{"id":38323,"date":"2020-02-21T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crucial-questions-about-masturbation\/"},"modified":"2020-02-21T17:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T17:45:00","slug":"crucial-questions-about-masturbation","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crucial-questions-about-masturbation\/","title":{"rendered":"Crucial Questions About Masturbation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Of the hundreds of men I&rsquo;ve counseled about their sexual addictions, not one has told me that after masturbating he felt stronger, more confident, and more vitally connected to the deep part of his soul. Debates over whether or not masturbation is a sin totally miss the point. The crucial question is not whether masturbation is right or wrong. The question is, as it is with any thought or behavior, does it hinder our spiritual, emotional, and social maturity? Does it stand in the way of love?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[446],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3380,3764,3765,3996,4219,4222,4409,4427,4438,4664,4912,4955,4958,4963,4977,4982,5134,5157,5265,5302],"tax_ctp_topics":[390],"class_list":["post-38323","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-addiction","tax_ctp_tags-desert","tax_ctp_tags-desire","tax_ctp_tags-flesh","tax_ctp_tags-immaturity","tax_ctp_tags-immorality","tax_ctp_tags-lust","tax_ctp_tags-marriage-sex","tax_ctp_tags-maturity","tax_ctp_tags-pornography","tax_ctp_tags-self-control","tax_ctp_tags-sex","tax_ctp_tags-sexual-immorality","tax_ctp_tags-shame","tax_ctp_tags-sin","tax_ctp_tags-sinful-pleasure","tax_ctp_tags-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-thoughts","tax_ctp_tags-weakness","tax_ctp_tags-worldliness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crucial Questions About Masturbation - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/crucial-questions-about-masturbation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crucial Questions About Masturbation - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of the hundreds of men I&rsquo;ve counseled about their sexual addictions, not one has told me that after masturbating he felt stronger, more confident, and more vitally connected to the deep part of his soul. Debates over whether or not masturbation is a sin totally miss the point. 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