[Jadge]

"Why do you need to know?"

Ha ha. Uh...a friend asked...No seriously, and I am curious if fellow FReepers considered masturbation to be adultery.

I know plenty of men that mastubate, but are faithful to their wives, and I wonder if it is considered adultery.

If not, would it be considered adultery if you thought of another woman while doing so? If so, I know a million faithful guys who are nailed there.

[Deb8]

This is a question I've pondered for quite a while. I'm a 48 year old male and believed that marriage was forever as a sacred vow before God. I was married for 17 years with 2 kids (one is serving in the Marines in Cuba). I never cheated (possibly because of a strong Catholic guilt upbringing). My wife started having affairs and I eventually caught her with a married man and divorced her within 6 months. The divorce had devastating effects on the children. She has admitted that the breakup of our family was totally her fault. But it doesn't explain the question of "why." I'm convinced that modern marriage vows are essentially "I take you to be my lawfully wedded spouse...until I grow bored and find something I like better." Perhaps that's why so many of the women I dated in the interim before my current and last marriage (going on 7 years) described me as "old-fashioned."

[marajade]

If not, would it be considered adultery if you thought of another woman while doing so?

That's what the Bible says.