Interpreting Sodom and Gomorrah



One of the fun things involved in reading through the daily office lectionary is that you get to read quite a bit of Scripture that you might otherwise miss. During the whole Gene Robinson affair there has been a small group of supposed biblical exegetes, and a substantially larger number of lemming like folk who merely repeat what they hear, who have asserted that the sin of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah was a lack of hospitality, and had nothing to do with their desire for intimacy with the visitors. Certainly one element of the sin was their lack of hospitality, but then we have to address the following passage from Jude: "just as Sodom and Gomor’rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire." Do you think unnatural lust=lack of hospitality? Compare to this passage from Romans: "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations 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." The parallel here is rather definite.

Posted: Fri - December 5, 2003 at 11:56 AM        

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