Did Jesus think about sex?

[Joanp62]

I really hope someone here can help me in this dilemma.

Last month, in discussing Our Lord’s humanity, a priest giving a sermon said that Jesus thought about sex; and later, also on the same subject, a different priest said that if Jesus had seen a beautiful woman, “his head would have turned and his heart must have pounded faster.”

First, I don’t know how either priest can presume to know how Jesus would have reacted in these situations, however, if we look at scripture and Church teaching, it’s seems farfetched to come to these conclusions.

We know Jesus was fully Divine and fully human, but human in all ways* but *sin. To me, humanly speaking, when we think about sex, or feel desire for someone, wouldn’t LUST be involved? To imply that Our Lord thought about sex, or felt desire for another woman, would seem to me to imply that He felt lust, which is very wrong because lust is a sin and our Lord never sinned.

I was very disturbed by these assertions about Our Lord, especially when I heard the second one I thought “What’s going on here?” It seems to me that it is dangerous to apply these attributes to our Lord, or am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Any insights would be appreciated.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[kell0618]

Joan, I too am distressed by the commentary of the priest. Perhaps he was reflecting his own human tendencies and offered a picture into his shortcomings.

Why on earth would Christ, our sinless Lord and Savior allow lust to enter into his heart? He came to save us, and please Lord, save this priest.

Oh my. Just when I think I heard everything, I am proven wrong.

Kelly

 

[Church_Militant]

Think about sex? Certainly!
Be tempted to lust? Yes.
Give in to the temptation? Absolutely not!
Hebrews 4:15-16:
**15 For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.

16 Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid. **

 

[Joanp62]

Joan, I too am distressed by the commentary of the priest. Perhaps he was reflecting his own human tendencies and offered a picture into his shortcomings.

Why on earth would Christ, our sinless Lord and Savior allow lust to enter into his heart? He came to save us, and please Lord, save this priest.

Oh my. Just when I think I heard everything, I am proven wrong.

Kelly

That is exactly how I feel. And hearing this from 2 different priests all within the last month, it makes my head spin.
God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[Joanp62]

Think about sex? Certainly!
Be tempted to lust? Yes.
Give in to the temptation? Absolutely not!
Hebrews 4:15-16:
15 For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.

**16 Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid. **

“Tempted to lust?” No, I don’t think so. Maybe I have it backward, but to me, when Jesus was tempted in the desert, it means that the devil tried to tempt him, not that Jesus even entertained the thought for an instant. Tempted with lust to me is to close to the sin of lust for me to attribute that to Our Lord.

I see what is said in Hebrews, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. Maybe it means Jesus was exposed to the same temptations as we are.
God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[rwoehmke]

We claim to believe that Jesus was fully human. If he was fully human he was tempted every day. If he wasn’t tempted then the belief that he was fully human gets kind of tattered. Being tempted does not make one somehow sub-human or bad, it is the yielding to temptation that gets one in trouble. How much more of a model he is for us because he was tempted and did not fall.

 

[Joanp62]

We claim to believe that Jesus was fully human. If he was fully human he was tempted every day. If he wasn’t tempted then the belief that he was fully human gets kind of tattered. Being tempted does not make one somehow sub-human or bad, it is the yielding to temptation that gets one in trouble. How much more of a model he is for us because he was tempted and did not fall.

I agree somewhat with the above. But going back to my original post: it would seem that a lot of people hearing this may think “Oh, Jesus had lust too, so it’s okay.” I think statements like the ones made by the two priests are confusing and unnecessary because they can be taken the wrong way.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[Church_Militant]

“Tempted to lust?” No, I don’t think so. Maybe I have it backward, but to me, when Jesus was tempted in the desert, it means that the devil tried to tempt him, not that Jesus even entertained the thought for an instant. Tempted with lust to me is to close to the sin of lust for me to attribute that to Our Lord.

I see what is said in Hebrews, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. Maybe it means Jesus was exposed to the same temptations as we are.
God Bless,
Joan P.

What does the New Testament teach us? It’s right there in that passage Joan.

Temptation is not sin and the church has never taught that it is. It is scrupulous to believe otherwise.

God can not be tempted, (read James), but because Our Lord is 100% human and 100% divine, he could indeed be tempted…yet without sin. Hence the writer of Hebrews is correct and encourages us to realize that we can never say to God. “You just don’t understand!” because it’s not true.

The priests you mention are either heterodox in this or else not good teachers, but the church is right on.
Pax tecum

 

[m134e5]

Last month, in discussing Our Lord’s humanity, a priest giving a sermon said that Jesus thought about sex; and later, also on the same subject, a different priest said that if Jesus had seen a beautiful woman, “his head would have turned and his heart must have pounded faster.”

Who cares about that, honestly? Some priests need to remember there are 7 other commandments that don’t directly have to do with sex and they don’t need to cover the 6th and 9th commandment all the time.

 

[Joanp62]

The priests you mention are either heterodox in this or else not good teachers, but the church is right on.
Pax tecum

I guess that is my main point. Why do these priests think it is even necessary to bring this up about our Lord, because it can lead to many misunderstandings and misconceptions.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[CSJ]

I really hope someone here can help me in this dilemma.

Last month, in discussing Our Lord’s humanity, a priest giving a sermon said that Jesus thought about sex; and later, also on the same subject, a different priest said that if Jesus had seen a beautiful woman, “his head would have turned and his heart must have pounded faster.”

First, I don’t know how either priest can presume to know how Jesus would have reacted in these situations, however, if we look at scripture and Church teaching, it’s seems farfetched to come to these conclusions.

We know Jesus was fully Divine and fully human, but human in all ways* but *sin. To me, humanly speaking, when we think about sex, or feel desire for someone, wouldn’t LUST be involved? To imply that Our Lord thought about sex, or felt desire for another woman, would seem to me to imply that He felt lust, which is very wrong because lust is a sin and our Lord never sinned.

I was very disturbed by these assertions about Our Lord, especially when I heard the second one I thought “What’s going on here?” It seems to me that it is dangerous to apply these attributes to our Lord, or am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Any insights would be appreciated.

God Bless,
Joan P.

Hi Joan,

I think we need to distinguish between sexual desire/attraction and lust. Being fully human, I believe that Jesus did experience sexual desires, but he controlled these desires as opposed to letting his desires control him. Did Jesus find women attractive? I would think so, but he did not entertain any lustful thoughts. It is possible to find a woman attractive without lusting after her. Sexual attraction is part of our genetic make-up - otherwise we would have no desire to pro-create.

Lust is the act of taking something that isn’t yours. It is selfish and has nothing to do with love. It is anti-love. Someone who lusts is only thinking of satisfying their own desires. Sadly, much of today’s society confuses lust with love.

Love is the act of giving. Jesus said that He came that we might have life and that more abundant. His purpose was to give up his life to redeem our souls. It is key to remember that Jesus was the model that man was intended to be. He looked at men and women with a pure love and this love is much more than skin deep.

I believe Jesus was physically capable of lust, but he chose not to. He simply said “no” to those selfish notions like he said “no” to the devil’s temptations in the desert. He made the choice to love rather than lust.

Claude

 

[Joanp62]

Who cares about that, honestly? Some priests need to remember there are 7 other commandments that don’t directly have to do with sex and they don’t need to cover the 6th and 9th commandment all the time.

That’s what I think too. Why do they feel they need to focus on that so much over other more important aspects and issues. The one priest also said that nowadays people have no trouble seeing Jesus as Divine, but forget about His humanity. Frankly, I think it is just the opposite.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[Abira]

that’s a big jump to go from admiring a beatiful woman to full blown lust.

I know Jesus was tempted by the devil… so i know that he can be tempted and yet not sin. I know that this gives us a strength to see that we can also resist temptation because Jesus has human empathy with us through his own human feelings.

For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18).

This issue doesn’t really upset me on any level… part of human nature is to be attracted to eachother, not in a lustful manner, to procreate and He was fully human. That’s how I feel anyway.

Take care, S x

 

[Church_Militant]

I guess that is my main point. Why do these priests think it is even necessary to bring this up about our Lord, because it can lead to many misunderstandings and misconceptions.

God Bless,
Joan P.

Possibly because it is one of the greatest weaknesses that most humans have? And again, one that most people seem to think that God cannot understand.

 

[Caesar]

Christ was perfect, and to have temptations would mar that perfection, thus he had no temptations.

 

[Joanp62]

Hi Joan,

I think we need to distinguish between sexual desire/attraction and lust. Being fully human, I believe that Jesus did experience sexual desires, but he controlled these desires as opposed to letting his desires control him. Did Jesus find women attractive? I would think so, but he did not entertain any lustful thoughts. It is possible to find a woman attractive without lusting after her. Sexual attraction is part of our genetic make-up - otherwise we would have no desire to pro-create.

Lust is the act of taking something that isn’t yours. It is selfish and has nothing to do with love. It is anti-love. Someone who lusts is only thinking of satisfying their own desires. Sadly, much of today’s society confuses lust with love.

Love is the act of giving. Jesus said that He came that we might have life and that more abundant. His purpose was to give up his life to redeem our souls. It is key to remember that Jesus was the model that man was intended to be. He looked at men and women with a pure love and this love is much more than skin deep.

I believe Jesus was physically capable of lust, but he chose not to. He simply said “no” to those selfish notions like he said “no” to the devil’s temptations in the desert. He made the choice to love rather than lust.

Claude

Claude,
You state that Jesus “looked at men and women with a pure love.” I agree completely. That is why I have a problem with your next sentence, that He was capable of lust, even though he did not give in to it. I am aware of the teachings about Jesus being fully human. However, *we *have sexual desire because we must pro-create. Jesus did not need to procreate, because “through Him all things were made”, and I therefore do not see why he would have even have had any sexual desire.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[Abira]

Christ was perfect, and to have temptations would mar that perfection, thus he had no temptations.

why would you think that? Is there a biblical reference for that?

to me the fact that Jesus could be human meant that he could empathise with human error. why else would he have been tempted by the devil if it was not possible to tempt him? How could He be a role model to man if he didn’t ‘walk a mile in their shoes’.

 

[cheddarsox]

Since Christ recognized adultery, and taught about it, and dealt with the woman caught in adultery, he clearly knew about sex and had in some way thought about it.

Merely thinking about sex does not constitute sin, or improper behavior. Christ enjoyed many good and pleasurable things while alive, food, friends, companionship. He may have enjoyed the beauty of women as well, without lusting, just as he enjoyed good food and wine with neither gluttoney or drunkeness.

 

[Joanp62]

Christ was perfect, and to have temptations would mar that perfection, thus he had no temptations.

Exactly. Jesus was the Perfect Human Being. We fall into danger when we attribute our weaknesses to him. We can relate to Jesus because he was exposed to the same things we were and had to deal with the same monotony of daily life with all its pains, sorrows, joys, etc. We know that he knows what we go through and we can look to him as the Supreme Model of the human beings we were meant to be.

God Bless,
Joan P.

 

[Joanp62]

Since Christ recognized adultery, and taught about it, and dealt with the woman caught in adultery, he clearly knew about sex and had in some way thought about it.

Merely thinking about sex does not constitute sin, or improper behavior. Christ enjoyed many good and pleasurable things while alive, food, friends, companionship. He may have enjoyed the beauty of women as well, without lusting, just as he enjoyed good food and wine with neither gluttoney or drunkeness.

I am not saying that Jesus did not know about sex. He created it. I also know that merely thinking about sex does not necessarily constitute sin, but for us humans, I believe in most cases, thinking about sex usually leads to lust. And that is why I think that those who heard the priest say what he did, may erroneously attribute this lust to our Lord as well.

God Bless,
Joan P.