the korean word for masturbation is 오나니 which is pronounced "o-na-ni" from the old-fashioned English word for masturbation, Onanism. bible readers out there, especially those who've read Genesis 38:9, may know that Onanism is so named after Onan because, according to scripture interpretations, he masturbated.
readers have only this single book and chapter to find out what the bible says about masturbation. if you are curious (as i was) here is the reference to Onan's masturbatory escapade, or shall i say, to Onan's 'ism' (which cost him his life).
Genesis 38:6-10
6Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death. 8Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." 9But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. 10What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight; so he put him to death also.
that's it. kinda of surprising, huh? if you ask me it's a stretch. the "spilled his semen" statement is so vague. if this were one of those crime shows on TV and Onan was on trial facing an accusation of the sinful crime of masturbation and the prosecutors brought forth as evidence this bible verse and no eyewitness accounts, i am confident he'd be released on such weak, circumstantial evidence.
you may wonder why i deemed this topic blogworthy. well, i'm obsessed with water cooler conversations. i almost never speak up at the water cooler. i'm the one who will just listen and occasionally laugh but otherwise try to remain quiet else risk saying something stupid to an audience of crickets. the more useless knowledge of a broad set of topics i gain, the better equipped i am for the water cooler conversations.
BTW, my own personal thoughts on the matter are that masturbation is not sinful and i would never talk about masturbation at the water cooler, but if the topic arises, i'd be ready to say that there is only one (and an inexplicit one, at that) reference to it in the bible. that's a fun fact.
5 comments:
its more likely Onan was practising coitus interruptus.
Wiki: More evidence against interpretation of Onan's sin as masturbation is contained in Leviticus 15, which discusses the ritual impurity resulting from heterosexual intercourse (15:18) separately from that resulting from ejaculation (16-17), implying that masturbation is not a capital offense.
interesting the koreans base their word on that passage, maybe due to the early missionary teachings - a missionary moral position if you like!
Dorothy Parker quipped that her parakeet was named Onan because he spilled his seed.
at the time of my original writing i remained reticent in mentioning it (but now that you've said it, i will), as Onan's lawyer at his trial i would propose the argument that early withdraw causes one to spill his seed, not an act of masturbation.
thanks for sharing your comments. you'd be a great contributor at the water cooler!
sorry, i prefer coffee.
Do you remember this: When you were in 6th grade, the wisdom of our church was to have a special "sex education" Saturday for middle school kids. I was a 6th grade CCD teacher and volunteered to take the training to be one of the sex-ed teachers. Kids would be in small group led by adults other than their own parents - but I wanted to stay aware of what you were being told. I can’t say that I was astonished at the curriculum, but there were a few things I learned, and (for the most part) even the stuff I knew I didn’t know when I was in 6th grade.
Anywho…. Call me clueless - but during the week before that Saturday, I began to worry about your reaction to hearing about human actions in the most basic sense (so to speak) and the words that described them. So when we had a private moment I said, “Now Susan, you will be hearing some words that you have never heard before.” And you said, “Like what.” And I said, “Well, for example, masturbation.” You said, “What’s that?” I said, “Well, it means touching one’s own body in a sexual way.” Without skipping a beat, you responded, “Oh, you mean jagging off?”
i must have had marbles in my mouth ... i'm guessing that i was trying to say "jacking off" because jagging off - though cute sounding - has no meaning to me, neither now nor back then. hahaha
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