Something interesting yet slightly disturbing about Sodom and Gomorrah

Emerald518

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I had a random realization about something in this particular part of scripture the other day that I thought I'd post here. While I know it is truthful, it is to a degree disturbing to even myself.

Contrary to what a lot of people try to argue, the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not failure to show hospitality or whatever else...that was just one of many sins, but the true sin that was the "straw that broke the camel's back" with God in this situation was complete and utter sexual depravity where the people in that town were so corrupt, it was as if they were complete animals.

Abraham and Lot came to the town of Sodom, they were met by two angels sent from God and the men in town wanted to rape the angels. But their request was refused and instead, Lot's daughters were offered up for the men to do what they wanted with. We also have to keep in mind that even after God vowed to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham kept continually pleading with them to spare it for even one righteous person, but the town was destroyed because no one was righteous...

I realized the reason that Lot's daughters were offered up to the men in Sodom and Gomorrah was because it was a human way of trying to save the people from God's wrath. Back in those particular days of the Biblical timeline, women were not valued as anything more than disposable property for a man to do with what he wanted, because woman was sentenced to be completely and utterly dependent on man as a result of the fall and Eve's sin. As a result, it was considered less of a sin for a man to rape a woman than if a man raped another man. This is because while rape and any sexual activity outside of marriage are considered sinful in God's eyes, a man having sex with a woman is closer to being in line with God's original design for sex as shown in Eden, while sexual activity with a member of the same sex is considered an abomination. Not only that, but the men that the people in Sodom wanted to rape were angelic beings, which would have brought even greater condemnation on the people than what was already upon them. Raping Lot's daughters would have been a sin, but not an abomination.

An interesting little tidbit of scripture, but still disturbing nonetheless...
 

Rubiks

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Virtually all scholars that I am aware of understand the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah to be inhospitality. That's certainly how the Jews understood it, as well as the earliest Christians.

The New Interpreter's Bible, which is a scholarly commentary put out by a Methodist publishing group, understands it this way as well.

From the Wikipedia article on Sodom and Gomorrah:

Zondervan Academic, an evangelical Christian scholarly resource center, states that the story "concerns a lack of hospitality, which was considered an egregious crime in the ancient world."
 
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Emerald518

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Virtually all scholars that I am aware of understand the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah to be inhospitality. That's certainly how the Jews understood it, as well as the earliest Christians.

The New Interpreter's Bible, which is a scholarly commentary put out by a Methodist publishing group, understands it this way as well.

From the Wikipedia article on Sodom and Gomorrah:

Zondervan Academic, an evangelical Christian scholarly resource center, states that the story "concerns a lack of hospitality, which was considered an egregious crime in the ancient world."

The lack of hospitality may be true, but that was just one of Sodom's many sins. I found this article while doing further research on the topic that explains things a little bit better than I can if you would like to read it. I found it very informational. What Was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? | Stand to Reason
 
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Original Happy Camper

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Virtually all scholars that I am aware of understand the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah to be inhospitality. That's certainly how the Jews understood it, as well as the earliest Christians.

The New Interpreter's Bible, which is a scholarly commentary put out by a Methodist publishing group, understands it this way as well.

From the Wikipedia article on Sodom and Gomorrah:

Zondervan Academic, an evangelical Christian scholarly resource center, states that the story "concerns a lack of hospitality, which was considered an egregious crime in the ancient world."

scholars are they? Well this is what the LORD said through his messengers

Genesis 19
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

No where in this verse is Hospitality mentioned or implied or in the chapters discussing Sodom.(Jewish custom the scholars say)

So the scholars are wrong again and the Word of the LORD is always right.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them

These verses are very clear as to the intent of the men of the city. Lot knew their intentions by offering his daughters. Were they inviting the messengers of GOD to their homes for something to eat and a place to rest (hospitality)? Answer is NO

This hospitality issue is a falsehood by satans messengers.
 
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Dansiph

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scholars are they? Well this is what the LORD said through his messengers

Genesis 19
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

No where in this verse is Hospitality mentioned or implied or in the chapters discussing Sodom.(Jewish custom the scholars say)

So the scholars are wrong again and the Word of the LORD is always right.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them

These verses are very clear as to the intent of the men of the city. Lot knew their intentions by offering his daughters. Were they inviting the messengers of GOD to their homes for something to eat and a place to rest (hospitality)? Answer is NO

This hospitality issue is a falsehood by satans messengers.
Also, this indicates that it was not a hospitality issue

2 Peter 2:6-8 King James Version

6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds; )
 
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trophy33

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... Lot's daughters were offered up for the men to do what they wanted with.

This was to show how corrupted the men were, sexually.

They were offered to do whatever they wanted with girls, but they preferred men.

This was to show their homosexuality and perversion without any doubt so they could be justly destroyed from above.
 
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Original Happy Camper

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As men multiplied upon the earth after the flood, they again forgot God, and corrupted their ways before him. Intemperance in every form increased, until almost the whole world was given up to its sway. Entire cities have been swept from the face of the earth because of the debasing crimes and revolting iniquity that made them a blot upon the fair field of God's created works. The gratification of unnatural appetite led to the sins that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God ascribes the fall of Babylon to her gluttony and drunkenness. Indulgence of appetite and passion was the foundation of all their sins.
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
 
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nonaeroterraqueous

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Jude 1:7

"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

Can't weasel around that one, now can we?
 
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Original Happy Camper

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Jude 1:7

"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

Can't weasel around that one, now can we?

No you cannot
Yet the scholars do, so why would anybody put in credibility into the scholars over the word of GOD

Isaiah 8:20
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
 
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Original Happy Camper

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It irritates me to see people condone what GOD has called an abomination

This is a general statement not meant to offend posters on this forum

Matthew 15:9
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Mark 7:7
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Colossians 2:22
Which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men?

Titus 1:14
Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
 
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Heavenhome

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This was a new one on me as I have never heard of the hospitality explanation. I always thought Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed due to sexual perversion ( the name Sodom gave me that) and total unrighteousness.

Guess I should have gone to the "scholars" rather than what the Bible tells us;)
 
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paul1149

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the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not failure to show hospitality or whatever else...that was just one of many sins, but the true sin that was the "straw that broke the camel's back" with God in this situation was complete and utter sexual depravity where the people in that town were so corrupt, it was as if they were complete animals.
I like the way you put that, with the sexual sin being the "last straw". There was a process of Sodom's spiritual declension, and indeed it had a component of lack of hospitality, but those who stop there and avoid going to the damning conclusion of the sexual sin are not telling the whole truth.

Allow me to excerpt from an article I wrote back in 1992:

The Sin of Sodom

Most people know about the story of God's destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the rampant immorality that led to their judgment. But fewer are aware that the Bible gives clues to the path of spiritual declension taken by the ancient cities of the Jordan River valley. Sodom and Gomorrah did not wake up one day, suddenly in deep sin. A process was involved. A brief Biblical investigation will reveal this process.

Round about the year 600 BC, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied to an apostate Israel which had stayed from God by its own prosperity. He declared

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. -Ez. 16:49

Sodom was prosperous. The fact that the valley of the Jordan was well-watered and highly productive is told in the story of Lot's choosing it over the land to the west where Abraham settled (Gen. 13:10). Lot displayed a lack of discernment, however, in choosing this land for his family, for in the midst of its material abundance, its men were "wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord."

It's God's nature to bless us, as His delight is in the sons of man. And His blessing can include material blessings. But we have to be careful about how we pursue prosperity. With every choice, the spiritual must come first, for if we violate first principles we set ourselves up for disaster, as did Lot.

In Sodom, we see here a pattern which is all too familiar. First comes great material prosperity. In the midst of abundance, it is easy to forget one's dependence upon God. Instead of being grateful for their blessings, and helping the less fortunate, the Sodomites surrounded themselves with 'careless ease'. They forgot their humble relationship to God, and allowed their hearts to become 'arrogant'.

Jude adds further insight into the Sodomite mentality and lifestyle by writing about certain men who, "in the same manner as the men of Sodom, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties" (Jude 8). According to Jude, too much leisure time had another effect. Having forsaken charity and good works, the Sodomites instead filled their time with dreaming. Entertainment evidently was very important to these people. They fed their imaginations and let them run unfettered. This inevitably led to acting on their thoughts, so consequently all restraining laws had to be cast off, and authority was rejected. "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper" (Rom 1:28).

Finally, when God's last prophetic warning came, through Lot, it was disregarded, because "he appeared to his son-in-laws to be jesting." When God's word was cast behind them, Sodom's fate was sealed.​
 
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mnphysicist

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In general, scholars look at the entirely of the scriptures to seek out what they mean, as well as employ the methods of Biblical criticism. This tends to work out much better than to pick a concept one might like to see, and go about cherry picking scriptures to reinforce it.

Consider the explicit nature of Ezekiel 16:49

What did Jesus talk about in Matthew 10:14-15 or Mark 6:11

The words of Jesus are pretty explicit... you can't weasel around them.

Beyond that, most of the supporting scriptures upthread are pretty wide in scope unless one views them with a hypersexual lens... because horrors!!! inhospitality greed, gluttony, drunkeness, failure to take care of the poor etc just might be an issue for folks in church.

In light of the totality of scriptures, I don't see anyway around this, other than to agree with the scholars. Granted, this can and does put the church in a very uncomfortable position.

There is one exception, and that is the text from Jude which reflects 1st century Jewish teachings... which somehow Jesus chose to ignore, perhaps because it was a sign of the influence of Greek philosophy, rather than the historical truths which had been passed down for centuries? One can only speculate, but I would much rather depend on the words of Jesus than Greek philosophy and historical revisionism.
 
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topher694

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Virtually all scholars that I am aware of understand the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah to be inhospitality. That's certainly how the Jews understood it, as well as the earliest Christians.
Rubbish
 
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