Lessons from Sodom

Secrets for Christian living from a greedy city.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

“False Prophet!”

“Abomination!”

“Sodomite!”

Reading insult after insult on my Facebook ads, I realized I may have made a mistake. I wanted to help Christians who hated the secret LGBTQ part of themselves, so I wrote a book to help them weigh their options. But when my ads ran, I found myself responding to dozens of angry messages each day:

“Sodomy is an abomination to God!”

These Christians were convinced that being a sodomite was a pretty bad thing!

I wondered if they knew what it truly was to be like those people in Sodom?

The Story of Sodom

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Genesis 19. Two angelic visitors (in human drag) visited the town of Sodom. A man named Lot invited the strangers to stay with him and his daughters. Shortly after, “all the men, both young and old” (NIV) showed up at Lot’s house to demand he send the two male strangers out so the townsmen could rape them. Lot begged the townspeople not to — and even offered his two daughters instead, but the townspeople wouldn’t back down. They wanted the visitors.

The angel visitors blinded everyone to thwart the violence and warned Lot to get his family out of Sodom. God destroyed Sodom and the neighboring town of Gomorrah the next day.

Around the fourth century, nearly 2,000 years after the story was first recorded, the term “sodomy” came to mean having same-sex relations.

I’m puzzled by those who think the story of Lot in Sodom is about being gay for the following reasons:

1. For the destruction of Sodom to be about homosexuality in general, one would have to equate two women holding hands with violent, community-sponsored gang rape. Seriously, I think concluding the story is about being gay is akin to thinking a bank robber dressed in blue denim is bad because they dressed in blue denim!

2. Ezekiel (another Old Testament book) describes the sins of Sodom as being “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” It does not mention homosexuality.

In fact, of the 47 times Sodom is mentioned in the Bible, NONE reference Sodom’s sin as having anything to do with homosexuality!

3. Judges 19 tells the story of the Benjamites doing almost the same thing as Sodom, but to a woman. This leads to the destruction of the Benjamites. Yet, no one holds that straight sex is evil in God’s eyes; they focus on the violent acts of rape and murder as the sin.

With the above three observations, I was certain the story of Sodom had nothing at all to do with my sexuality, and I moved on. But sometime later it hit me: In looking at what Sodom wasn’t about, I missed what it really was about!

*Quick note: If you really need the Bible to condemn LGBTQ people, do not worry. While this passage doesn’t make that case, there are others that you may be able to use. Just not this one!

Why Did God Condemn Sodom?

Midrash Aggadah refers to Jewish historical writings that supplement their Scriptures, adding history, commentary, and context The Midrash Pirkei Eliezer informs us that Sodom had a code:

“What’s mine is mine; what’s yours is yours.”

That value worked itself into their laws:

Giving to the poor was punishable by death.

The horrible nature of the Sodomites was almost cartoonishly extreme. One story details how a man swam across the river to avoid the exorbitant ferry toll. As this was against the law, soldiers were dispatched to collect the toll. They beat the man bloody and took him before the judge, who added to his fine the fee for the medical practice of bloodletting. Yes — he had to pay for the “service” the soldiers performed in making him bleed in addition to the bridge toll.

The same writing recorded that one of Lot’s daughters was put to death for giving food to a beggar.

In yet another story, a beggar was given coins by several residents in Sodom, only to find the shopkeeper wouldn’t sell him any food. When the beggar died of starvation, they each retrieved their coins.

Sodom treated its poor as a cat would toy with a mouse: entertainment while it perished.

With these facts in mind, let’s revisit Ezekiel’s take on Sodom:

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” (Ezekiel 16:49–50, NIV)

This is the real Sodom: it has nothing to do with two dudes kissing. It has everything to do with helping the poor and needy. It has everything to do with welcoming foreigners and not abusing them. It has everything to do with people stuffing themselves while others starve.

It reminds me of, well… home!

Do we live in a “what’s mine is mine; what’s yours is yours” society? While many struggle to limit their caloric intake to 2400 calories, 12 percent of the world doesn’t have access to a 2,000-calorie diet. We’re fat; they’re starving.

Who’s more like Sodom, the people feasting at a 24/7 all-you-can-eat buffet while 12 percent of the world starves, or two dudes holding hands?

While my friends and I complain about the rising price of Le Croix sparkling water, almost one-third of the world doesn’t have access to clean drinking water. Tough for them, right? But knowing now about the true sins of Sodom, is this another good example of why God condemned Sodom?

We call immigrant families and their children “illegal;” they have no right to be here. After all, what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours - just like Sodom.

It’s time we recognized how we fall prey to the sins of Sodom. Its practice is widespread, public, and applauded by many churches, pastors, and leaders.

Guidelines for Avoiding Sodom’s Sins

Poor Sodom! Located in the fertile valley of the Jordan River, holding on to their riches and power at the expense of others caused their demise! Let’s learn from that and hold loosely to ours!

If you follow the Old Testament verses in Leviticus 18 and 20 condemning certain relational practices, here’s another to put in your arsenal:

“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 19:34

While there are six passages (Genesis 19 included) typically used to condemn LGBTQ people like me, there are more than 2,000 verses that instruct us to take care of the poor, the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan!

Had Sodom taken this to heart, they may have avoided destruction.

I hope this causes concern.

If you’re wondering, “Andy, have you forgone your super-size onion rings and given all your money to the poor?” Well, the answer is “no.”

I do, however, see that when the values that drove Sodom to its destruction show up in me, I need to change course. I notice how I feel when I pass someone begging for money and do a quick inventory of actions I might take for their sake. I give thanks when I drink water from my faucet because I realize that’s not a given for many in this world.

Sodom’s demise causes me to notice, and look differently at my power and wealth. I hope it will for you, too!