I'm a christian woman, but haven't always been and my body betrays me with intimate desire so my question...

Question

Which is the greater sin, physical sex or masturbation and this is NOT a pornographic question so please answer with that in mind.

Answer 1

Sin is sin.
Sex outside of marriage is a sin.
Masturbation is a sin.
Your body is the temple of the Lord.
Paul did say It is better to be married than to burn with lust.
By masturbating, we are telling the Lord that he is not providing us with someone quickly enough and the love he provides us through our friends and family is not enough while we are waiting. By fornicating we are telling the Lord we are unwilling to wait for him to find us someone, and that we don't care about how we treat his other children. If that's what we really think, we need to be honest with God and let him know and ask him to take over.

Don't get me wrong. I am struggling too. Really struggling and trying to look at slipping up as a setback and not a failure. But this is what I believe. We need to get closer to the Lord. We also need to occupy ourselves with his work.

Answer 2

By God's definition all sin is equal. So basically you having physical sex is no different than you telling a little white lie or stealing from your work by goofing off.

By human standards though, the physical sex would be the greater sin. Especially since in Leviticus (it only talks about men really for what I am about to say) when a man spills his seed (and this was not in conjunction with sex, so it must be masturbation) he had to bath and be impure till the end of the day. So, masturbation was not a sin, just something that made one impure for a short time, no different than you having a period and being impure until the period was over. The physical sex though is a sin since it is adultery unless you are with your spouse.

The only thing that would make masturbation a sin would be if you were lusting after someone, which would be adultery.

Answer 3

Which one do you feel more guilty about? That is probably your biggest "sin" then. Sin is something that is accounted for in order to keep people in line. But if you are denying yourself of something because you feel guilty it is a sin only because you are scared you are going to hell, well there is your eternal, concrete repurcassion. If you are a Christian, then you should try to be a little less ignorant so you can stop contributing to the bad rep Christians are getting now a days. For instance, what verse actally "states" these two things are sins? Sex in itself is not a sin. That means the purpose of your birth is a sin!? Sins are more violations towards man kind than anything. If ignorant people are procreating, than yes, perhaps it is a sin, but you are just making yourself unhappy by obsessing over this sin and that. Talk to a preacher, pastor or priest about this. You really need some professional help as well.

Answer 4

This is a question that gets asked in many circles. Most Christians would say that both are sins in the eyes of God so both carry the weight that sin places on individuals. In fact, you imply that both are sins... you just want to know which one is the least sinful.

Without question, masturbation carries fewer outward consequences and usually doesn't harm anyone else (unless it begins to wear away at your ability to bond with someone sexually in the future. Masturbation, taken too far, may cause someone to strictly focus on the physical aspects of sex rather than the ones that bind 2 people together).

Another user pointed out that you commit more than one sin when you have sex with someone. Not only are you fornicating, but you also are helping another person sin (which Christ forbade).

If you truly want to seek God's presence and not offend Him, you will have to tough it out. In time, refraining from both becomes easier. Doing either (sex or masturbating) while trying to live a Christian life is a contradiction. If you mess up, dust yourself off and start over again.

God didn't make the rules one way and create us with instincts in the opposite direction because He's sadistic. In fact, wanting sex is usually what initially drives us to our partners. It's just unfortunate that we have abused the gift and, rather than just seeking God, we now have to fight the urge to sin.

Answer 5

I would tend to think that physical sex would be a greater sin. Although, one must have lustful thoughts in order to masturbate. So, which is actually the worst? No different than a guy being married and looking at other women. It isn't the best thing for him to do it. If he decides to act on his lustful thoughts and cheat on his wife, that is much worse.

Final answer is: Physical sex.

Answer 6

Physical sex before marriage is a greater sin. Intercourse is supposed to be with one that you truely love. Do you truely love yourself? If so, then masturbation is okay.
I may be wrong, but I don't remember anything in the Bible that preaches against masturbation anyway. And your body isn't betraying you. It's human nature to have intimate feelings. It's acting upon those feelings that is wrong.

Answer 7

The Bible does say sex outside of marriage is a sin. Lust is also a sin.
But it does not mention masturbation at all.

However the greater question is what is going on in your heart? The answer is only between you and God, but that is God's concern, and that should be your focus, not just physical acts. God is more concerned with you than what you do.

Many blessings :)

Answer 8

Both are equal in the eyes of your religion.
I would think from the "sin" standpoint that physical sex would be worse because you are also helping another to sin.
Also, physical sex could produce a bastard child.
You could also pick up a disease.
Both are sins but masturbation has less consequences.

Answer 9

Masturbation is always the greater sin in traditional religion. But personally I don't consider either to be a sin because I don't follow traditional religion and I would rather just live a good life.

Answer 10

Both can be sin, but one is not if you are married. But masturbation it a great sin. Physical sex is not if you are doing it with you husband. You cannot do physical sex out of marriage.

An example of the common sexual temptation:
Satan often tries to convince people that restricting sex to marriage is outdated and impractical. He tells people (singles & teens, especially) that God is unfairly withholding sex from them. He tells them that there will be little or no consequences for having sex outside of marriage and/or looking at pornography. The result is that many people doubt God's good plan for sex and give in to fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography or many other bad alternatives. Afterwards, these people discover that the consequences are real and often much worse than they thought.

Why Is Masturbation Sin?
Masturbation is a sin because a person consents in their own heart to take sexual gratification from impure thoughts. It is sinful to indulge in the sexual pleasure that is derived from the satisfaction of using one's imagination to FIXATE upon obscene images, or obscene actions, or forbidden sex. Lustfully fixating upon genitals, or sexual acts, is idolatry. This is called: the worship of obscenities. This is the sin of those addicted to pornography. That's often a "guy" thing. Alternatively, taking delight in the lust of another, or consummating a fantasy of forbidden sexual romance, is the sin of adultery in the heart. That's often a "girl" thing. The act of masturbation is an outward act that confirms that one's heart and mind has consented to an inward act of impurity. Only by consenting to an imagined act of impurity can one attain orgasm. To attain sexual release, a person's will consents to LOVE something that is sexually impure.

I know where you're coming from and it is hard to fight the flesh, Most Christian fight the same battle against themself everyday. DOn't think you are the only one, but this is the scarify that the Lord is asking from us, to denied self. Denying self is rejecting those desires of you flesh. The best thing you can do in your life, is stay away from temptation, if something that is not right start coming in you mind, then start praying and worship God. Call a Christian friend so he or she can help you pray. Don't look at porno, cause that is the worse thing you can do, don't give place to Satan, cause he will take the whole territory of your life.
God Bless you: I will help you pray.