S5, Ep. 5: The Truth of 2 Cities

What really were the sins of Sodom & Gamorrah? The truth may surprise you!

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Transcript

Mandi: Mandi A. here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.  

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Mandi: I recently received a message telling me not to reinterpret Scripture for modern times. Yet, every pastor, priest and clergymen, or woman, is doing this exact thing to help their congregants apply these very old principles to today. In fact, most of church is all about interpreting the bible. What ends up happening is that most Christians, as people do with a lot of things, tend to seek out churches that align with their beliefs. These beliefs may come from family, friends, research, which is essentially reading the findings and interpretations of others, or perhaps direct communication with the Holy Spirit. Save for direct communication with God, everything we learn about faith is based on interpretation. And please go seek answers. Do not just take my understanding, interpretations, or beliefs as facts. Seek God's truth on your own!

It's worth sharing one more thought about interpretation here. Part of what I've been trying to get across here in these last few episodes is that the bible has already been reinterpreted when it comes to different topics, be it the movement of the planets, acceptable diets and same-sex relationships. In many ways, the New Testament itself reinterprets rules in the Old Testament to put context, culture and the saving power of Jesus into place. What I'm trying to tell you is what I believe the original intention of certain Scriptures was. This has come from praying, reading Scripture and reading additional texts. Much of this season is based on a book called God and the Gay Christian written by Matthew Vines, whom you've heard me reference several times. However, I've looked at the writings of ancient Christians and philosophers too and I'm sharing my own thoughts and understanding here.

And finally, before we jump into the meat of today's episode, I want to announce that the content may be triggering for some people, particularly survivors of sex-based crimes. Please keep this in mind as you head into the discussion. 

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Mandi: Sodom and Gamorrah. Even many people unfamiliar with the Christian faith have heard of these 2 cities. Sodom in particular is the base word for disapproving and negative terms used to describe same-sex behavior. The story, mainly the destruction of the 2 cities, has come to represent God's wrath and judgment on sin in many faith discussions. So with this story being such a strong point used by many non-affirming Christians, it's important to go back to the Word and get a full understanding of what happened and how the principles of the story should apply to modern day believers. 

We first learn about Sodom in Genesis 13 when Abram, who is later renamed Abraham, and his nephew Lot decide to part ways in their travels to avoid arguments between their herdsmen. Lot moves to the Valley of Jordan near Sodom and we read in Genesis 13:13, "The men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord." We do not, however, get any more details on what the men of Sodom were doing that was so wicked and sinful. Not yet at least. 

Let's go ahead a bit to Genesis 18 where God and 2 angels are standing in human form near Abraham and his wife Sarah's tent. That's right, Jesus' birth was not the first appearance of God in human form according to Scripture. Abraham acts as the most hospitable host. He calls all 3, what appear to be men he never met, "lord" and washes their feet, which was a major act of hospitality in Abraham's day. He even helped his wife cook a delicious meal! Abraham's hospitality is such a big deal, that it is referenced again in Hebrews 13:2 which reads, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." Abraham is blessed for the great kindness he shows his guests with news that he and Sarah will have a son. Soon after receiving news of this blessing, in Genesis 18:20-21 God tells Abraham he plans to destroy Sodom and Gamorrah for their grievous sins. Abraham then pleads with God not to destroy the righteous with the unrighteous, likely in an effort to save Lot who Abraham may have had an idea was in the area. God agrees not to destroy the city if he can find at least 10 righteous people.

In Genesis 19, the 2 angels who were Abraham's guests arrive in Sodom and are treated with very similar hospitality by Lot. Lot takes the angels to his home, tells them he's their servant and lets them wash their feet. He plans to have them spend the night, but the night goes south in a real bad way. Genesis 19:4-5 tells us, "Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom - both young and old - surrounded the house. They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." In verses 7 and 8, Lot refuses to send the angels out, even though he simply thought they were foreign men. Lot proceeds to do something that I find outrageous, but sadly makes sense for the times. He offers to send out his 2 virgin daughters. The mob responds in verse 9, "This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." The mob proceeds to try and break down the door, but the angels cause all of them to become blind, preventing their attack. The angels direct Lot to leave Sodom and then God destroys the 2 cities with fire and brimstone. 

Non-affirming Christians focus God's judgment here on the men's demand to have the angels, who took human form, sent out so they could rape them. Non-affirming Christians associate this demand to same-sex behavior, to being gay. I briefly alluded to the idea that while directly disputed by God's Word, which tells us that sin is sin, many Christians live by the idea that some sins are greater than others. Sexual sins are definitely at the top of the sin hierarchy, so it may not settle well with non-affirming Christians to believe that the true sins of Sodom had more to do with the non-sexual sins of inhospitality and violence, but this does in fact align with core teachings of the bible and Jesus. 

Throughout the bible, Sodom and Gamorrah are referenced 13 times. However, the sins highlighted by majority of the additional verses have nothing to do with sexual behavior. Isaiah 1 verses 4 and 10 compares Judah to "rulers of Sodom," but the verses highlight the oppression of marginalized groups, murder and theft. Jeremiah 23:14 talks about how the sins of false prophets made them "all like Sodom." The sins included adultery, idolatry and abuse of power. Amos 4:1-11 and Zephaniah 2:8-11 also compare non-sexual sins to Sodom's judgment. This is all interpretation though, but there is a verse that directly tells us what the sins of Sodom were. Read Ezekiel 16:49-50, "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." There it is. No need to interpret, read between the lines or anything. We are told by God's Word what the sins of Sodom were and it doesn't say anything about same-sex relations. In fact, there is no Jewish writing that connects Sodom to same-sex relations until the first century AD.

Additionally, most people can accept the fact that not every man in the city of Sodom would have been sexually attracted to the 2 angels in human form. Not every man in that city was gay, right? Isn't it more probable that the purpose of this thwarted gang rape was to express dominance over these foreigners? Remember we talked about the fact that one of the most degrading experiences for ancient men was to be treated in the role of a woman, in particular the submissive sexual role. During those days, it was common practice for prisoners of war to be raped to humiliate them. 

There is a story in Judges 19 that almost mirrors that of Sodom, but has a bitter and tragic end. A man from Gibeah protects a Levite guest when "wicked men of the city surrounded the house." He offers his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine who traveled with him. The gang raped the concubine until she died. In Judges 20:5, the Levite says, "During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me." Again, this had nothing to do with same-sex attraction or behaviors and everything to do with aggression, dominance and violence. 

So what does the New Testament say about these 2 cities and how did the story of Sodom and Gamorrah get connected to homosexuality? Join me next week to find out!

    

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Mandi: If you listened all the way through, thank you! Whether you're listening to prove me wrong, or because you are seeking how you can reconcile your faith with affirmation of the LGBTQIA* community, I'm grateful for your time. 

If you find value in my podcast, please leave a review on my on my website at mandiboxbeauty.com. You can also connect with me on Instagram and Facebook at MandiBox Beauty. 

[Mandi voiceover to 'Compton' music]:  In next week's episode, I'll tell you about good ol' Philo! ‘Til next time Beauties.