Posted on 10/04/2017 9:00:29 AM PDT by fwdude
Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Was the most extensive judgment found anywhere in the Bible outside of the book of Revelation actually for the sin of inhospitality, not homosexuality?
People find what they want in the Bible. If one looks hard enough, he can find "biblical" support for reincarnation, Eastern religions, Jesus as a guru, divorce for any reason, and flying saucers. Every cult of Christianity uses the Bible to validate its claims and so does some of the occult.
It's not surprising, then, that a recent trend in biblical scholarship holds that a careful reading of Genesis in its historical context offers no solid basis to conclude that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had anything to do with homosexuality.
(Excerpt) Read more at str.org ...
There was a view of Genesis 6 that was prevalent until the time of Augustine. He popularized a Sethite view of Genesis 6 where the text nor anywhere else in the Bible supports it. The sons of God were angels as they are elsewhere in Scripture. Jude verifies this as does 1 Peter.
The angels who kept not their first estate but went after strange flesh were the Genesis 6 angels. Jude then uses “likewise” in relation to Sodom and Gomorrah. Our theological pollution has overshadowed what the text actually says.
Sodom and Gomorrah were evil cities right in the middle of a bunch of Giant tribes just as mentioned in Genesis 6. Their sin is connected to Genesis 6.
Very good!
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal file. (Jude 1:8)
Fornication, strange flesh -- sodomite filth.
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. (Jude 1:9)
No mention of violating a guest/host compact, but condemnation of sodomite sexual perversion.
Thanks. I’ve watched a few of his videos, but find they overly long and drawn out. But I’ll try again. :)
To Robroys,
There are lots of views on those verses, but this one makes the most sense to me:
http://loveandtruth.net/brewer-divorce.html
Back then, the “any cause” divorce was used to basically “legalize” adulterous behavior.
I hope that helps you see (innocently) divorced people remarrying in a different light.
Agree. If God punished the angels that sinned by having relations with the daughters of men, how could He not punish the sons of men that attempted to have relations with the sons of God?
Genesis 6 and the days of Noah have relevance today.
I also find the reference in Ezekiel 16:49-50 ironically condemning - connecting “pride,” a staple homosexual slogan, with haughtiness and judgement.
How do they miss this?
That isn’t what the angels were judged for. It was the sex between Angels and humans mentioned in Genesis 6. Not sodomy. Sodomy was part of the sin. I believe Sodom and Gomorrah were as the Bible says “exceedingly wicked”. Jude also mentions fornication. When the Angels went after strange flesh in Genesis 6, it was in direct violation of the Creator’s command to reproduce after one’s own kind. It also brought about a certain powerful race of hybrids whom God destroyed. I think these are the origins of the Greek mythological characters. Wild I know, and foreign to our thinking. But, the more I study it the more convinced I am. One of the chief sins of Sodom was their attempt to have sex with angels. I believe they were attempting some sort of spiritual treason with this act which sealed the deal with God. They did all the other things as well. But they lived right there in the middle of where the giant tribes lived and they knew them quite well (Genesis 14). Abraham went through and wiped out Giant tribes. Joshua ended up doing the same in the cities he destroyed, except some escaped to Gaza, Gath and Ashdod (Palestinian territory today). See Joshua 11:22 on that last one.
Precisely. And these weren’t the “Righteous sons of Seth”. First, the Bible doesn’t say that, and second, if having sex with the daughters of men was frowned upon, how were they “righteous?” Text doesn’t support it at all.
What a nice way of saying the men of Sodom were trying to rape the angels.
Don’t get there without the former.
And by taking them into his house Lot was guaranteeing their safety.
For his part a lack of hospitality would be leaving them in the square.
What seems likely to have surprised Lot isn’t that someone would seek to molest them but that they would do so once under his roof.
He must have imagined the locals had accepted him, that he assumed in the first place that they wouldn’t act as he pleaded with them not to act. I believe this is indicated by what he said.
You will note, whatever the issue we see with that culture, that God neither let the men of Sodom molest Lot or his daughters.
A comparable event happened in a Benjamin much later, only in that case the Benjamite took both the visitor’s wife and threw her to those dogs. In that case the wrath of men was pretty terrible too.
As with Romans 1:18-32 accepting homosexuality isn’t where becoming depraved starts and it isn’t where it ends. Accepting homosexuality is like some canary in a coal mine, the death of which indicates that the air is getting bad. Real miners always take notice when their canaries died. Those on the road to being reprobate ... not so always.
What follows the proverbial canary dying in Romans is all sorts of bad heaped on bad ... and judging by their actions the people of Sodom had really gone down the rest of that road with gusto.
I don’t buy it ,,, inhospitality is not loving up to gays and perverts I guess .
The Bible referred to their practice as blasphemy .
King David was a ginger.
Scratch post #37; I did read to the end. (Finally.)
I have to stand by my criticism of Boswell in particular, though.
Indeed. Also, the Sethite argument doesn’t explain the giants.
It also doesn’t explain Genesis 6:9 (KJV):
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”
Noah was perfect in his GENERATIONS.
Oh, Boswell was a flake. I don’t even refer to him as a “heretic” because that implies that a once-orthodox member of a religion goes off the rails. I don’t think that Boswell was ever on the tracks.
I think a lot of people are shocked that the Bible was written 300 to 700 years after the events. I could not believe it during a Bible study class, the Minister said that the Gospels were written hundreds of years after they were on Earth. I was like WTH? And I wonder how it is possible to get facts correct especially when most people when they play “whisper down the alley” get the entire story incorrect.
How would men coupling with male angels bring back the Nephilim?
I got another for you.
When Aaron and Miriam challenged Moses they gave a public explanation but Scripture says that they really did so because Moses had married a Cushite, which would be a black woman.
Here I think the punishment given for this is interesting. While I would argue that Aaron was protected by his office (a skin disease would have disqualified him as a serving priest), Miriam was not.
Her punishment was to literally be white for a time.
If being blown to kingdom come is the punishment for being inhospitable, most of the northeast and coastal west would have been cinders long before now. But, then again, homosexuality tends to be more prevalent in those same places.
My opinion, Sodom and Gommorrah were destroyed because the populace was utterly reprobate in every regard, sexually and socially. They had no redeeming qualities. My opinion again, the sexual perversion comes with the other bad behaviors, so trying to separate them is pointless.
In order to illustrate why I think an attempt at making a distinction is incorrect, look to the Bible regarding Nineveh as well. They were spared. Why?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.