Anyone Religious? Especially Catholic? /u/Scarletknight92 Sex

I went to a Christian school and a few different churches growing up. I stopped going after Highschool.

A friend of mine is trying to talk me into becoming Catholic. I looked into it and their sexual ethics seem really extreme to me. In all my years of going to church, masturbation and contraception never came up. I never even heard of these things being considered sins but on the online Catholic discussion boards I’ve been looking at 90% of what they talk about is how sinful these things are.

I never saw anything wrong with masturbation and still don’t. Some doctors say there might even be health benefits for doing it. They say it may help with erectile health in a similar way that doing cardio helps with your heart. I’ve heard that it lowers the chances of getting prostate cancer. I have a hard time believing that God would punish us for not following a rule that could lead to cancer or disease.

Is there anyone here that is religious that can give me advice? I’d especially be interested to hear from Catholics since I am considering Catholicism for myself. I don’t want to do it if it means having to follow these silly rules.

Thanks

I went to a Christian school and a few different churches growing up. I stopped going after Highschool.

A friend of mine is trying to talk me into becoming Catholic. I looked into it and their sexual ethics seem really extreme to me. In all my years of going to church, masturbation and contraception never came up. I never even heard of these things being considered sins but on the online Catholic discussion boards I’ve been looking at 90% of what they talk about is how sinful these things are.

I never saw anything wrong with masturbation and still don’t. Some doctors say there might even be health benefits for doing it. They say it may help with erectile health in a similar way that doing cardio helps with your heart. I’ve heard that it lowers the chances of getting prostate cancer. I have a hard time believing that God would punish us for not following a rule that could lead to cancer or disease.

Is there anyone here that is religious that can give me advice? I’d especially be interested to hear from Catholics since I am considering Catholicism for myself. I don’t want to do it if it means having to follow these silly rules.

Thanks