It was general wickedness – not just gay sex – which killed off the city of Sodom

I watched a recent clip on television of a Christian minister commenting on the issue of same-sex or ‘equal’ marriage in his sermon.
The BibleThe Bible
The Bible

Whilst his tone may have sounded severe, I know that the media can pick phrases out of context, and it would seem anything said by Christians not totally in favour of the LGBT lifestyle will be subjected to the ire of the media and gay activists.

I do not know if Yeshua (Jesus) would have expressed it in exactly the same way.

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Firstly, the usage of the word “sodomy” in relation to male homosexuality ignores the fact that heterosexuals also commit this proscribed act.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

The word comes from the city of Sodom in the Bible which God informed Abraham He was going to destroy as there were not even 10 righteous people in it.

The whole city was doomed as virtually the whole population were evil and corrupt in God’s sight, before the incident with the angels.

People say to me homosexuality was the only sin that God destroyed a city for. But in fact it seems to be its general extent of sin and depravity, which was reaching Heaven, not that He was going to destroy it specifically because men slept with men.

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Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in Sodom, and when the angels go to his house to tell him of the impending judgement, a crowd surrounds the house wanting to gang rape them, but Lot offers his two daughters instead.

The Hebrew word for “men” (of the city), as it is usually rendered into English translations of the Bible, is “anashim”. This means “people” (Genesis 19:4). The Hebrew word for “men” is “geverim”.

The whole city were guilty and involved, not solely male homosexuals – otherwise why would Lot offer his daughters to “gay” men?

The term “sodomite” so often used by Christians to describe male homosexuals simply means a resident of Sodom in the Bible, and the word “sodomy” is not a Biblical word at all, but a man-made invention. Like the media, Christians can highlight phrases out of context.

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God did not destroy Sodom for solely one sin, but for collective sin. It may be a case of translators’ bias – although it still does not take away from the fact that God clearly forbids homosexuality elsewhere in the Bible in the strongest terms.

If the word sodomite is to be used at all today, it should be to refer to people who are generally sinful – not just gay people.

Colin Nevin, Bangor (Mr Nevin formerly lived in Israel, and has knowledge of Hebrew)

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