Page 913 … Sodom & Gomorrah revisited
And finally (and yet again), you refer to a verse that we have discussed at length many times in this thread – the tale of Sodom & Gomorrah as mentioned in Genesis 18 & Genesis 19. And you do so even though (as I have already pointed out to you & yours ad nauseum herein) this tale and its corresponding verses have nothing at all to do with homosexuality (sigh) … My dear Friend, please pay attention this time as I explain this to you again, OK?
To begin with, these verses essentially state the following: “But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, and said ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them’ … Then the Lord rained on Sodom & Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of Heaven.” (Genesis 19:4-5 + 19:24)
Yes, my Friend, it is true that on its face it is easy to see why you and so many other conservatives continue to use this passage to justify your personal condemnation of homosexuality, and yet when we look more closely at the Scriptures themselves, a very different picture emerges … First of all, it is important to note that it was “all the people to the last man” who committed the sin that led to the destruction of those cities – men who were almost exclusively heterosexuals!
Secondly, the sin in question was actually not homosexual relationships (or homosexual love, or homosexual marriage, or even homosexual sex), but rather was the intended rape of two fallen angels by a horde of heterosexual men. As such, the crime here was actually a sexual assault – a crime of violence & power, not one of passion or lust.
Thirdly & finally (and for Christians most importantly), the Bible itself makes it clear that homosexuality had nothing at all to do with the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah. Indeed, the book of Ezekiel notes that these cities were destroyed for not assisting the poor and the needy, while Jesus himself openly noted that Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed not due to any homosexual lasciviousness, but rather because the inhabitants thereof were soaked in the sins of gluttony and rampant materialism. But don’t take my word for it – just listen to the Bible itself on the matter …
“This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” ~ Ezekiel 16:49
“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 17:28-29)
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