I had an interesting and humorous conversation with the parents of a three year old boy the other day. For some odd reason our flow of conversation landed on the topic of masturbation. Rather abruptly and out of the clear blue sky, the mother of the boy made a thundering prediction that her son would NEVER practice masturbation in his entire life. Her voice was filled with the conviction of a politician trying to convince a crowd of potential voters while her eyes displayed a fearful uncertainty.

The moment the statement left her lips, she nervously spun her head toward her husband and locked eyes with him, giving him a “Can I get a witness?” look. As spiritual and upright men, both he and I simultaneously broke out in a fit of laughter. She clearly wasn’t amused. When her husband told her he thought it was possible that the boy just might do that at some point in his life, she immediately began to concoct a plan as to how she could prevent it from ever happening. It was quite clear that this woman was adamantly against such appalling behavior, and she would do whatever it took to steer the boy clear of it.

While the three of us began to explore how the prevention of future masturbation episodes by the boy could be administered, it became startlingly obvious that there was only one way to ensure absolute success. It was my idea. I spoke it with the same thundering tone that she had used earlier.

“The boy must be castrated!”

You see, our conversation had brought us to an interesting dilemma. If the boy was allowed to keep his sex organs, the masturbation possibilities would be present with the boy for the rest of his life. However, if we removed his sex organs in an attempt to ensure that he would not masturbate, he would never be able to procreate. It came down to a humorous draw – masturbation vs. procreation. Obviously neither of the parents considered my advice in the matter. I’m quite certain that this boy would be tremendously relieved at that.

I see very similar dilemma in Christianity today. Unfortunately I fear that the good majority of Christian people have opted for the first solution, castration, in an effort to ensure a sinless life. We read verses where Jesus says that “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). Then we couple it with our favorite verse in the Old Testament that says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9), and we take option number one.

A buddy of mine in New Mexico once said, “The pipeline within us through which God plans on revealing Himself to the world has been shot down years ago by us, to keep us from sinning.” At the advice of our pastors, thousands of us have chosen spiritual castration in an effort to ensure that we would never sin. It has become a common cliché to quote this Jeremiah verse whenever anyone suggests that we search our hearts about something. We’ve become a generation of people who are terrified of living from our hearts.

I personally feel that the institution of Christianity encourages “heart castration” because it’s effects are similar to what takes place after a dog owner castrates his canine: the castrated dog becomes more docile and less likely to leave the owner’s side while being walked. Animal castration is often performed in an effort to correct behavioral problems such as disobedience. Other neighborhood dogs are less likely to get into confrontations with a castrated dog because they can sense a lack of testosterone. They don’t see him as a threat. Many pet owners will testify that once their pet was castrated, the pet lost a significant portion of it’s energy and wild tendencies. It is in the nature of a dog to roam free, but once castrated, he no longer desires that freedom.

The Christian who lives from the heart simply cannot be tamed. There is a wild essence in the Spirit of God that requires absolute freedom to roam wherever and whenever He chooses. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8). This is the true and unadulterated nature of the Spirit of God. It is also the nature of man. Unless the human heart in which that Spirit dwells is castrated, there will be no controlling that man once the two unite!
Sadly, the world today has gained an entirely different interpretation of Christianity. It is not uncommon to hear people describe their idea of true spirituality in terms that fit a castrated family dog. Christians today are seen by the world as being docile, tame, quiet, predictable, obedient and pathetically domesticated. Our wild essence has been cut out from within us because we’ve allowed our hearts to be spiritually castrated. Trust me in this – it was not this way two thousand years ago!

The problem today is that we have lost focus of the freedom that we were originally intended to possess. We have turned Christianity into a quest for superior morality. We have exchanged the wild mentality of “What can we do today?” into “What should we try not to do today?” Because of this disappointing trade, we have lost the very essence of who we were meant to be. The person who sins the least, is the most respected and admired, while the person who lives in the wild is looked down upon with contempt. We praise the timid and uncertain pastor who allows people to walk all over him, and then we scoff and shake our heads at the guy who stands up and fights back.

By today’s standard of Christianity, the Apostle Paul would be considered arrogant, uncontrollable, disobedient, loud and obnoxious. We would immediately want to confront his controlling attitude and his anger problem. The essence of Paul is totally foreign to modern day Christian thinking. Our churches wouldn’t know what to do with Paul. He had a set of balls that would put an elephant to shame!
If you are a Christian who holds to the teaching that we must not trust our hearts, you have rendered yourself sterile. The entire essence of Christianity was intended specifically for the heart of man! Due to many Believers’ castrated nature, they would probably be better off without their belief system altogether. You have to take an honest look at the trade that you have been asked to take part in regarding this issue. Giving up your heart because you might sin is about as ridiculous as my two friends castrating their baby boy to prevent him from masturbating. It’s a heartless proposition. Stop living through your head and “by the book” and start living through your heart! This is the “missing link” in the spiritual lives of many Christians today.