Yahu,
You have misunderstood what I said, and I would also suggest that you fundamentally misunderstand what lust is. In fact, the argument that you are advancing is almost identical to what elements within the Corinthian Church wrote to Paul, and he responded to in his epistles to the Corinthians.
Sexual desire, physical sex drive, etc. is not inherently sinful, nor is it the same thing as lust.
Lust is at its core a proper, good desire that has been disordered, or put out of its proper place. Virtually every sinful desire can be traced back to a good, true desire that has been twisted and run amok.
In our original unfallen state, man's being was ordered fundamentally differently than it is now after the fall. Our physical bodies, the physical desires, as well as our soulish desires, were perfectly submitted to our will and they were given as gifts to serve us and to help us attain to God's ultimate plan for humanity.
Looking specifically at sexual desire, right sexual desire was given to us to be fulfilled within the marriage relationship. It was given to enhance the marriage relationship and help make it the supreme joy and pleasure that it is. This truth, however, is not just about physical temporal marriage in this world. Everything in this world was given to point to and to teach us about the world to come.
Marriage in this world was given to point forward to our communion with God in the world to come. As two become one in marriage, we will experience communion for eternity with God, sharing in his life and his love.
The ecstasy that man and wife experience in the giving of themselves to each other in the marital act is meant to point us to the eternal ecstasy that we will experience when we share eternally in the life and love of God.
Within the context it is absolutely right and good that husband and wife should feel desire for each other, they should feel desire for their sexual union, just as we should all desire the communion with God that is represented by the husband wife relationship.
However, the fact that we are fallen, sinful creatures, living in a fallen sinful world, means that our desires do not work as they original did. Specifically our desires no longer serve our will, they are no longer subject perfectly to our will as they were in our original state.
Now our desires and our passions, both those of the physical body and those of the soul (such as pride) seek to rule us, rather than to be ruled by us. They seek to drive our will and govern our lives, rather than being subject to our will and serving our lives.
The idea that you must placate your physical desires as they come is fundamentally unchristian. Nothing could be more unbiblical.
The very thing that God wants to do in sanctifying us, and the very thing that the Christian life is all about is putting your desires back in right order. Subjecting your physical and soulish desires to your will, enlightened and empowered by the Spirit.
The central idea of the Christian life, of denying yourself and daily taking up your cross, putting to death your old self, is all about subjecting your fleshly desires, the desires of this world to a greater desire for the world to come.
To say that you must obey the desires of you fleshly body is a flat denial of the essence of the Christian life.
Further, your statement that forced celibacy is from pagan religions is also patently false. Celibacy comes from Old Testament Hebrew religion. All Israelite priests and Levites were required to observe celibacy while they served in the temple. When God made the covenant with Israel at Sinai, the very first requirement he put on them, in order to allow the nation to come into his presence was that they all abstain from sex.
Abstaining from sex, even within the bounds of marriage, is well established in Old Testament religion.
Consider for a moment in the book of Revelation, the 144,000 who "had not defiled themselves with women". Many modern Christians assume this to mean that they were virgins. That's really not what it means at all. First that view, ironically, suggests that ever having sex at all is a defilement, which is not the case. This is actually a reference to the concept of ritual purity, which again was well established within Jewish culture going back to the Old Testament. Specifically, it is a reference to the fact that those 144,000 were ritually pure for temple service because they were celibate.
Going even further, consider for a moment that no one HAS to have sexual release. There is a physical drive and desire for it of course, but it is not like anyone is going to die if they abstain.
Food on the other hand actually IS a life and death necessity. Yet we are even called as Christians to practice temporary abstinence from food specifically for the purpose of taming the desires of the flesh and teaching ourselves to put the desires of the flesh, the desires of this world beneath the desire for the life of the world to come.
Sexual desire is good, just like desire for food is good. The enjoyment of sex is good, just like enjoyment of food is good. Those things are gifts that God gave us both out of his goodness, and also because he intended them to point to even greater goods in the world to come.
The problem is that we, by our fallen nature, pursue the good things of this world in such a way that they obscure the better things of the world to come. We allow our desires to blind us, rather than putting them in their place and making them serve us.
People in Corinth wrote to Paul saying almost the exact same argument that you have put forward. (1st Corinthians 16:12) They started with "all things are lawful for me" (you didn't say this) Paul's response to their statement was the statement "but not all things are helpful". His point being, even a good thing can get in the way if you use it wrongly. The Corinthians here were focused on this world, but Paul wants them to forget this world and look to the world to come.
They said to Paul "the stomach was made for food, and food for the stomach". This argument is in the spirit of what you have said. This is what the body was made for, therefore we should allow it, and do it. Paul's response again is "and God will destroy both the stomach and food".
There is obviously nothing wrong with eating, and it is clearly true that the stomach was made for food and food for the stomach. However, the real issue is are you focusing on the desire and enjoyment of food in this world in such a way that it blinds you and distracts you from the world to come. This world, including your stomach, and the food, is all going to perish, and if you have built your life around satisfying the desires of this world, you will perish with it.
Next in 1st Corinthians 16 Paul doesn't quote what the Corinthians had said to him, but it clearly had to do with sex because his response is this...
"the body was not made for sexual immorality, but for the lord..."
Your body was not made for the purpose of satisfying your fleshly desires. It was not made to be a tool, or a toy for you to use to serve your own desires. If you are a Christian your body does not belong to you, it belongs to God.
In this passage Paul is not specifically addressing masturbation clearly, he mentions uniting your body with a prostitute which is a different form of sexual immorality. But his defining point for why a Christian should never do such a thing is precisely because your body is holy. It is sacred and set apart. In fact Paul goes so far as to say here that your body is God's temple.
The point is that sexual immorality profanes the temple of God.
Masturbation is wrong an two key levels.
#1 it divorces sexual desire from its proper place. True, pure, sexual desire is not simply the desire to use your body like a toy, it is the desire to give yourself to another person, and for them to give themself to you.
Divorcing sexual desire from inter-personal love is the very definition of lust.
#2 masturbation is an act of profaning your own body and objectifying yourself. The basis of everything in our Christian life has to be the perspective that this world, its desires, and even its goods (like food, sex, even marriage) are temporary, and are going to perish. They were given to point forward to something greater and when you focus on pursuing and satisfying the things of this world, it distracts you from the very purpose for which this world was given.
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