one you where you won't take to Him”.
