Last update: October 8th, 2024
As the title says, this article will let everyone know what I’m working on and approximately how close new articles are to being released. Sometimes I get a bug about something and write/publish a whole article in a few days, but it’ll usually show up here before publishing.
Also, if you have a request for an article topic, please leave it in the comments below. I may or may not write it, but the odds are much higher if you suggest it. I make no promises though.
Changelog:
- October 8th: No changes below. I’ve been working on the Atonement article and it’s up to ~11k words, but I’ve done a lot of copying to rearrange it while not deleting what’s copied/moved, so it’s probably shorter. There’s a lot to cover though, and I haven’t even started on “propitiation” yet, so “propitiation” might end up being a different article. We’ll see.
- September 30th: Published the article on PSA’s 2nd pillar, and thus removed it from the working articles list. Added a tiny update to the atonement article description below.
- September 26th: Updated the PSA Core Pillar #2 description below, and published an article on PSA’s first core pillar. Added a prayer request at the bottom. I’ve also decided to try and update this page weekly, but we’ll see.
Articles on which I’m currently working
To be clear, I only actively work on a few at a time, the rest get the short end of the stick. However, I thought you all might like to see what I’m working on, so here’s a list. 🙂 It’s not a complete list, but these are the major ones.
“Working” articles (In rough order of priority)
- Article Series — The Biblical case for AND against Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) This is something of an offshoot from my article about ignored reasons that Jesus died. I’ve not been happy with PSA ever since I read Ezekiel 18 many years ago, and other passages give me pause as well. As I started writing, I realized that it will take many articles to unpack completely. I have a rough outline in my intro to the PSA article series.
- What is Atonement? Something of an offshoot of PSA core tenet #2. We’ll look at this topic very deeply because, concerning PSA, a lot hinges on how you understand this term and the original word(s) behind it. We’ll probably also define “propitiation” in this article, but it might get its own article depending on how long it becomes. It’s 6.5k words currently, but the rough draft isn’t remotely done.
- The Early Church Fathers on Penal Substitutionary Atonement (with quotes). This is an offshoot of the below article on PSA. Some say that the early church had never heard of PSA, some say they it was the only thing they taught. I will examine that in exhaustive (and likely exhausting) detail. I split this off from the below article because there’s so many quotes to address and so much misrepresentation by at least one side, so it’ll be very long.
- Is Peter the foundation of the (Catholic) Church? I had completely forgotten about this draft until recently. The passage that Catholics use to support the idea of Papal infallibility is Matthew 16, but the Greek grammar actually makes it impossible that Peter is the foundation of the church.
- Does the Mosaic Law still apply? What about mixed fabrics? Sex during Mensuration? The 10 Commandments? Suggested in the comments. No idea when I’ll get to it, but it’s on the list. 🙂
- Revelation Part 2: The Millennial Kingdom, The Rapture, etc. This would be a follow-up to my article on Revelation, covering the things that one didn’t.
- The BOS Bible. Okay, this technically isn’t an article, but I have an ongoing project to translate the New Testament from Greek to English. You can read what’s done so far (~70% of the NT by word count, just Luke, Acts, and Revelation to go.) here: BOS Bible.com. I haven’t translated much lately because a fellow is currently helping me go through and tighten up what I’ve already translated. Once that’s done, I’ll get back to translating new chapters.
“Back Burner” articles. (I’ll probably get to them eventually, but they’re low priority right now.)
- The Masoretic Text (MT) vs the Septuagint (LXX) vs Dead Sea Scrolls. This would be a companion article to my article on New Testament textual criticism, this time looking at the Old Testament.
- Was Paul Always Single, Or Was He A Widower? Surprisingly, I think there’s solid evidence from the Bible itself that Paul was married at some point. His wife probably died, or possibly divorced him after he became a Christian, but that Paul was a widower seems most likely.
- Biblically, What’s the Role of Men in Society and Marriage? This one has been mostly complete for rather a long time, but something about it just feels “off”. I don’t want to publish something that I can’t fully stand behind, so it’s been sitting for a while.
- Random other ones. I have a few dozen article drafts right now, mostly stubs or reminders to write articles on said topics. If you see something I’ve said I would write about that’s not on either list above, that’s probably where it is.
Prayer Requests
Yes, I’m shamelessly asking for prayer.
- My outreach. I have an outreach to unbelievers that’s anonymous so I won’t share any details, but please pray for it to be high-quality and effective in softening hearts towards God.
- My friend. I know someone who used to love God and pursue Him ardently, but sadly, this friend has fallen away. Thankfully not completely, but very significantly. If you could pray that my friend would return to God and the truth of scripture wholeheartedly, I would appreciate it.
- My finances. Money has gotten a little tight lately, partially because of inflation and also because a ton of unexpected, “out of the blue” expenses have been hitting non-stop the last few months. (and no, I’m not asking for money nor do have a way to donate, and that’s on purpose. Please just pray that God will provide, preferably abundantly so I can spend more time on my ministry activities, like this website.)
Thank you for praying, and may God bless you richly for it. 🙂
God Bless,
Berean Patriot
 – Request Article topics Here!){kind=link}
I can’t wait for what is betrothal in the bible article, I hope you will address song of songs book more deeper Amen.
I will. 🙂 Actually, that’s part of the reason I’m writing it.
Thank you I will wait.
I would love your opinion on the real meaning and extent of the 10 commandments. Does not bearing false witness against your neighbor mean only as a witness in a trial or also lying? Does honor in honoring your parents mean the same thing as today or does it mean supporting them when they can’t work? Is not taking the name of god in vain about oaths, or something else? Does not making graven images mean we cannot have statues even if they are just for decoration?
And following that, why appears to be a different set of commandments in the bible different from the first one? I guess it has to do with differences on what the covenant with Israel really required, but it’s not clear at all to me. Is the covenant with Israel just the 10 commandments? then what about the rest of the laws in the Torah? Were there different covenants overlapping?
Sorry if you already touched some of the topics, I’m just sharing what I’ve been thinking lately.
your entire patriarchy theology has exploded, more people are learning what God actually says while you here are fringe that teaches illogical heresies. You are accountable for the damage you cause.
I’ve got a question that I’ve wrestled with for a while. The question on the surface is somewhat straightforward, but the implications are rather large. Let me explain.
Ezekiel 18:6, 22:10
Leviticus 15:19-30; 20:18
Leviticus 18:19
These verses make it pretty clear to not have intercourse with a woman during menstration. I separated Leviticus 18:19 because this one puts that in the same list as things like adultery and homosexuality, both very serious sins.
It appears to me, from the above verses, that we shouldn’t be doing intercourse during that time of the month, yet popular teachers encourage it. Basically the “law has passed away” and such. If that argument is true, then you could use that same argument to allow adultery and homosexuality as well.
Here is a popular pastor and an example:
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/is-sex-during-menstruation-sinful
Further points. Jesus turns people out of heaven for being “anomia”. My understanding is “lawless”. Matthew 7:23. Wouldn’t this quantify as a lawless sort of sin? This whole idea of “freedom in Christ” and “we are under a new covenant” is a potentially dangerous message if we just throw the law out and ignore it.
Basically, the issue I am brining up started with the Menstration and Sex issue, but its much larger than that. How much and what of the OT laws still apply today? My basic understanding today is the moral code of the OT still applies, but all the rituals and rites are all covered under Christ. But, if my understanding is correct, then we shouldn’t be having sex during menstration.
Anyhow, this is a large question in my opinion, and one I personally think is important when considering the threat of Matthew 7. The full question is “how much of the OT still applies today?” Answering that question will answer the menstration question as well.
That’s a very good question, and the second one I’ve received on the OT law on this post. I added it to the article list, and I did a little looking and I think it’ll be a fun article to research/write. 🙂
Article idea: a detailed look at the Schmittian Exception and whether it applies to biblical law.
Thanks for making this communication page available. Some articles are just interesting, but others might hold a higher priority on the scale of importance. For instance, I would think that the third article you mentioned, the reasons Jesus died, would hold a higher place of priority than mixed fabrics. If people are getting the gospel wrong, that should be at the top of the list.
One suggestion for a new article – Covering the present tense of the word “Believe” in John 3:16 and other places where the tense indicates repeated and continuous action, instead of a one time event – and what that means concerning salvation. Thanks.
Agreed about priority. I made a small edit to make that clear. And BTW, the reason the article about the gospel isn’t #1 is because of a large surge in people here wanting to say that sex outside of marriage is morally acceptable. Obviously I have a problem with that and I want to cover the resources that aren’t commonly available online. The article about the gospel is more a matter of focus, and when I publish it, it should be extra obvious why the two that are above it in the queue are higher priority.
I think your point about present participles actually might fit into the gospel article. Hmm…
Get a sleep apnea study done in order to rule out a simple sleep machine giving you better sleep hence more sleep.
Could you do a in-depth article on “Spiritual Promptings” and things relating to claiming to have messages or direction from GOD in areas of our lives? Particularly when asking questions about “who should I marry?” “Is This Thought from GOD?”
Honestly, probably not. Not because I don’t want to, but because this is something I’ve wrestled with for many years and don’t have a satisfying conclusion. I will say that I think it’s a good idea to be extremely careful. I know several people who thought God had told them something, started to build their life around it, and then when it didn’t happen they were devastated. Some even effectively left the faith. Conversely, I do know one woman who said she heard a nearly audible voice tell her that she would marry someone, and she’s now been married to that man for quite some years.
So, yeah; I don’t know how to advise someone except to say that you should be very careful about this. I absolutely believe that God still talks to people these days, but — like biblical times — there are a lot of (sometimes accidental) false prophets. The one additional warning I’ll give is related to Bethel church; I recommend you stay far away from them. Mike Winger on YouTube has some great videos about them if you think they aren’t terrible.
Prayed for you, God Bless you. I’ve already commented a request under your post about masturbation and fantasy (The one talking about Romans 1, where Paul says homosexuality is unnatural), but I’ll comment my request again here:
Do you plan on writing an article that How Greek sexual purity got adopted by Christianity and how they thought not having sex meant you were more holy? It’s not too difficult to find a ton of articles and academic papers online that discuss it, but it’s usually very fragmented. You usually need look at a wide variety of sources.
I really appreciate the prayers. 🙂
I also think I missed your previous comment somehow. Sorry about that. You might want to read my article on homosexuality for obvious reasons. It doesn’t touch on the “unnatural” aspect the way you asked about it, but there’s more going on in Romans 1 than most Christians know.
About how the Greek gnostic ideas about sexual purity infiltrated the Church, I probably won’t write an article about that. There are scholarly sources that have already covered it and I didn’t save any notes from when I was doing the research, or even any titles of what I read, so I would be starting at square one again. Further, I prefer not to cover topics that have been well-covered by others. I prefer to spend time on the less common topics about which there isn’t much info (or isn’t much good/complete info).
You’re probably aware of the modern Christian movement known as Hebrew roots: Christians who believe keeping Torah is necessary. I see that you’re planning an article on that subject and I look forward to it. I know some Christians who keep Torah and I completely respect their reasoning. But I wanted to point out a disturbing sect that’s adjacent to Hebrew Roots being ones that have concluded that Paul was a false Apostle. There is a lot online on the subject but one book I’ve seen circulating is “Yeshua and The Law vs Paul the False Apostle”. I don’t know if this would fit your area of expertise but I’d be interested to see your take on it.
I’m new to your work so maybe you’ve already covered this but I’d love to see a single comprehensive article on all the Biblical support for Patriarchy and male headship and what it all means. Again maybe you’ve already covered that.
If someone rejects Paul, he’d have to reject everyone who accepted Paul, which includes Peter, John, James, Luke/Acts, and of course the Gospel of Mark was Peter’s gospel written down by Mark. That means your entire New Testament is reduced to Matthew and Jude, and maybe Hebrews if don’t think Paul wrote it. (My suspicion is that it was Paul’s teaching written down by someone else, no idea who. That’s only a suspicion though.) So by process of elimination, you basically don’t have a New Testament if you reject Paul. Now that I think about it, that might be a fun article stub.
As for your other question, I would recommend my series on marriage. Please, don’t skip the prologue article though.
Thank you for your articles. I’ve found them helpful and have recommended them.
I’ve asked you before if you’ve read Thelyphthora … female ruin… (long title shortened to the googlable bits) by Martin Madan. I’m on volume 3 now. It is infuriating how such a text so well argued so long ago was so thoroughly quashed.
It pains me to see that just about every Christian sect is strictly monogamous and the ones that border into antichrist cults smear popular opinion of the practice of polygyny.
This may seem out of left field as far as articles go, but I would like to see the talents of your mind applied to Jeroboam the King of the North of Israel, his grievous error, and how that may apply to the organized church today if at all.
One more recommendation for a future article. I’m finding confusion among believers about scriptures in the New Testament that pertain to salvation, and those that pertain to discipleship – the sanctification/discipleship process that takes place in a believer’s life AFTER salvation. For example, “Make Jesus Lord of your life” is used at altar calls to get people to come forward for salvation, but that’s works, part of the sanctification and discipleship process AFTER we believe and are born again. Rom. 10:9 says we “confess”, but the “making” of it is a work that occurs AFTER we believe and are born again at a particular moment. That’s what I mean. Thanks for your time.
That’s actually something I’ll touch on rather heavily (though not quite directly) in the article about the two most important and ignored reasons that Jesus died. 🙂
Please write an article on the rest of Revelations
I added it to the list. 🙂
I would like an article on the Talmudists and their relation to the Pharisees. The bible has a lot to say on them, such as Revelations 2:9/3:9, Acts mentioning the Star of Remphan and Tabernacle of Moloch, the history of the so-called Star of David, as well as how Ephesians Chapter 6 mentioning the “principalities of darkness” ruling over us isn’t metaphorical, but literal.
Also, sorry to hear about your friend, and prayers to you and your friend. I’ll pray for you and your sleep as well as your outreach going well.
I am wide awake at 4AM 🤣
I decided to look up the word married/Marriage in the Greek and Hebrew and have discovered multiple different words. It’s confusing, frustrating and enlightening. It’s almost as of marriage is a little more complicated and yet very simplified in this way. My goal was the find a common word like ISH or BAAL is common for MAN/HUSBAND anyway I think you get my point. Thoughts or helpful ideas?
Welcome to the Hebrew language. It tends to be like this whenever you look up a word or idea, and Hebrew often has multiple words with the difference being nuance and their meanings overlapping. Ba’al (not to be confused with the pagan god) usually means “master”, “owner”, or “husband”, since those ideas have an enormous amount of overlap in Hebrew. In fact, in Deut 22:22, you have “If a man is found lying with a married woman”, but more literally it’s “If a man is found lying with a woman owned/married to an owner/husband. (see the link in my response to your following comment) Ish simply means a man, whether married or unmarried, and in fact is translated “husband” not-infrequently. So yes, Hebrew is a bit of a linguistic “mess” compared to Greek.
One thing that will help you wrap your mind around Hebrew is to understand that most Hebrew words aren’t about abstract definitions, but rather pictorial and symbolic. For example, one of the words translated sin/iniquity literally means “crookedness”, and can refer to the consequences of a man’s crookedness. This explains why it’s also used to describe a man’s back and roads in addition to sin/iniquity. So while Greek does have abstract meanings, Hebrew words are more often about the pictorial aspect and the word’s meaning flows from that.
It also seems that most of the usage of marriage is a one sided action on the man’s part to “take or make” (a woman) their wife. I found the wor nasa in 2 Chronicles 11:21.
way-yiq-qah is the verb to take in Gen 24:67 by Issac taking Rebecca.
You’re not wrong about “taking” a wife. I do actually talk about why this is on my article: What is Betrothal in the Bible? Is it the Same as Modern Engagement?
This is a very small topic so I’m not hopeful you’ll write on the topic soon, but here it goes anyway: The Bible clearly outlines punishments for different sins. However, there are certain times when a person might be responsible for the sins of others, as in this passage:
EZEKIEL 3:18 ‘When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.’
What did the phrase “requiring of blood” mean in this passage? Did it imply that the person would receive the same punishment as the wicked man, or was it only something to be ashamed of?
It really helps if you read it in context, and especially with Ezekiel 33:1-9. The watchman analogy in Ezekiel 33 really clears this up. If a watchman sees an army coming and doesn’t warn the people, the watchman is guilty of the people’s blood because it was his job to warn them and he didn’t. But if he warns them and they don’t care, the watchman did his duty and he is blameless. God said that He called Ezekiel as a watchman for Israel, hence 3:18. (which is restated almost word-for-word in Ez 33). Let me point out that this is specific for Ezekiel and his calling. You can argue that it applies elsewhere (like watchmen and perhaps those similar to watchmen), but it doesn’t make one man guilty of another man’s sins.
Ezekiel chapter 18 makes is very clear that one man is never held responsible for another man’s sins.
Yeah I guess that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
You’re welcome. 🙂
Thank you, for giving us help with reviewing bible versions. I’ve been using KJV, but wanted to try a more current word-for-word option. I have a “GOD’s WORD” bible, but am finding it totally different to the KJV. I am purchasing a NASB95 as my main go-to bible, but would like your view of the GW bible.
You’re welcome. 🙂 To answer your question, somewhat impressively it actually passes the litmus test verse. Even more shocking, it actually gets 1 Thess 4:4… well, not right since they go gender neutral, but righter than many translations. (Details about what the verse means in my article on betrothal) That said, it’s so far from literal that it shouldn’t be considered for serious study. It also goes the gender-neutral route, again marking it as entirely unsuitable.
If society adopts polygyny and a strict no sex outside of marriage law, how will you deal with the massive surplus of young men who will be left without a wife and shut out of access to sex?
🙄
Request #1: How to find a sound and loving church (and maybe some church suggestions, or directories if that isn’t too much??) and what to do in the meantime. Things to look for, things to look out for, as in, red flags. I don’t just want a church with a correct statement of faith and beliefs, but one that is loving and has a heart for the growing of the Christian
Request #2: Women’s roles in the local church. I’m not sure if you’ve mentioned this before, but what have you come to understand about what a woman can do in the church?
To request #1, I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of advice on picking a church. There are a few things to look for that will help. First, do they allow female elders, pastors, and/or deacons? That should remove a church from the running immediately. Other than that, I would see if the church has a website with a statement of beliefs. However, while you can know if a church is bad using those metrics, it doesn’t really tell you if it’s good. You’ll simply need to visit them one-by-one. I compiled a list of churches and visited one a week until I’d worked through all of them. I don’t enjoy the process, but I haven’t found a better way. It helps if there’s a bible study or prayer meeting on Sunday before or after the service because that can help you get a better sense of the place. A one-week visit should help eliminate many of them. Once you have a “short list”, you could even listen to some of their sermons if they’re recorded. That’ll help give you an idea of the teaching.
Good signs are multiple pastors of roughly equal authority and verse-by-verse teaching through the Bible/a book of the Bible. A huge red flag is a church — especially a small church — that is built around a single “cult of personality” type leader. Most importantly, pray. Pray about it and get those you know praying about it. I’m not sure I have much more advice than that, so I probably won’t write a full-length article about it.
To Request #2, I do actually have an article that touches on that quite extensively. It’s this article from my series on marriage. I recommend you read it from the beginning (second link) though the best place to start is a “prologue” that I wrote later, link here.
Commenting this here instead of your Blog post about Betrothal or the one about Masturbation. I think it’s related to my previous comment about natural intercourse and the comment might be article material.
The academic journal article “Can a Man Commit Porneia with his wife” states that Paul says in 1st Thesalonians 4:3-6 that someone can commit Porneia with his wife. The article argues that Paul was stating that man should “acquire”(can mean to own sexually) have his “vessel”( can mean wife) in honor and holiness and not in “passion of desire” like the Gentiles. The heavy implication of this being that Paul thinks that it’s’ possible to commit porneia with his wife by having sex out of passion or lustful desire. Paul contrasts sex between Christians with that of the Gentiles. Very possibly that means engaging in non procreative sex, as Paul saying having passionate and lustful sex and that what Gentiles engage in is bad sound very similar to what Greco Roman philosophers said. The evidence the journal gives is is based on how the Hebrew word כלי is used in 2nd Temple Judaism usage of and the way 1 Peter 3:7 used the Greek word σκεῦος. Also that in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 the word Greek word κτάομαι can mean to “win for oneself)
Here’s the article in question(Thessalonians is talked about in “Πορνεῖα in the New Testament”) : https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/items/2d0c5f8a-0012-43ac-a555-683067d89b4d
Do you think the topic of whether or not Paul and other New Testament writers heavily promoted Platonic Sex values and that there was a “wrong” type of sex in marriage is worth making an article for? I’ve also heard the suggestion that the sex the Gentiles engaged in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 was referring to Temple Prostitution.
Your Article about Betrothal seems more to fall in line with the Journal article I’ve posted(since you support the claim that 1 Peter 3:7’s usage of acquire has sexual implications). I’m still very confused about how you can say it’s okay for Christians to masturbate, with the information you, and the journal article I’ve posted provide. If we as Christians need to have our own wife AND have them in holiness unlike the Gentiles doing impurity, how can masturbation fit into any of that? (That sex outside of marriage is bad,) (usage of the term acquire in particular). Then again, if the Song of Solomon is what’s considered “holy” than I’m probably overreacting. Forgive me if I’ve put a stumblingblock in front of anyone who’s read your articles or if I’m twisting scripture, I’m more or less asking for your opinion
I disagree with the basic supposition that “acquire” can mean to “own” (or possess) sexually there because of the Greek tense. There would be a solid case if κτάομαι was in the perfect tense there, but it’s not. It means to “acquire” in the tense used there, not to own/possess. Thus, I don’t see how it can apply to marriage. (though there are sexual activities that the Bible clearly prohibits in marriage; more on that in a moment.). The whole points seems to be about a betrothal, contrasting paying for a prostitute in verse 3 with acquiring a wife in verse 4.
I utterly reject the idea that, as you said: “The heavy implication of this being that Paul thinks that it’s’ possible to commit porneia with his wife by having sex out of passion or lustful desire.“. As you mentioned, Song of Solomon seems to make this interpretation utterly absurd. It also makes the notion of Platonic love absurd within a marriage. So do verses like Proverbs 5:19 with phrases like “Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love“. That doesn’t sound very platonic, does it?
Okay, on to “pornea” inside of marriage. Romans 1:26 speaks of anal sex between men and women (it’s not about two women, see my article on homosexuality for evidence), which you could argue would be pornea because it’s both (1) sexual, and (2) immoral. I make a similar argument regarding sexual denial in my article on divorce.
Now to masturbation, do you consider it “sex outside of marriage”? If so, why? (The idea of “sex outside of marriage” is more accurately “sex with another person outside of marriage”.)
Thank you for your response, you’ve made pretty good arguments against my original comment, I’ll answer your last question anyway to continue discussion. (also, yeah, not worth making and article for)
I think masturbation without a spouse would technically count as sex outside of marriage because it is, quite literally, sex being done outside the context of marriage. Also, what do you mean by “sex with ANOTHER PERSON outside of marriage” as opposed to just no sex period before marriage?
Although, if I’m wrong about my first statement, I don’t think Masturbation would be considered sex outside of marriage if done by itself(especially after reading your response), it’s more like if would be done either fantasizing about a real person, then that would probably count as sex outside of marriage(you’ve made an article talking about why that’s bad). However, you’ve argued that using fantasy that follows criteria set by the Song of Solomon, is okay for masturbation. If you have to actually be married to someone before you have sex with them, why would fantasizing about fictional settings not be considered “sex with another person outside of marriage” as opposed to real people? What makes non marital masturbation to reality as opposed to fiction? If you’re not actually married to a fake character, I’m not sure it counts as sex within
marriage. I was also thinking about how masturbation can be lustful like how I was attempting to
argue in my previous comment.
I wanted to say I apologize for saying something very wrong without considering the evidence and I thank you for responding to me with evidence.
If you want me to make more comments in another article(if the reply chain becomes too long for the request article) to prevent this from being off topic I can.
So, the Bible never addresses masturbation directly. There’s a tangential connection, as I mention in my article on porn, fantasy, and masturbation, but nothing else. The various words and descriptions in the Bible always require two participants, not just one. Given that, applying the label “sex” to masturbation simply isn’t supported by the Bible. Modern definitions, sure; but not biblical ones. At least, I’ve found no mention of it in the Bible.
To the fantasy aspect, I covered that in detail in the article above. Fantasizing about another person doesn’t mean that there are two participants though. Definitionally, physically, and literally, there’s still only one person involved. The problem in fantasy lies that it can — not necessarily does, but can — cross the line into coveting, which is a sin.
Since there’s only one actual person involved in fantasy (the one who’s fantasizing), and Biblically, sex requires multiple participants, then masturbation can’t be considered “sex” biblically. There’s simply no precedent for it. We would say it’s a sexual act in the modern parlance, but then so are nocturnal emissions; neither is stated to be a sin. If you don’t have chapter and verse for something being a sin, then it’s dangerous to call it a sin. (I can actually make a strong argument that Christians calling something a sin that isn’t a sin caused many/most of our modern societal problems, but I digress)
Lastly, the Bible never, not even once, uses a word that means “lust”. I talk about this in several articles, but the Greeks didn’t even have a word for it, nor did the Hebrews. They had a word that meant strong desire, but it could be positive or negative, and Jesus applies it to Himself two in once verse. (Luke 22:15) The closest is 1 Cor 7, where marriage is a better alternative to “burning” (implied with desire). For a topic that the Bible doesn’t directly address nor call immoral, Christians seem to spend a lot of time building it up often as a “boogeyman”. Sexual desire isn’t wrong; engaging in sexual activity with another person outside of marriage is wrong.
And as an appeal to wisdom, God literally designed us so that sex was necessary to propagate the species. Further, 3 of the 4 first commands before the fall boil down to “have sex” (necessary to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth) God included an erotic work — Song of Solomon — in the Bible, and bonus trivia: it never mentions God, or anything relating to Him. Maybe, just maybe, sexual desire isn’t ipso facto bad/evil/wrong. To say it is, is again sliding into Gnosticism.
I apologize if I sound rude, but were you going to reply to my comment about solo masturbation being literally sex done outside the confines of marriage, or did you want me to comment it somewhere else.
I apologize if I’m bugging you, I’m just a bit confused, you don’t need to reply if you don’t want to.
Sorry, I just got a little busy over the past few days. I absolutely intend to reply when I have more time for a thoughtful response. 🙂
No worries, It’s alright, I was just curious. You’re good 😀
I wanted to leave you at least one more comment so you can know that I read your reply. I probably won’t make another comment. if I comment again it will be in your article about masturbation
Thank you for replying, what you’re saying is that if the Bible doesn’t condemn something, it’s probably fine. I agree with what you say in your comment
It’s so wierd for me, because I think i have anxiety about this still. I’ve done a crazy amount of research on the topic, but I still feel very anxious about it, in spite of there being more evidence that supports masturbation than against it. There really is a lot of Neo Platonist influince in this topic in particular, and people act like it’s un-bliblical it’s crazy.
If I had to guess other reasons why, it could be because:
-I have a very empathetic personality and don’t want to hurt others, so something like fantasy, even the Song of Solomon, can make me fear I’m being selfish or rude toward someone.
-Growing up in western culture that constantly demonizes sex, but then finding out that, masturbation, something the culture constantly says is bad, actually isn’t actually bad, is sending me for a huge shock that
I’m having a hard time adjusting to it. Just the fact that most of western sexual ideas about purity are gnostic ideas projected onto the Bible is pretty wild.
-Fear of the small chance I MIGHT be disobeying God, so I end up trying to over-analyze things so I don’t disobey him.Especially since there’s a verse about how fornicators won’t enter heaven, but you’ve given evidence that fornication is probably not masturbation according to the Bible
-I see a lot of women online talk about how their former husbands/boyfriends acted extremely selfish and didn’t pay attention toward their needs and acted stupidly abusive toward them. On the opposite end, I read stories about women cheating on their husbands and then the husbands feel really shocked and sad. people playing down their spouses needs and making them feel really bad is not very good. I think about how Christ wants us to love and be kind toward one another, and not be selfish toward others, so I’m concerned masturbation with fantasy could lead to someone acting very selfish and put their own needs above others. Maybe I just don’t get the social aspects of sex in general, because it’s hard for me to imagine being sexual towards someone for my own pleasure and equate that with acting Christ like, in spite of sex not being condemned in the Bible. I know that masturbation is not done with someone else, so in a real life setting where there’s another person, this probably wouldn’t apply because I WOULD be concerned about another persons needs above my own. I guess just doing something like masturbation wierds me out currently, despite it not being sinful according to biblical standards. Like you said, the Biblical laws and commands about sex aren’t what gnosticism is like
I’m not really a fan of trying to rationalize everything like Platonists due, and put my own human reasoning above scripture either. Thank you for talking again. There definitely is something to be said about a lot of stuff in our culture being labeled as boogeyman. Thanks again for your responses, I realize a lot of what I’m saying might have absolutely nothing to do with my original request and is more like projection, but thank you.
For your Mosaic Law article.
I understand that the OT law (613 ish commands that God gave to Moses) were divided up into 3 categories by Thomas Aquinas and later John Calvin as Civil, Ceremonial, Moral.
I understand that we are no longer bound to the Civil or Ceremonial laws but that God’s Moral law is the same yesterday, today and forever as God’s morality never changes and thus still applies to us today.
What I have not been able to find is where these 613 do’s and don’ts have been divided up into the categories and which ones fall into the Moral category specifically.
I have seen others ask the question on the internet but I have yet to find an answer. Your thoughts?
The divisions are merely a convenient way to think about the law, not a “hard and fast rule”. I would say we aren’t “bound” by any of the law, but as you pointed out, God’s moral law has never changed. Romans 15:4 tells us that it’s all useful for instruction, and the law does give moral instruction. I try side step the whole issue with this understanding. That is, I don’t need to worry which of the three a specific law is because I recognize that it’s all useful for instruction. (though again, we don’t have to obey the Mosaic Law) For example, all the ceremonial washings do actually communicate moral lessons sometimes, like how we are supposed pure and without sin, even accidental sin. I think this more holistic approach is better than trying to sort out which laws belong to which category, and then discarding whole categories as not useful. So the question isn’t “Should I obey this law because it’s a moral law?”, it’s “What can I learn from this law?”
(P.S. and yes, I know I’ve mentioned those divisions on this website before, because again, they are a convenient way to talk about things.)