Was in an interview by a Stake Pres in Riverton Utah to obtain my recommend for Temple attendance back in 1992. My spouse was not LDS but heard I could get a recommend if found worthy. I taught classes, paid tithing (against my spouses’ wishes) attended all meetings and considered myself ready for the temple ordinances. In the interview, I was questioned about my marriage, my spouse when the conversation turned. “Do you masturbate? When?” I remember sitting there watching myself give this man intimate details of lovemaking with my husband. I thought ‘this is being unfaithful to my spouse’ and I shouldn’t be sharing this with another man.
After the conversation, he determined that I should wait for my unbelieving spouse to join the church before I went to the temple. I was dumbfounded. I felt used and abused during this 30 min interview. No explanation was given other than I should wait. Was I denied a recommend because I masturbated during intercourse with my husband? I studied this out for myself to discover that many women cannot achieve orgasm unless manual stimulation is applied. No where in the Bible did it warn against this practice in the confines of marriage. It was then I determined it was WRONG to take this stance against a married woman. I shared the most intimate facts about my marriage with a strange man. I felt worse about this with every day that passed. I left the church and totally went off the deep end, an affair, a divorce and then Jesus found me, bound up my wounds and gave me a new heart. I’m His now and am married to a wonderful, Godly man. We certainly have a story to tell about His grace and forgiveness. He makes ‘beauty from ashes’!