I actually wrote this quite awhile ago, but it seems appropriate right now:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Ezekiel 16:49-50 NIV
I am going to talk about what is probably the singularly most unpopular subject in modern Christianity: Sodom and Gomorrah.
The other morning my husband snorted at something he was reading in the Bible. I asked him what was funny. He said that when the mob of would be gang rapists were at Lot’s door, they said, “Who are you to judge us.” (insert haughty sniff here) At that point, I snorted too. Truly there is nothing new under the sun. Seriously, look at what it says:
“This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” Genesis 19:9
So, a loose translation of that would be: Who are you to judge us complete with haughty and offended sniff.
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside -1 Corinthians 5:12-13
After I got over being amused something else struck me about this story: Lot wasn’t out telling these people what they could/couldn’t do. He understood that not everyone shared his beliefs, and that was A-Okay with Lot. But, he and HIS house were going to serve the LORD. Lot was in HIS house minding HIS own business, and evil came pounding on HIS door demanding he become complicit in their wickedness
all the while accusing him of trying to force his beliefs on them.
The Bible doesn’t tell us for sure, but I am 99.99999% sure that Eve didn’t randomly go out and strike up a conversation with a serpent. The serpent came to her. The devil went to Jesus in the wilderness. It is not an accident that included in the Lord’s prayer are the words, “Deliver us from evil.” This is not a small thing. Evil is not content to merely be tolerated. You do not have a right to your beliefs. It will come pounding on your door, and demand you partake or at least become complicit. It will demand membership/full recognition in your church. If you happen to have enough of a spine to say, “You know what – you can do what you want, but you ain’t doing it here. This is not okay.” It will call you judgemental and unloving, and for a shocking number of Christians that is enough to make them crumble. That trick has worked better for Satan in the last 40 years or so than his standard, “Did God really say……?
When I was a kid we, in our ignorance, used to make fun of the Lord’s prayer and say, “Lead me not into temptation for I will find it myself.” I even had a button that said that. But, the truth is that I don’t need to go find it. It will come to me. But, will I give in or call out to the Lord to deliver me from evil? Nobody said it was going to be easy or fun. Does anyone imagine it was easy for Lot to walk away from his home? His sons chose to stay behind! He probably had friends there. Maybe even a job. But, nobody said it was going to be easy. I somehow don’t think Jesus was talking just to hear His voice when he told us we would have to take up our crosses.
Sigh...
