Does God care what we do in privacy

1. HEALTH MINISTRY
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19, 20

2. The sin of self-pollution is one of the most destructive evils ever
practiced by fallen man. In many respects it is several degrees
worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful
consequences, though practiced by numbers who would shudder
at the thought of criminal connections with a prostitute. It excites
the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent
secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital
principle and energy; hence the muscles become flaccid and
feeble, the tone and natural action of the nerves relaxed and
impeded, the understanding confused, the memory oblivious, the
judgment perverted, the will indeterminate and wholly without
energy to resist; the eyes appear languishing and without
expression, and the countenance vacant; the appetite ceases, for
the stomach is incapable of performing its proper office; nutrition
fails, tremors, fears, and terrors are generated; and thus the
wretched victim drags out a most miserable existence, till,
superannuated even before he had time to arrive at man's estate,
with a mind often debilitated even to a state of idiotism, his
worthless body tumbles into the grave, and his guilty soul (guilty of
self-murder) is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge!

3. This is no caricature, nor is the colourings overcharged in this
shocking picture. Worse woes than I can relate have been
witnessed in the addiction to this fascinating, unnatural, and
most destructive of crimes, I HAVE LISTENED TO THE
TESTIMONIES OF THE VICTIMS THIS VICE, Jesus only can
save the person who is under the influence of such if only they
RUN TO HIM. If thou hast entered into this snare, flee from the
destruction both of body and soul that awaits thee! Advice,
warnings, threatenings; increasing debility of body, mental
decay, checks of conscience, expostulations of judgment and
medical assistance, will all be lost on thee: God, and God
alone, can save them from an evil which has in its issue the
destruction of thy body, and the final perdition of thy soul! But
who dares and will do it, and in such language that it may
neither pollute the ear by describing the evil as it is, nor fail of
its effect by a language so refined and so laboriously delicate
as to cover the sin which it professes to disclose! Elaborate
treatises on the subject will never be read by those who need
them most, and anonymous pamphlets are not likely to be

4. I have sought to arouse parents to their duty, yet
they sleep on. Your children practice secret
vice, and they deceive you. You have such
implicit confidence in them, that you think them
too good and innocent to be capable of secretly
practicing iniquity. Parents fondle and pet their
children, and indulge them in pride, but do not
restrain them with firmness and decision. They
are so much afraid of their willful, stubborn
spirits, that they fear to come in contact with
them; but the sin of negligence, which was
marked against Eli, will be their sin. {SA 168.2}

5. "What does the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy
say about masturbation?"
It is one of the most frequently asked questions.
Many Christians have found it difficult to answer
this question according to the Bible, because
the Bible never mentions masturbation
specifically. To understand how God feels about
this subject, we must examine other verses that
deal with issues such as lust, self-control and
purity. Also, we must examine its fruit to see if it
is from God. I will try to address this issue by
answering some of the most frequently asked
questions.

6. "Does God care about what we do in the
privacy of our bedrooms?"
Sex is God's invention. Why do I have to talk
about sex when dealing with masturbation?
Because masturbation is SELF-SEX. Now God
is the mastermind of every pure sex and His
creation is worth far more to Him than it is to us.
This beautiful expression of love was created
out of His own heart, as a gift to be experienced
between a husband and wife. It is only in
marriage that this manifestation of intimacy can
be fully enjoyed in the depth for which it was
created not any other form of sexual habits.

7. "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept
pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually
immoral" (Hebrews 13:4, NIV).
"Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4,
KJV).
The more beautiful and unique something is (like sexual intercourse),
the more power it holds over our lives, either for good or bad
influence. That is why it is so easy for the devil to corrupt the most
precious of God’s gifts. When we become more in love with the
gifts than the One who endowed them, the things that were
designed to bless us begin to destroy us instead. Yes, God cares
about what we do with our bodies, in public or in private. He
doesn’t want us to abuse ourselves in any way. In fact, an older
definition of masturbation is "self-abuse." Although more modern
dictionaries may no longer carry this definition, they are still linked
together under self-abuse:
Self-abuse noun¹
1. Abuse of oneself or one's abilities.

8. 1 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV)
further confirms this, saying
that unlawful sexual relations
defile our own bodies. "Flee
from sexual immorality. All
other sins a man commits are
outside his body, but he who
sins sexually sins against his
own body."

9. SOLEMN APPEAL {SA 165.1}
I have felt deeply as I have seen the powerful influence
animal passions have had in controlling men and women
of no ordinary intelligence and ability. They are capable of
engaging in a good work, of exerting a powerful influence,
were they not enslaved by base passions. They have
listened to the most solemn, impressive discourses upon
the judgment, which seemed to bring them before the
tribunal of God, causing them to fear and quake, yet an
hour would hardly elapse before they have been engaged
in their favorite, bewitching sin, polluting their own bodies.
They were such slaves to this awful crime that they
seemed devoid of power to control their passions. We
have labored for some earnestly; we have entreated, we
have wept and prayed over them, yet we have known that
right amid all our earnest effort and distress, the force of
sinful habit has obtained the mastery.

10. These sins would be committed. The consciences of some of the
guilty, through severe attacks of sickness, or by being powerfully
convicted, have been aroused, and have so scourged them, that it
has led to confession of these things, with deep humiliation.
Others are alike guilty. They have practiced this sin nearly their
whole lifetime, and with their broken-down constitutions, and, with
their sieve-like memories, are reaping the result of this pernicious
habit, yet are too proud to confess. They are secretive, and have
not shown compunctions of conscience for this great sin and
wickedness. They seem to be insensible to the influence of the
Spirit of God. The sacred and common are alike to them. The
common practice of a vice so degrading as polluting their own
bodies has not led to bitter tears and heartfelt repentance. They
feel that their sin is against themselves alone. Here they mistake.
Are they diseased in body or mind, others are made to feel. Others
suffer. Mistakes are made. The memory is deficient. The
imagination is at fault. And there is a deficiency everywhere which
seriously affects those with whom they live, and who associate
with them. These feel mortification and regret because these
things are known by another. {SA 165.1}

11. "Isn't it still better to masturbate than to commit
fornication?"
The easy answer to this question has been, "Yes, it is
better to masturbate, because at best it corrupts only
one person. It certainly is the lesser of two evils."
However, why would a loving, holy, all-powerful God
abandon you to a situation in which you have to
choose any evil, whether it be "lesser" or "greater?" To
really answer this question, we must again go back to
God's original plan for sex. But in a more precise way,
masturbation is a result of fornication and what is
stored in mind, and it should not be compared to
lesser sin or wet dreams at any given day.

12. First of all, masturbation will not truly relieve the sexual pressure
that one may feel. It may for a short moment, but in the long run
it only creates a deeper desire and capacity for sex, which will
lead to more masturbation. If you let yourself become enslaved
to a sexual high, you will find that you need to go to increasingly
extreme acts to maintain the same degree of excitement. There
are even ungodly sex therapists who recommend masturbation
as a way of increasing sexual desire, not lessening it. This
creates a vicious circle, like the junkie who craves a "fix," but is
only temporarily satisfied. The more he indulges in his
dependency, the more ensnared by addiction he becomes. This
is the nature of all sin. That is why Jesus declared that all who
sin become a slave to sin (John 8:34). Furthermore,
masturbation usually involves fantasy, visualization, and often
pornography. The Bible is very clear as to what God expects of
us in these areas of fantasy and lust. It teaches that we must
not look lustfully at each other nor behave in such a manner as
to entice others to lust after us.

13. "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a
girl. I know full well that the Almighty God sends calamity
on those who do" (Job 31:1-3, The Living Bible).
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in his heart"
(Matthew 5:28).
While the above verses refer to men lusting after women, all women know that
it can very easily be reversed to apply to them as well. Men may be more
easily visually stimulated than women, but women can be just as vulnerable
to sexual fantasy in the emotional realm. Both are sin in God's eyes, and
both can be brought into subjection by controlling our thoughts through
Christ's power. All sexual immorality begins with a thought. A lustful thought
not taken captive, will eventually lead to other perversions, because sin
reproduces itself in increasingly greater measures. If we do not deal with our
evil thoughts, they will take root in our hearts. It is for this reason that God is
so concerned with our thought life. Jesus came not only to deliver us from
our "outward" sins, but also from wickedness that begins in the heart.

14. Since masturbation begins with sin in the mind, it might
be called an "affair of the mind" because it brings
about sexual sin inflicted against one's own
body. Although it brings a short lived gratification, it
makes one feel defiled when continued on a regular
basis. In fact, it is a form of fornication as I have
earlier highlighted because fornication is more than
just sex with someone before marriage, it includes
many other sexual sins such as pornography and the
use of sexual toys for gratification. People who are not
satisfied with God's plan for sex commit idolatry by
using evil things to experience weird and unlawful
forms of sexual intercourse. Some verses in Ezekiel
actually describe this kind of fornication.

15. Ezekiel 16:15-17:
15But you trusted in and relied on your own beauty
and were unfaithful to God and played the harlot
[in idolatry] because of your renown, and you
poured out your fornications upon anyone who
passed by [as you worshiped the idols of every
nation which prevailed over you] and your beauty
was his.
16And you took some of your garments and made
for yourself gaily decorated high places or shrines
and played the harlot on them--things which
should not come and that which should not take
place.
17You did also take your fair jewels and beautiful
vessels of My gold and My silver which I had given
you and made for yourself images of men, and you

16. AND MASTURBATION DOESN’T ONLY AFFECT
THOSE IN ITS PRACTISE
I have mentioned these cases to illustrate the power of
this soul-and-body-destroying vice. The entire mind is
given up to low passion. The moral and intellectual are
over- borne by the baser powers. The body is
enervated, the brain is weakened. The material there
deposited to nourish the system is squandered. The
drain upon the system is great. The fine nerves of the
brain, by being excited to unnatural action, become
benumbed and in a measure paralyzed. The moral
and intellectual are growing weaker, while the animal
passions are growing stronger, and being more largely
developed by exercise.

17. The appetite for unhealthful food clamors for indulgence. It is
impossible to fully arouse the moral sensibilities of those
persons who are addicted to the habit of self-abuse, to
appreciate eternal things. You cannot lead such to delight in
spiritual exercises. Impure thoughts seize and control the
imagination, fascinate the mind, and next follows an almost
uncontrollable desire for impure acts. If the mind were educated
to contemplate elevating subjects, the imagination trained to
reflect upon pure and holy things, it would be fortified against
this terrible, debasing, soul-and-body-destroying indulgence. It
would become accustomed to linger with delight upon the high,
the heavenly, the pure, and the sacred, and could not be
attracted to this base, corrupt, and vile indulgence. {SA 167.1}
WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO A GREAT COMMISSION
WHICH CANNOT BE PERFORMED WITH A WEAKENED
MIND WHICH ACTUALLY CAN’T BE USED WITH THE SPIRIT
OF GOD TO PASS ETERNAL TRUCE TO A PERISHING
WORLD. MORESO, A PERISHING PERSON CAN’T GIVE A
REMEDY TO A PERISHING WORLD

18. "Isn't God unreasonable to demand sexual purity after giving
us sexual drives that seem to overwhelm us at times?"
Our loving God never demands from us what is impossible for us
to do. We are so weak within ourselves that it may seem
impossible, but He will equip us with His holy power to
overcome any sin, if we ask in faith. Of course, sexual urges in
and of themselves are not wicked. They are natural. God
created us that way. He desires that we get optimum pleasure
out of them by using them the way they were created to be
used. However, many desires for physical gratification (whether
it be food, sex, etc.) stem from a deeper need that is unfilled
deep inside us. Gorging our flesh can never fill a hunger that
grows out of our spirit. Only intimacy with God can fill the
deepest needs inside of us. No other created thing has that
power. God is no more unreasonable than any caring parent
who lovingly disciplines their child. It is only because He knows
what is best for us. He sees a mighty potential in each one of
us that far supersedes our wildest dreams, and He loves us
enough to do all He can to bring it to pass.

19. What can we say of those who are
living right in the blazing light of truth,
yet daily practicing and following in a
course of sin and crime. Forbidden,
exciting pleasures have a charm for
them, and hold and control their entire
being. Such take pleasure in
unrighteousness and iniquity, and
must perish outside of the city of God,
with every abominable thing. {SA
168.1}

20. "I agree with all the theory, but living it out on a day to day
level is another story."
This is the place where we need the empowerment of the Holy
Spirit in our everyday lives. The Holy Spirit is not a vague
"force," but the very Power and Presence of The Father and
The Son to comfort us and strengthen us against the sins that
used to rule us before we were born again. Through the power
of the Holy Spirit, we have the very ability that Jesus had to
resist temptation. He depended completely upon the Father and
so must we. Something we must know is that God is not the
one who is tempting us in this area to "test" us. God is on our
side and wants to set us free from these things, not lead us into
them! "When tempted, no one should say "God is tempting
me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt
anyone; but each one is tempted when by his own evil
desire, he is dragged away and enticed" (James 1:13-14)

21. God wants us to overcome every sin and temptation in our lives. NOTICE:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He
will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he
will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).
"For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons
we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine
power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that
sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to
make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
"In the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do
not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer
yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the
parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your
master for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:11-14)
"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16, King James Version).
"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that
contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God" (2
Corinthians 7:1).

22. "Can I really OVERCOME THIS AND
OTHER SEXUAL DESIRES?"
"In (this) freedom, Christ has made us
free—completely liberated us; stand fast
then, and do not be hampered and held
ensnared and submit again to a yoke of
slavery—which you have once put off "
(Galatians 5:1 Amp).
1. CONFESS 1John 1, 2

23. 2. We are to flee from and reject anything
that aggravates this sin. Disconnect
ourselves from any kind of pornography
(1Thes 5:22). This may sound too drastic,
but it certainly is mild compared to Jesus
who said, "If your right hand causes you to
sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better
for you to lose one part of your body, than
for your whole body to go into Hell"
(Matthew 5:30). His point was that we
must be willing to part with anything that
causes us to sin.

24. 3. Self-control takes
effort and we wont win
the battle if we have
not trained our bodies
like real soldiers.

25. In this healthful living, many have tried
righteousness by works and depended on
themselves to overcome sin or be
recommended to God by their works, but
they have failed miserably and gave up
Christianity or victory over sin, "May God
himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through; may your whole
spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
one who calls you is faithful and He will do
it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

26. In this healthful living, many have tried
righteousness by works and depended on
themselves to overcome sin or be
recommended to God by their works, but
they have failed miserably and gave up
Christianity or victory over sin, "May God
himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through; may your whole
spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
one who calls you is faithful and He will do
it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

27. The exhortation of Peter is of the highest value to all
who are striving for immortality. Those of like precious
faith are addressed: {SA 168.2}
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus
our Lord, according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to
glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises; that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust…….

28. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith,
virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge,
temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to
patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if
these things be in you, and abound, they make you
that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that
lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old
sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be
ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2
Peter 1:1-11. {SA 168.3}

29. 1Corinthians 6:19, 20:
What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye
have of God, and ye are not
your own? For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.