ONANISM, A CONSCIOUS RENEWAL OF THE ACT IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD, A DAILY GUILT OF OUR TIME

ONANISM, A CONSCIOUS RENEWAL OF THE ACT IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD, A DAILY GUILT OF OUR TIME BY REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR

“γνοὺς δὲ Αυναν ὅτι οὐκ αὐτῷ ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα ἐγίνετο ὅταν εἰσήρχετο πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξέχεεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ μὴ δοῦναι σπέρμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ. πονηρὸν δὲ ἐφάνη ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι ἐποίησεν τοῦτο καὶ ἐθανάτωσεν καὶ τοῦτον-Ille sciens non sibi nasci filios, introiens ad uxorem fratris sui, semen fundebat in terram, ne liberi fratris nomine nascerentur. Et idcirco percussit eum Dominus, quod rem detestabilem faceret.-He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.” Gen.38: 9-10.

A conscious knowledge and deliberate act is always and ought to be embraced with the due repercussions. The so called “enjoyment of and in love” by both men and women, boys and girls and youths is a perennial and cancerous spiritual and moral debasement that graduates to onanism in our daily lives regarding our hyper cum superlative lack and adamant refusal to accept the reality of our super-technological spiritual ignorance. When two partners (who are not legitimately and licitly married) agree to have intimacy, which is of course is sinful outside wedlock, why then must one or both partner/s insist on pouring out the semen? Whoever that initiates the idea before or during the intercourse is gravely culpable of onanism, though both share in the guilt, basing on the issue of consent of the immoral and abominable act, unless one party is hypnotized or drugged before the act, which implies that he or she is free of the guilt. An initial or remote preparation which both or either of the party engaged himself or herself makes him/her conscious of the act of onanism, hence it is always good for one to be aware of his//her act and the gravity afterwards. If it is properly an enjoyment of and in love as we always say, why should we not accept or welcome the full acts and the result of the act? As many times as we involve in the sin of ononism, the anger and justice of God rests on us, so let us avoid had I known of tomorrow as not to incur the retributive punishment on ourselves tomorrow and turn to blame God or your partner, thereby running into prayer houses and fortune-tellers expecting to hear the cry of a baby or see a child which we have deliberately rejected when we were still ripe, fertile and potent in the name of illicit friendship base on promiscuity. Let us pray always for and with those who find themselves in such spiritual, moral, social and pathological mess with the words of the Psalmist: ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃ κύριε κύριε τίς ὑποστήσεται. ὅτι παρὰ σοὶ ὁ ἱλασμός ἐστιν-Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit?Quia apud te propitiatio est; et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine. Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus-If thou, Lord, wilt keep record of our iniquities, Lord, who has strength to bear it? Ah, but with thee there is forgiveness; be thy name ever revered Ps. 130: 3-4. Therefore, ἐγὼ εἶπα κύριε ἐλέησόν με ἴασαι τὴν ψυχήν μου ὅτι ἥμαρτόν σοι.-Ego dixi: Domine, miserere mei; sana animam meam, quia peccavi tibi.-Lord have mercy on me, is my prayer; bring healing to a soul that has sinned against thee Ps. 41: 5.

Going by history lane, by earlier 1620’s the root mastupration, came up in 1711, from French masturbation and directly from Modern Latin masturbationem (nominative masturbatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin masturbari "to masturbate." The long-standing speculation is that this Latin word is altered (probably by influence of turbare "to stir up") from manstuprare, from manu, ablative of manus "hand" and stuprare "defile" (oneself), from stuprum "defilement, dishonor," related to stupere "to be stunned, stupefied". Worthy of note is that an earlier technical word for this was Onanism is related to Masturbational. Therefore, if it is so, it may be said that the sin of masturbation done practically every day and by very many is exactly the same that received instant repercussion in Gen. 38: 9-10 as properly seen in the citation above.