Not what anyone considers an ideal vacation spot. But, it has gained a special place in the hearts and minds of many hateful homophobic Christians. Why is that? Why are they wrong?!?

Some cling to the belief that this is the clearest demonstration of God's wrath and hatred toward homosexuals. However, the traditional understanding and interpretation of some members of the church that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for homosexuality is not accurate.

First, if you have a Bible, please read Genesis chapters 18 and 19 before going on. Do yourself a favor, read it for what is there and not for what you believe is there.

History (written and archeological) shows us that Sodom and Gomorrah were urban regions. The area encompassed was quite large and developed. The area served as a center for power in the region

The people of this region had developed their own religion filled with idolatry and had added many ungodly practices into their worship services. They had no place for YHWH (Hebrew for God). Their religion was a nationalistic religion - a union of church and state (somewhat like present day Iran and the former Taliban in Afganhistan). The religious practices of the area consisted of endless sacrifices and acts of sex (orgies). Many of their sexual practices within the religious worship were like that of the Canaanites and other pagan cultures^{(See below 3)} - they were perverted^{(See below 1)}. They worshipped the creature (i.e. Satan) rather than the Creator (God). Paul, in Romans, Chapter 1, describes them thus: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind and to improper conduct .They became filled with every kind of wickedness:, evil, greed and, depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They were gossips, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless." [Please note: a more detailed analysis of Romans follows on subsequent pages.]

Political and religious corruption had engulfed the Sodom scene. History reveals that many sex practices, including bestiality, had become the "god" of their twisted religious practices. Please note that within Judaism or Christianity, sexual acts have never had a place in worship. However in Sodom, sex acts had been raised to a prominent place in their worship. Sexual intimacy, as the expression of deep loving commitment in a monogamous relationship was not practiced or known by them. (As an aside, I would like to mention how this is not unique to that time period. In the cults of Charles Manson and David Korrish, to name only a few, sexual acts with the religious leader and among themselves were not only encouraged but demanded. These modern day examples give us a feel for the prevailing philosophy of Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Another historical and absolutely vital/sacred aspect of those times was the Act of Hospitality. The Law of Hammurabi (hospitality) declared that if one only had enough food for two or three that the guests were to be fed first. Its vital importance in the Middle East came into being because of the desert conditions, where there was always a lack of water and food. The act of providing safe water, food, and shelter certainly could mean the difference between life and death. With our fast food outlets on every corner we have a hard time understanding the important significance of these actions. But I imagine if we look at for example, Ethiopia, we can gain an inkling of how marginally some people would have lived. Also, this is one of the main reasons the Taliban had been unwilling to turn over Osama Bin Laden. He is/was a visitor in their home and is entitled to protection at all costs. So according to the Act of Hospitality once a visitor was received into one's home he/she was provided the necessities of life and was guaranteed protection from any and all outside forces and people. By violating these guests of Lot, the people of Sodom sought to break this law of life and death.

Although Lot was living in a somewhat back slidden spiritual state, he was certainly not pagan and still held to the knowledge of the One True Living God. The people of Sodom despised Lot for his unwillingness to go with the flow and for what they perceived as a "holier than thou" attitude. The people of Sodom were convinced that by violating these visitors of Lot, he would be so horribly humiliated that they would either break him or he would actually finally leave.

The people of Sodom or Sodomites ^{(See below 2)} demanded that Lot bring the visitors out so they may "know" them - this translates into carnal knowledge. Since this was certainly to be an unconsensual act it would unquestionably have to be defined as rape^{(see below 5)}. Although same-sex rape would have occurred it would still be rape and nothing less - rape is always wrong - heterosexual or homosexual.

As stated previously, Sodom was a large and powerful city, implying that it would have a large population. Considering this fact that Sodom was a large city with thousands of inhabitants the act was certainly going to be a case of gang rape, which would most likely not be survivable.

It has been said that the men of Sodom, were outside Lot's home demanding that he release his visitors. In the Hebrew texts of the Bible which undoubtedly came before the English translations, the crowd of people who gathered, intent on ravaging the guests in the house are described with the Hebrew word "ANASHIM" which means men. An important aspect of this word is that it also means people. In Hebrew, if there is a group of people that contains even 1 man, they are referred to by the masculine ending "im." Therefore there is no indication that the group of potential rapists were all men and we only know that they were in fact "people," at least one of whom was male. Ergo, Sodom was a lesson against rape, not homosexuality

Scriptural Parallels

In Judges, (19:22-30) there is a very similar story to that of Sodom. "as they were making their hearts merry, behold the men of the city, base fellows beset the house round about beating on the door and they said to the old man 'Bring out the man who came into your house so that we may know him' " Although the men of this town (Gibeah) sought to have sexual relations with the visitor as did the men of Sodom with Lot's visitors, this town was not destroyed by God. If male-male sexual relations were the damnable sin suggested, then would not this town too have been destroyed.

In Judges, it continues that the visitor gives the men his concubine who raped her until she was dead (evidence for the unsurvivable nature of the gang rape which would have occurred in Sodom). So not only did the men of this town gang rape a person, they killed her. Thus as in the Genesis account the house is surrounded by men and the host of the house offers women in the place of his guest and says they intend to"HUMBLE THEM..." (v. 19). This clearly shows the purpose of the attack was to humiliate and most probably to kill the stranger, not to satisfy homosexual "lust". (20:5)

The guest finally puts his concubine outside and they humiliate him by raping and abusing her all night until she died. This act was an extreme violation of the Hebrew people's sacred code of hospitality. This act of INHOSPITALITY by people of the tribe of Benjamin so enraged the other Hebrew tribes that they went to war with them. Judges 20:5 "And the men of Gibeah rose against me by night; they meant to KILL me, and they ravished my concubine and she is dead." Interesting that although the men of Gibeah had intended to "know" (carnally) the visitor as did the men on Sodom, the visitor does not state that the evil was homosexuality, rather he states that the men intended to kill him. The two stories are parallels of one another and show that the actions of the men in Sodom were not based on homosexual lust, but rather on the intent to humiliate and kill these visitors.

He never tolerates idolatry. According to Webster's, idolatry is "immoderate attachment or devotion to something." It is an abomination of God. There is only one true and living God. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God" {Ex 20: 4-5}. Idolatry is spiritual adultery.

In each and every reference to Sodom in the Bible homosexuality is never mentioned. However, in each and every reference to Sodom in scripture the evils of idolatry are mentioned. It sure seems strange that God would fail to mention that homosexuality was the reason for the destruction of Sodom (if that were the case as asserted by some Christians) in each and everyone of these verses.

He did state the reason for their destruction- idolatry (spiritual adultery), paganism, pride, contempt for life (rape, murder) and false religion. These are why Sodom and Gomorrah were judged and destroyed.

Footnotes and Details

1. Perversion/Perverted/Abomination: Perversion is the action of a person contrary to their natural, "God-created" ways. For a heterosexual to engage in homosexual acts that would be perversion; likewise, for a homosexual to engage in heterosexual acts would be perversion. In both instances they are acting contrary to who they were created to be. Abomination, TO'EBAH means a condemned, foreign, Pagan, religious, cult practice, but often simply translated as "abomination." In every context within the Bible that uses abomination it refers to idolatry and pagan religious practices - worshiping something other than the one true living God. For example, Proverbs 6:16-19 "there are six things which the Lord hates, seven which are an ABOMINATION to him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plan, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers." It is our God-created way to worship Him and only Him, thus worshiping something other than the one true living God is a perversion or abomination.

2. Sodomites: The word sodomite is not found in the original Greek or Hebrew. Through perverting the use of the word some members of the church began to equate Sodomite with homosexuality. When the King James Version was published in 1611, the word "male prostitutes" was translated as Sodomite. This is inaccurate. The original word was QADESH and The Strong's Concordance lists QADESH as "quasi sacred person, i.e. a male devotee by prostitution to licentious idolatry. Thus, all places that the word Sodomite has been placed in the King James Version (and many subsequent revisions) should be replaced with male cult prostitute NOT Sodomite or homosexual. See also: Deu 23:17, I Kings 14:24, 15:12 and 22:46; II Kings 23 again QADESH is mistranslated.

3. Sexual paganistic religions have unfortunately been around for quite a long time. A detestable practice of ancient cultic rituals that the early Jew encountered was the burning of children to the pagan god Molech. Associated with the worship of Molech was the painting of one's body - thus the prohibition of tattoos in Leviticus. Over time many of the followers of Molech decided that he would be just as satisfied with the sacrifice of male sperm into a fire in place of children. Thus, as many naked males danced around the fire while masturbating the rituals were slowly modified to include homosexual acts. These homosexual acts were part of the ritualistic pagan worship which is why the prohibitions in Leviticus and in Paul's writings. Also, in India the paganistic worship of a goddess involved the priests engaging in homosexual acts with themselves and worshippers. They believed that the priest was transforming into the goddess thus one was having sex with their goddess. Thus, many perverted, abominable paganistic religions involved sexual acts (hetero and homo). All of these defy God's command to have no other gods before Him.

4. i) Deuteronomy 29:23-28 "the whole land brimstone and salt, and a burnt-out waste, unsown, and growing nothing, where no grass can sprout, an overthrow LIKE THAT OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath - yea all the nations would say 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What means the heat of this great anger?' The men would say 'It is because they foresook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, AND WENT AND SERVED OTHER GODS AND WORSHIPPED THEM, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them; therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book."

ii) Ezekial 16:49-50 "Behold this was the guilt of your sister Sodom, she and her daughter had pride, surfeit of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me"

iii) Mthw 14-15 "And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your own feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." Note: that Christ only discusses Sodom in the context of being inhospitable, in particular to the Gospel. The Gospel does not once mention homosexuality.

5. Rape performed by conquering armies has been used through out the history of mankind as a means to humiliate the population. Primarily the conquered men were raped (made to act like women) as an indication of the complete superiority of the conquerors and the complete submission of the defeated. This measure had been used by armies previous to the incident in Sodom and after it, our own United States Army has documented incidents were conquered enemies were raped by US forces. We also know that rape of male inmates in prison occurs, again as a means of showing domination and superiority of some and the submission and weakness of others. If this type of behavior were the complete abomination that some would have us believe, then God would be very busy laying waste to armies and the penal systems around the world. I in no way contend that it is acceptable behavior, but do contend that it is not the cause for the destruction of Sodom. Another point to be noted, is that in both the account of Sodom and of Gibeah the men were offered women to rape. It is assumed that Lot knew the people of Sodom outside his door as the resident of Gibeah knew his neighbors, if they were known to them as being homosexuals then why would they offer them women, as a homosexual would not have any desire to engage in sex with a member of the opposite sex for sexual pleasure. Thus, both men knew that the mobs outside their doors were not there to engage in sex for the purpose of sexual pleasure but rather domination, humility, and contempt.

References

Bailey, Sherwin (1955) Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, Longmans, Green & Co.

Scanzion, Letha; Mollenkott, Virgina Ramsey (1978) Is the Homosexual My Neighbor, Another Christian View, Harper & Row 0060670789