Let's talk about Sodom and Gomorrha.
EDIT: DAMNIT, I SPELLED IT WRONG. Gargh.
For all you Chick fans out there, here's my take on the story (I wrote this as having to deal with the misinterpretation of the story by someone I know):
*Sighs.*'Aving to deal with this again, are we, Guv'nah?
Genesis 19:3-9
"3And [Lot] pressed upon [the angels] greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4But 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:
5And 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.
6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door."
Summation of the story:
Two angels come down to see if Sodom and Gomorrah deserved destruction. Lot finds them and invites them to his house. The men of the city find out and gather 'round, as they want to "know them (sexually)." Lot says "no, take my virgin daughters instead," but the crowd of men insist on taking the two angels. Angels get fed up and blind the men, destruction and ruin follow.
Now, let us consider the possibility that God smote the city for homosexuality. That is, all the men in the city were homosexuals. Does this make sense? All these men, from youth to the elderly, being homosexual. And they were clearly consumed only with going after their own lusts.
How in the world would the population have flourished? How in the world would every single male in the city be a homosexual? How would they have wives and children? Certainly, they could have said, "Let us take wives for ourselves that our seed would be passed on," but that is highly unlikely, and it doesn't explain how every single male in the city would have been homosexual (as homosexual men may have heterosexual children).
No, Sodom's sins were as follows:
Jude 1:7
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Jeremiah 23:14
"I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah."
Ezekial 16:49-50
"49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good."
The only place the verses describing Sodom and Gomorrah's sins could possibly be mentioning homosexuality is in Ezekiel, and the Hebrew word toevah (translated to "abomination"😉 appears any number of times throughout the Old Testament, referring to all sorts of unclean things and unsavory sexual acts.
Furthermore, the verse in Jude says that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah went "after strange flesh," and men are hardly of strange flesh. "Strange flesh" would be the angels themselves; the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were going to rape angels, and they knew it. That was an intolerable sin.
So, no, YHVH did not burn up Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality. He burned them up because they were wicked and perverse in all things and wished to rape "the sons of God."
QQ.
Thoughts, particularly those from JIA?