What other things was Jesus tempted with, except for his encounter with Satan when in the desert?
why jesus never tempted with sex?
by criticalwitness 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Bobcat
OldGenerationDude said:
The Christian text of Hebrews 4:15 states that Jesus "was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin."
Good catch.
Here are the wilderness temptation accounts. They indicate that there was possibly more temptation in the wilderness than was elaborated on:
Mt 4:1-3: "Then Jesus was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he felt hungry. 3 Also, the Tempter came and said to him: ..."
Mk 1:12, 13: "And immediately the spirit impelled him to go into the wilderness. 13 So he continued in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, but the angels were ministering to him."
Lk 4:1-3: "Now Jesus, full of holy spirit, turned away from the Jordan, and he was led about by the spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, while being tempted by the Devil. Furthermore, he ate nothing in those days, and so, when they were concluded, he felt hungry. 3 At this the Devil said to him: ..."
Luke's account ends by saying, "So the Devil, having concluded all the temptation, retired from him until another convenient time." (4:13) So there was more to come.
One of the things that would need to be taken into account is Jesus' perfection. Not that it was impossible to tempt him. But he would have had perfect control of his thoughts and feelings. Here are a few verses that might lend some insight to that:
Gen 2:25: "And both of them (the still perfect Adam and Eve) continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed."
Gen 3:16: "To the woman he said: "I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you." (Indicates a change would take place in the relationship between men and women due to sin.)
1Tim 1:8-10: "Now we know that the Law is fine provided one handles it lawfully in the knowledge of this fact, that law is promulgated, not for a righteous man, but for persons lawless and unruly, ungodly and sinners, lacking loving-kindness, and profane, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, manslayers, fornicators, men who lie with males, kidnappers, liars, false swearers, and whatever other thing is in opposition to the healthful teaching." (Implies that "a righteous man" is not normally prone to the sins listed, and thus, does not need laws to restrict him.)
Jude 6, 7: "And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place ... So too Sod′om and Go·mor′rah and the cities about them, after they in the same manner as the foregoing ones had committed fornication excessively and gone out after flesh for unnatural use ..." (Jesus was in the heavens when this took place with the angels. So he may have already been strengthened by his resistance at that time. Thus, the devil may have seen fit to concentrate on other areas that he felt he may be more successful at.)
There might be other verses that touch on this. These came to mind.
The title of the thread assumes (whether intentionally or not) that Jesus should have had the same feelings that any warm-blooded man we know of would have. But he may have had an inner self-control that is hard for any of us to fully comprehend.
Take Care
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processor
Mark 15:40, 41:
"There were also women ... who used to accompany him and minister to him." (NWT)
"There were also women ... who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him." (WEB)
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transhuman68
Who really knows? Much of the New Testament was written in the time between two rebellions against the Romans- led by the Hasmoneans before Christ, and Shimon bar Kokhba after; so maybe writing about sex was considered too frivolous, when the big issues were about gaining independence from the Romans.
Most of the New Testament writers had no idea who the real Jesus had been anyway- they were writing about the mythical Christ figure that was popular at that time.
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mP
@trans not quite, religion and temple services were linked together. the jewish word for holy is closely related to the cocnept of sacred prostituion. we see this in manynlaws and lang of the ot. rahab was not a nobody streetnwalker she was a holy woman. the story and promotion to being ancesot of jesus and david is not a story of a sinner getting promoted to greatbthings, but rather heritage. whenever the bible says the jews whore over other gods, they really were screwing. hosea married a temple preistess who was also a'sacred prostutute.'it was very much a merger and nothing more. there are many laws'abour testivles ,'castartionsthat can onky be enforced if some one is constatnly checking at the temple. aftera ll hwo does one know that someone was not circumcized at birth ?
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criticalwitness
a few things i have thought of based on comments whether you believe in jesus or not, first on him being a real man or not according to wtwr doc at jesus baptism he became fully aware of all his prehuman existance so he would have none about himself creating every man woman and child as well as satan! how could this be a real temptation then? and am i to believe a couple loaves of bread, bas jumping off a temple wall and glory of some man made kingdoms is the best satan can offer to get me to sin? and he was aware of the lure of human attraction for he warned even looking at another woman so as to have a passion was a sin when he spoke on covetting. i just dont believe he was therefor not fully tested and if he was it would be grotsq to say least and on his perfection man was created to procreat jesus didnt do that he missed the mark of his design! why did jesus eat meat he was perfect man was created to eat only plant life exception was made afrter noah? again missed mark! of his perfect design just my thoughts
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John_Mann
Because the sun have no need to sex.
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THE GLADIATOR
This is all rather bizarre. Sexual desire is the strongest desire humans have, next to eating. Humans depend upon sex to keep their race going. Every mammal on the planet shares the same template for survival. The guy who is supposed to have made every creature on earth, comes here to show us how we would be living our lives if we were perfect.
The big test he must pass, is can he act in a way that denies his strongest desire, which at the same time ensures that no perfect human can ever again be born through him. He must avoid all the beautiful women in the world that he created, that would not be here if people had not had sex. With all his faults, sinful Adam did at least sire some offspring. Instead, he smashes up some tables in the temple and roughs up a few traders. The Romans get wind of his unruly behaviour and have him tortured to death.
Big shot dies at age 33, without ever writing a single word that has been preserved for the benefit of mankind. Successful life or what?
The gladiator - telling it like it is.
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OldGenerationDude
While I understand the entire "Jesus was a myth" theory, this isn't what the thread is about.
Yes, I'm all about supporting the atheist and their views and their right and freedoms to speak up, but it is equally helpful to learn to stay on track. Take each thread subject even as a hypothetical argument instead of feeling the need to defend a facet of some atheists' points of view on Jesus of Nazareth.
It should be noted, however, that most atheists don't believe in the "Jesus-never-existed" theory (which you can learn about if you get a university education). This isn't to say that there isn't reason to believe in the theory, it's just that there is a line of credible historical evidence to support that Jesus of Nazareth existed. Muslims believe he existed, and my people the Jews know for a fact he was a historical person. Our secular and religious history has a lot to say about him. And for people in the 21st century to be living in a year marked 2012 would be ridiculous to continue on the basis of someone who never lived.
The real question about Jesus of Nazareth is whether or not he was the Messiah as God incarnate. His mother, Mary, is also a real historical person, and her lineage is verified by the Jews as being in David's line--one of the last people we can verify to be in the lineage due to the Roman destruction of the ancient lineage records in 70 C.E. The witness of the Mishnah and Talmud along with secular Jewish history would have to be proven false as well as other Near Eastern testimony that influenced Islam and the Quran if someone was to prove Jesus never lived.
Lastly, the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness was not the only time Jesus was tempted. That particular Temptation, according to Christian theology, is the restitution of the temptations Israel faced in the wilderness of Sinai. According to the Christians' tradition of Jesus, he made way for the Jews to be forgiven by standing in for each of the three major sins our forbearers were guilty of: 1. using our privileged position with God to ask for food in the wilderness, when we should have been asking for his Law; 2. putting God to the test; 3. turning from HaShem to worship other gods. For each of the years that my ancestors are said to have wandered in the wilderness, the Christian position is that Jesus spent a day (40 years/40 days).
If we are reading or taking the Temptation in the Wilderness as the only time of temptation of Jesus, then we are either not letting go of Watchtower doctrine or we have not studied the Christian texts and theological history enough to understand what Hebrew 4:15 is talking about (it is not exclusive to this event).
Remember, you won't necessarily become Christian or theist by studying religion--and I'm talking about outside of the Watchtower and even the Internet (the Internet is not a place to get a formal education that will get you somewhere in life). So don't be afraid to let go of the Watchtower's view and interpretation on everything.
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TimeBandit
I bet he masterbated at least once...Maybe just to check if his perfect organ worked properly...