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wheeling life-style with the laws of
God that govern the social, the spiri–
tual, the sexual life of bumanity.
God's laws give boundaries to right
and wrong actions and · attitudes.
They give direction and protection to
the achievement of wholesome hu–
man, social and spiritual needs and
goals.
Bottom Llne Society
Most noteworthy of Sodom's contri–
bution to human experience was their
"code" of sexual etbics. Tbe incident
of Lot and his visitors only show the
tip of the social climate prevalent in
Sodom.
Promiscuity was so universal and
base that the males of Sodom,
young
and o/d alike
(Genesis 19:4) tried to
force perverted sexual relations on
total newcomers to their city.
It was not just tbe refuse and scum
of a bad section of town tbat threat–
ened Lot and bis guests. People from
"every quarter" of tbe city, "small
and great," were infected with de–
praved sexual values and tried to get
in on the excitement (verses 4 and
11 ).
Sorne, today, try to deny any sex–
ual
assaul~
was involved in this inci–
dent. They say God was angry over
the Sodomites' inbospitality to stran–
gers. The context, bowever, clearly
shows the sexual nature of their
assault.
Lot was so appalled by what the
Sodomites bad in mind that he
offered-quite cowardly, but to him
a lesser evil-his two daughters,
"which have not
known
man." This
Hebrew expression is regularly used
in the Bible for sexual relations.
The inhabitants of Sodom had
sunk to a low estate of craven, jaded
lusts. They did not besitate to resort
to violent, abusive criminal assault
against Lot and his guests to fulfill
their desires. Not even after they
were miraculously blinded!
The Sodomites were not ashamed
of their social values and actions. In
their smug and self-assured pride the
inhabitants of that whole plain of
Sodom had accepted what to them
was an enlightened and free morali–
ty. The Sodomites felt no man was in
a position to determine what was
right or wrong for all. They became
infuriated against Lot when he, a
relative newcomer among them,
18
judged their doings as wickedness
(Genesis 19:9).
Nothing Left "In the Closet"
This vivid account of Lot and his
visitors has given rise to the wide–
spread idea that homosexual prac–
tices
a/one
were what stirred up
God's wrath.
The truth is, all types of perverted
sex and corrupt manners were "out
of. the closet." Such were notoriously
common and paraded about every–
where-even in public streets and
especially at night. (Lot was con–
cerned about what might happen to
God's messengers if they stayed in
the streets at night.) There was utter
disrespect for any standard of nor–
malcy.
IR
the New Testament, Jude 7
clearly reveals that the Sodomites
were "giving themselves over to
for–
nication
and going after
strange
ji
esh."
The original Greek word here
translated
fornication
is
ekporneuo.
It
means to be
utter/y sexually
unchaste.
It
includes all kinds of
sexual immorality or unlawful lust.
The Revised Standard Version
translates this verse, " ... Sodom and
Gomorrah and the surrounding cities,
which likewise acted immorally and
indulged in unnaturallust. ..."
It
was
a full spectrum of sexual immorali–
ty-incest, adultery, wife-swapping,
premarital sex, bisexuality, homosex–
uality, sadomasochism, bestiality and
every other kinky sex act the human
mind has conjured up.
In other words, Sodom and Go–
morrah had pulled off the final coup
of their sexual revolution. To use the
terminology oftoday, there was abso–
lutely no discrimination based on
affectual or sexual preferences or
sexual orientation.
God's laws on sex and marriage
were ignored or rejected. And the
inhabitants of Sodom were so fa r
from God, His Iaws and purpose for
human life, they were proud and
haughty about their unencumbered
and unrestrained morality. That is,
until their lives and cities were swept
away without a trace.
The Traglc Outcome
Look at the tragic outcome of the
values of Sodom, because the process
is going on today!
Then, as now, individuals ap-
proached others with all kinds of
lustful, selfish objectives or feelings–
perhaps even mixed in with desires to
fulfill common human wants such as
the need for appreciation, affection,
being special to someone and expres–
sion oferotic feelings.
The cities of the plain of Sodom
chose a path they thought was right
in their ignorance of God's laws. But
they quickly found that their misdi–
rected and unbounded desires and
possessive lusts drove wbolesome and
lasting relationships away from
them. True happiness had vanisbed.
Because their outlook was per–
verted they didn't know why their
desires and fantasies met with fre–
quent reject ion, abandonment or
abuse from others. It was because
others were also equally unprinci–
pled. All were seeking to fill the
vacuum of their lives in an endless
search for new sexual partners or
new ultimate sensual experiences to
give purpose to their lives. They
wanted to excite increasingly jaded
emotions.
Selfish interests were of para–
mount concern. Sex and
~ensualism
became an inordinate focus of con–
cern, the major goal in life, the only
thing many could get excited about.
Children increasingly became en–
snared with these altitudes. As such
attitudes grew in the populace, the
Sodomites increasingly were unable
to value another individual's person–
ality or feelings. They could not
perceive the damages that their per–
verted desires would háve upon their
own personality and human develop–
ment, much less that of others.
Increasingly, humans became im–
personal objects to gratify whatever
lusts or desires one had-by force if
necessary.
As individuals abused each other,
it led to further alienation, loneliness,
hostility and revengeful sadomaso–
chism. Many victims suffered deep
feelings of abandonment, despair,
hopelessness and depression. In turn,
these feelings fostered high usage of
alcohol, drugs and thoughts of sui–
cide.
The result of the Sodomites' way
of life plunged the people into
increasingly distorted, debased hu–
man character. God saw their char–
acter. He saw their progeny becom–
ing completely perverted. He had to
The PLAIN TRUTH