Quick Question. Did Jesus ever feel turned on?

He's easily among the most significant people of all time. Many think of him as a good teacher or a moral man, like Gandhi or Mother Theresa. But that's who he claimed to be. During his life on earth, Jesus made one thing abundantly clear - he claimed to be God.

Photo courtesy of Siebuhr at flickr.com

And the rest of the Bible agrees with him. The book of John calls Jesus by one of his nicknames, The Word. It says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1 & 14). For Christians, the idea behind these verses is that Jesus Christ is simultaneously fully God, and fully man.

And it raises some interesting questions. Not long ago, during a mentoring meeting, a young man asked me this, "Did Jesus ever get a boner?" Which is a great question.
There's room to speculate.
This question might feel offensive or even sacrilegious, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus. But it's a fair question, especially if you are a member of the up and coming generation which is characterized by a propensity for asking tough questions.

Since the Bible is largely silent on the topic of Jesus' intimate thoughts, we can only speculate. But what we do know about Jesus the man certainly points us toward one answer - almost definitely.

Regardless of whether you buy into Jesus' divinity or not, a few things are for sure. Jesus is a historical figure who lived until he was 33 years old, at which time he was crucified on a Roman cross... largely because he claimed to be God.

We have no reason to believe that Jesus suffered from any sort of condition that would prohibit his body from acting normally. And for men (especially young men) arousal occurs for lots of reasons, even some that are beyond the desire to reproduce.

Young men get erections as a result of the hormone changes brought on by puberty. And men of all ages get them in the mornings when they wake up. These completely non-sexual reasons for getting turned on point toward Jesus not only being capable of arousal, but it was probably a regular part of his life.

The heart of the question
But I sense that the heart of my mentee's question wasn't entirely rooted in physiological response. What I think he was asking, or at least what comes to mind for me is this - Did Jesus ever get turned on because he was looking at a woman?

Again, we can only speculate here as accounts of Jesus life are silent on this point. But again we have no reason to believe that Jesus suffered from any sort of condition that would have kept him from recognizing and being attracted to beauty. And it doesn't necessarily interfere with his 'fully God' nature either.

The untruth about Christians and sex
There's this filthy myth going around that says Christians think sex and sexual arousal is evil. And while there are some Christians who give everyone else a bad name by preaching fire and brimstone on the topic of sex, most Christians have a healthier view of the act.

Many of us believe that sex is designed to exist within the fences of marriage, none of us are teaching that boys are sinning simply because they're aroused when they see an attractive womanc. The truth is, there's an age where boys get excited for just about any reason.

What eventually qualifies that impulse as a wrong is when a young man camps on his thoughts, and lets his imagination take the girl to places she'd never willingly go. That's what they call lust.

So did Jesus ever feel turned on? Almost absolutely. Did he ever feel that way because he looked at a woman - It shoudn't surprise us to learn that he did. And that's nothing for us to be shy or ashamed of.

What does that say about Jesus?
Jesus accomplished more in his life on earth than nearly any other man who has lived. And for good reason, he is regarded as fully man and fully God by hundreds of millions of people the world over. And the thought that Jesus experienced something so basic and so human shouldn't cause us to wince or sneer in disgust.

It should encourage us to know that when God became a man, he went all out. He struggled with the most fragile parts of the human condition, and is perhaps more qualified than ever to be your savior.

What do you think? Do you agree? Do you think I'm crazy? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. And thanks for reading.

Warmly,
Tim