Cat,

I am glad that you admit that in your case, this is wrong regardless. I guess to me it seems like you are splitting hairs to say masturbation is ok. I mean, who masturbates to an imaginary penis? I mean at least most people imagine a specific person, who looks a specific way, that they have seen in pictures or in real life, or even their own mental image of what an attractive person may look like. Either way, you are lusting to something or another, and it can easily within a moment become imagining a specific person as well. Given your scenario, the best case is that you are masturbating to a mental image you have formed in your head. So, you could say that you have lust for that image...but is it lust for that image, or for the person behind the image, or the person in the picture that you saw three weeks ago that you have constructed the image from? I argue that it is not impossible to masturbate without thinking of someone or something and lusting after that. The bible does not go into that specifically, but it doesn't have to. In my view, it is just logical. There has to be something to stimulate, and most people either have porn, or mental images of people they are attracted to that they see in various places. I know that for me at least, a simple penis is not enough, I need to have at least a nice body or something else to admire, and I think that is the case for a lot of people, evidenced by the number of people addicted to porn.

Also, I question the purpose of this whole conversation. Even if we take all that you say to be true, the most you could say that masturbating to an image that is not based off of a real person is not mentioned in the bible as sin. This does not mean that God approves of it, In fact, since the bible condemns 98% of what truly goes on in masturbation(ie lusting after a specific person or image) why would you want to settle for the exception? Why wouldnt you try to get out of the exceptions and live what God has commanded you to live? It is almost as if you are wanting to create an IRS type loophole and run with it to make some bl behavior more acceptable. God unfortunately did not make exceptions in the case of lust.