Many people in both religious and secular circles believe that the Sodom and Gomorrah story has something to do with homosexuality. That isn't the case. That's a much later interpretation that was read into the text. Yes homosexuality is referenced in other passages. Not this one though. The following themes are the themes of the story.
(i)Hospitality towards the outsider.
In Bedouin culture, especially in the Near East, one of the bedrock principles is generosity to the stranger and outsider. To violate this is to violate one of the most important honor codes. Abraham shows hospitality to the angels. Lot also shows hospitality to the angels. But the Sodomites violate that hospitality. This was a dominant opinion of this story by the early Church. St Clement of Rome, an apostolic father says the following on the topic: "By hospitality and godliness was Lot saved out of Sodom"(1 Clement 6:1)
(ii)Justice to the poor.
The prophet Ezekiel explicitly states that one of the reasons Sodom was destroyed was because of its failure when it comes to justice to the poor. He states the following: "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom; she and her daughters have had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy"(Ezekiel 16:49). The Midrash(Jewish oral tradition) expands on this theme in their commentary of this story. In one oral tradition two women went to a well. One poor and the other rich. The former gave the latter a jug of water, receiving in return bread. As a result the Sodomites burned both alive. In another story when a woman gave a traveller who needed water a drink, they stripped her naked, had her tortured and hung outside the city walls.
(iii)Sexual violence
Sexual violence is of course an obvious theme of the story. We see it first in the graphic and horrific actions of the Sodomites who want to rape the angels. They are using sexual violence as a form of inhospitality to the outsider. Which has important themes for today. Migrants, refugees and immigrants are victims of xenophobia in many parts of the world and the way this manifest itself sometimes is through sexual violence.
(iv)A subtle critique of a consequentialist ethic
This is an ethic that says the "ends justify the means". That if my end goal is justified, my conduct in achieving it is justified. You see this in the actions of both Lot and his daughters. Lot was willing to uphold the bedouin code of hospitality at all cost. Which is good. He did
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Really, every time I was reading this story in Genesis 19 I couldnβt believe it to be real.Which father would do this to his daughters? Even though if you βsaw angelsβ would you offer your daughter to strangers to be gang raped in order to save the angels? Thatβs a ridiculously immoral and so disturbing just to think of. Itβs one of the stories that made me believe that Bible has nice myths..and that is definitely not an βinspired moral compassβ by God to start with.
For starters, as has been pointed out many times, the Bible actually states explicitly that the sins of Sodom were a lack of hospitality, arrogance, not caring for the poor, etc... (see Ezekiel 16:49) but why let those pesky little facts get in your way?
But to my point:
I am always very confused by the interpretation of this story that so many Christians tend to lean towards.
They read the story, and their biggest takeaway is about the horrors of homosexuality.
It's as if the fact that Lot offered up his daughters to be gang raped by an angry mob is completely lost on them. They never mention it. It's as if they completely ignore that part of the story.
It's as if they don't even notice the giant contradiction in the whole story.... the whole premise is that God spared Lot and (some) of his family because of how righteous and good Lot was....
But right there in the same story about Lot being spared because of his incredible righteousness.... Lot offers up his daughters to be brutally and violently raped, which is definitely a very un-fucking-righteous thing to do.
But do they ever bring up that contradiction? Do they ever focus on Lot being a really fucked up dude for doing that? Nope, they just focus on the gays.
What do you all think, I wanna hear your opinions
In the middle on the lesson the teacher says, OK, we might as well get this out of the way and he takes comments on being gay in general.
It was open season. Love the sinner, not the sin. I know a women whose husband came out as gay and left her. She loved him and he came back. You can be friends, but... It is just about controlling your appetites and all he other vile hate that Mormons spew.
The teacher clearly was used to being a punching bag.
I couldnβt just watch. Shaking, I raised my hand. βThere are a lot of things in the Old Testament we donβt believe are sins. Prophets told us interracial marriage was a sin, blacks couldnβt have the priesthood. They could be wrong about this and it could change. Be careful who you judge. The church is asking 8% of the population not to have a meaningful relationship. Males are XY. Some are born and their Y chromosome is suppressed. They often find out they are male when they donβt have their period or canβt get pregnant. What are they supposed to do? ... and on went my lengthy commentary.β The good news is in SS their isnβt a microphone off switch.
I left the room after Sunday school feeling the spirit. May my TBM wife forgive me but I will not listen and watch this shit in silence.
Happy birthday to the two of them, but why were they given this day, the day Hiroshima was nuked, as their birthday?
Ezekiel 16:49 "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."
The Bible says that sodom and gomorrah was destroyed for being arrogant, overfed and refusing to care for the poor and needy. Of course Christians twist the story to hate on gays.... otherwise they would have to do some introspection and realize the people in the story were destroyed for being just like them.
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