Bible Story
Sodom and Gomorrah are cities of the biblical Pentapolis, located on the shores of the Dead Sea. Its historical existence is in dispute.
The history of Sodom and Gomorrah is carried out primarily in the book genesis, there it is related that God sentenced to the destruction to these cities by the abject perversion of its inhabitants.
«Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, destroyed these cities and how many men there were in them» (Gen 19: 27-28).
The historical existence of Sodom and Gomorrah is in dispute. Many investigators have attempted to locate the «damn» cities, and according to their studies, these were located in the southern part of the present seabed of the Dead Sea. With this hypothesis, several Israeli archaeologists searched for evidence on a peninsula, the Lisan peninsula that is inland in the south of the Dead Sea and found remains of vessels and cemetery traces in that sector, which may or may not be attributable to cities, and That its date does not correspond to the dates in which it is considered, existed those cities. The peninsula of Lisan, formed part of the Moabite territory, comes from one of the descendants of Lot. It has been ruled out that there has been a volcanic eruption in the 4,000 years in this area, but it is possible that the villages have been destroyed by an earthquake, especially if they were on a major fault, such as the Jordan Valley Fault.
Why the cities were destroyed
Were destroyed by sexual immorality, but if you cast this same question to the Gais theologians, the answer they give you will be markedly different. The three most cited answers within the homosexual camp are: They were destroyed because they did not care for the poor. They were destroyed because they wanted to rape in groups. They were destroyed because they were not hospitable. In a sense, the three answers carry some of the reason. In fact, the first reason is drawn directly from the Bible and that is why it is the most convincing of the three. Let us begin, then, with the first answer.
1.- They were destroyed because they did not care for the poor The first reason put forward by Queer theology is that Sodomites were destroyed because they did not care for the poor. Here they appeal to the writings of Ezekiel. Ezekiel explains the reason why Sodom was destroyed: «As I live, saith the Lord, Sodom thy sister and her children have not done as thou didst and thy daughters. Behold, this was the wickedness of Sodom thy sister: pride and bread and abundance of idleness were she and her daughters; And strengthened not the hand of the afflicted and the needy «(Ezekiel 16:49). Biblically speaking, it is true that God destroyed the city of Sodom by not caring for the poor (among a few other things). However, it is important to continue reading until the next verse to grasp the whole truth. It is precisely this verse that is not often quoted in gay theological reflection: «And they were filled with pride and did an abomination before me, and when I saw it I took them away» (v. 50). The most important term in verse 50 is an abomination. Interestingly, Ezequiel uses the noun in the singular (toevah) and not its plural form. It is quite probable that the prophet takes the term from the book of Leviticus, which uses the word toevah six times. In Leviticus, it is used four times in the plural and twice in the singular. The two texts that use the singular refer exclusively to the sin of homosexuality, namely Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13. Ezekiel, then, makes a linguistic connection between the teaching of the Law of Moses and the sexual evil committed by the sodomites. It was such an abomination that urged God to remove Sodom from the face of the earth. The book of Leviticus explains that the Canaanites were punished by the Lord because of such sexual debauchery. After warning the Hebrews of the importance of sexual ethics, God tells them: «Do not do any of these abominations, neither the natural nor the foreigner that dwells among you (for all these abominations did the men of that land that were before Of you, and the earth was defiled); Lest the land cause you to vomit because it has defiled it, as it vomited out the nation that inhabited it before you «(Leviticus 18: 26-28). Lighter could not be! God judged them by their sexual deviations in the same way that he did with the sodomites; Not because of their lack of interest in the poor.
2.- They were destroyed because they wanted to rape in groups. The second reason offered by gay theology is that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they wanted to rape in a group. Now this reason is not as strong as the first because it is not found in the Bible. It’s something the gay community has invented. Evidently God is against rape in a group. So far we are all in agreement. But this does not mean that God agrees with homosexual activity. And anyway, God wanted to destroy the cities for their continuing evil; Not by a single act of rape (Genesis 18:20 and 2 Peter 2: 8). Genesis 19 is part of the book of Genesis. Therefore, it is impossible to understand Chapter 19 without knowing the message of the rest of the book.
The first two chapters of Genesis explain that in the beginning God created a male a and a woman according to His image and likeness. Marriage is a reflection of the Trinitarian beauty of God. In addition, the Lord decreed that the first pair should procreate. A homosexual couple does not represent God’s perfect plan nor can he fulfill his mandate to reproduce. When the author of Genesis 19 describes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, he has already established that heterosexuality is a gift of God in the first two chapters of the book. Any other sexual expression is a deviation from its original design. So it is true that it is wrong to violate;
However, the message of Genesis is that sexuality is for a man and a woman under the blessing of God. The men of Sodom wanted to rape two men: «Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out so that we may know them «(Genesis 19: 5). I do not think we need to explain what it means to know here, right? Lot identified homosexual rape as a great evil. He said, «I beseech you, my brethren, do not do such wickedness» (Genesis 19: 5)
We know that he refers to the sin of homosexuality because he immediately offered his two daughters; Not his sons-in-law. Even the sodomites knew that homosexual activity was a terrible perversion: «Now we will do you more harm than they» (Genesis 19: 9). They wanted to rape Lot too. Their sin was so depraved that the angels punished them with blindness. This second answer is devoid of weight because it does not take into account the incessant and perpetual nature of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. God did not judge them by an isolated act; But by a lifestyle totally addicted to vice.
3.- They were destroyed because they were not hospitable. The third reason and perhaps the most popular interpretation formulated by homosexual theology is that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were not hospitable. At first glance it seems a logical proposition. But the problem is that he is not faithful to the biblical account. Genesis 13:13 states that, «But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the Lord in a great way.» Again, Genesis 18:20 states, «As the cry against Sodom and Gomorrah is increased more and more, and their sin is greatly aggravated, I will come down now.» The biblical text is talking about a kind of sin beyond the ordinary.
Would the lack of hospitality really be a sign that his sin had been «aggravated in the extreme»? Does it seem credible, viable? Would not group rape be a much more offensive sin? Where does God condemn the lack of hospitality in terms of life and death? When Lot was about to deliver his two daughters to the men of Sodom, he did not do so that the men would learn to be more hospitable. And if we thought about it a little, the angels already had a house to spend the night – the house of Lot – therefore they did not need to depend on the hospitality of the city. Question Marcela Carmona, «Were angels in need of lodging?» Another interesting fact: pro-homosexual theologians forget that God destroyed Gomorrah and other neighboring cities as well (Jude 7). Where do we read that the inhabitants of these cities were inhospitable?
That God destroyed cities for not being hospitable is a well-rounded response. Do not you think? Regardless of what we believe, the good news is that there are two texts in the New Testament that clearly explain why God destroyed them. Peter makes mention of his ungodliness, his nefarious conduct, his wicked deeds, «those who follow the flesh, walk in lust and uncleanness, and despise lordship» (2 Peter 2: 6-10). And then Judas is even more explicit: «Having fornicated and gone after vices against nature [homosexuality], they were put, for example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire» (Jude 7). Throughout the Bible, the term sodomite becomes synonymous with homosexuality.
As Voddie Baucham preached, «The sin of Sodom was sodomy.» There are many other biblical texts that condemn a gay lifestyle. God opposed homosexual activity in biblical days and continues to oppose it today. Conclusion However, the three proposals of contemporary gay theology are not satisfactory. Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed for not caring for the poor, but for committing an abomination that corresponds to the homosexual sin named in Leviticus. Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed because they wanted to rape in groups, but because their sin was continuous and constant; God did not judge them by a single isolated act. He was already thinking of destroying the city even before the attempted rape.
Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed for lack of hospitality because their sin was extremely serious and the rest of the Bible clarifies that it was a matter of homosexuality. In sum, to answer the initial question – Why were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed? – for the reasons explained above it would be far more honest on the intellectual and hermeneutical level to stick to the traditional evangelical stance, that is, that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for sexual immorality.