155
Q.
What is the sin of Onan, and why is it bad?
In addition to spilling his seed, according to the book of Genesis, Onan is
also featured in dictionaries under the term “onanism,” which means mastur-
bation, “coitus interruptus,” and self-gratifi cation. For those creationist types
who think God records the number of times they spank the monkey, count the
number of biblical references against practicing self-love versus commands to
love your neighbor and then respond accordingly.
Christian Piatt
A.
There have been all kinds of myths around self-gratifi cation for
as long as folks have been doing it. The warnings go from grave
to absurd, including admonitions like “you’ll grow hair on your
palms” to “you’ll go blind,” and even “you’re committing murder.”
What? Seriously? Murder from fi ddling with yourself? In the case of the
sin of Onan, that’s exactly what many folks believe.
In scripture, the story goes that Onan, a son of Judah, hooked up with his
sister-in-law, Tamar, when his brother Er died. He was more than willing to
get some physical gratifi cation from the new deal, but because he didn’t want
children by Tamar, he ejaculated on the ground when having sex with her.
God apparently didn’t care for his “pull-out” move and struck Onan dead.
There’s plenty of other drama in the story, including deceit, incest, and
more, but the bit about Onan is the enduring tale that keeps teenagers quaking
between the sheets.
The reason that “spilling one’s seed” was considered such an atrocity is
because people believed back then that the man held the entire embryo of a
baby in his semen, and that women simply held their already-fertilized seed.
Typical male bias for the period, but nonetheless, this led them to think that
ejaculating for anything other than making babies was murder.
Some religions still maintain that sexual satisfaction beyond the purposes
of procreation is a sin, though we now know that it takes two to make a baby.
Some old habits die hard, or maybe never die at all.
Scriptural References
Genesis 38:1–10; Leviticus 15:17; Deuteronomy 25:5–6
Suggested Additional Sources for Reading
- Heather Godsey and Laura Blackwell Pickrel, eds., Oh God, Oh God, Oh
God! Young Adults Speak Out About Sexuality and Christianity (Chalice
Press, 2010). - Merriam-Webster Dictionary (see “onanism”).