Basic HTML Version
People from "every quarter" of the
city, "small and great," were
infected with depraved sexual val–
ues and tried to get in on the
excitement (verses 4 and ll ).
Sorne, today, try to deny any
sexual assault was involved in this
incident. T hey say God was angry
over the Sodomites' inhospitality to
strangers. The context, however,
clearly shows the sexual nature of
their assault.
Lot was so appalled by what the
Sodomites had in mind that he
offered-quite cowardly, but to him
a Jesser evi l- his two daughters,
"which have not
known
man"- an
expression regularly used in the
Bible in the context of sexual rela–
tions.
The inhabitants of Sodom had
sunk to a low estate of cravcn,
jaded lusts. They did not hesitate to
resort to violent , abusive cri minal
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 morality. 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,
judged their doings as wickedness
(Gen. 19:9).
Nothlng Left " in the Close t "
This vivid account of Lot and bis
visitors has given rise to the wide–
spread idea that homosexual prac–
tices
alone
were what stirred up
God's wrath.
The truth is, all types of per–
verted sex and corrupt manners
were "out of the closet." Such were
notoriously common and paraded
about everywhere-even in public
strects and especially at night. (Lot
was concerned about what might
happen to God's messengers if they
stayed in the streets at night.)
There was utter disrespect for any
standard of normalcy.
In the New Testament, Jude 7
clearly reveals that the Sodomites
were "givi ng themselves over to
fornication,
and going after
strange
September 1983
fiesh."
The original Greek word
here trans lated
fornication
is
ekporneuo.
It means to be
utterly
sexual/y unchaste.
It includes all
kinds of sex ua l immorality or
unlawful lust.
The Revised Standard Version
translates this verse, " ... Sodom
and Gomorrah and the surrounding
cities, which likewise acted immo–
rally and indulged in unnaturaJ
lust. ..."
It
was a full spectrum of
sexual immorality- incest, adul–
tery, wife-swapping, premarital sex,
bisexuality, homosexuality, sado–
masochism, bestiality and every
other kinky sex act the human mind
has conjured up.
In other words, Sodom and
Gomorrah had pulled off the final
coup of their sexual revolution. To
use the terminology of today, there
was absolutely no discrimination
based on affectual or sexual prefer–
ences or sexual orientation.
God's laws on sex and marriage
were ignored or rejected. And the
ings-perhaps even mixed in with
desires to fulfill common human
wants such as the need for apprecia–
tion, affection, being special to
someone and expression of erotic
feelings.
The cities of the plain of Sodom
chose a path they thought was right
in their ignorance of God's laws.
Bu t they quickly found that their
misdirected and unbounded desires
and possessive lusts drove whole–
some and lasting relationships away
from them. True happiness had
vanished.
Because their outlook was per–
verted, they didn't know why their
desires and fantasies met with fre–
quent rejection, 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
pararnount concern. Sex
and sensualism became an
inordinate focus of con–
cero, the major goal in life,
the only thing rnany could
get excited about.
Children increasingly
becarne ensnared with
these attitudes. As such
~
attitudes grew in the popu–
!
lace, the Sodomites in–
~
creasingly were unable to
value another individual's
~
personality or feelings.
AIDS disease patient and high risk patient, child They could not perceive
and motber, at St. Michael's
the damages that their per-
Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.
verted desires would have
inhabitants of Sodom and the sur–
rounding communities were so far
from God, his laws and purpose for
human life, they were proud and
haugbty about their debauched and
unrestrained morality. T hat is,
until their lives and cities were
swept away without a trace.
The Tragic Outcome
Look at the tragic outcome of the
values of Sodom, because the pro–
cess is going on today!
Then, as now, individuals ap–
proached others with all kinds of
lustful, selfish objectives or feel-
upon tbeir own personality
and human development, much less
that of others.
Increasingly, humans became
impersonal objects to gratify what–
ever lusts or desires one had- by
force if necessary.
As individuals abused each
other, it led to further alienation,
loneliness, hostility and revengeful
sadomasochism. Many victirns suf–
fered deep feelings of abandon–
ment, despair, bopelessness and
depression. In turn, these feelings
fostered high usage of alcohol,
drugs and thoughts of suicide.
The result of the Sodomites' way
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