Sodom and Gomorrah

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a good place to start the journey of discovering what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.  It is the one passage in the Bible dealing with homosexuality that I have most easily formed a firm opinion on.

The story of Sodom an Gomorrah
This passage is where a lot of condemnation of homosexuality stems from.  'Sodomy laws' throughout the world make it illegal to engage in anal sex.  The Oxford dictionary defines sodomy as 'anal intercourse'.  It's pretty well accepted that 'sodomites' are people who engage in anal intercourse.  A clear link has been established between male homosexuals (who engage in anal intercourse) and the people of Sodom.

The next logical question is: What happened in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? For those of you who haven't read the story, you can read it here.  Essentially, two male strangers (who are angels) come to Sodom and stay with one of Abraham's buddies, but the men of the town are suspicious and demand that they come out so that they can rape them.  God proceeds to entirely destroy Sodom and Gomorrah in a violent way (raining down burning sulfur).

So that's settled then... male homosexuals are so evil that God destroyed a city full of them.  Well actually it's a bit more complicated then that.

The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
Even though sodomy legislation around the world seems to suggest that the sin of Sodom was the desire to have male to male anal intercourse, it's worth having a look at what the Bible has to say about Sodom.  When telling the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis doesn't go into specifics about what their sin was.  Below is a complete list of what the other books of the Bible have to say about Sodom.  A lot of the verses aren't directly relevant as they simply liken nations that displease God to Sodom, so I have highlighted with red text the more relevant verses that talk about the sin of Sodom.

• Deuteronomy 29:23-26 say that God will destroy the land to be like Sodom and Gomorrah when people 'abandon the covenant of the Lord' and have 'worshiped other gods and bowed down to them'.
• Deuteronomy 32:32 refers to people whose 'vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah'.  Earlier in the passage, it refers to people who have turned away from God and followed idols (among other things).
• Isiah 1:9-10 also refers to Sodom and Gomorrah in the context of punishing Israel for turning away from God.  It then says to the 'rules of Sodom' that God doesn't care about the 'multitude of your sacrifices' and says to 'stop doing wrong.  learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.'
• Isiah 3:9 once again refers to Israel as parading 'their sins like Sodom' when people oppress each other, the young rise up against the old etc.
• Isiah 13:19 talks about Babylon being overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Jeremiah 23:14 says the prophets of Jerusalem are like Sodom to God because they 'commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.'
• Jeremiah 49:18 and Jeremiah 50:40 liken the destruction of a place to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Lamentations 4:6 likens punishment of Israel to that of Sodom.
• Ezekiel 16:46-56 likens sinful Jerusalem to Sodom.  At verse 49 it says: ''  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.' It then goes to talk about the fortunes of Sodom being restored etc.
• Amos 4:11 and Zephaniah 2:9 both liken God's punishment to the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Matthew 10:15 says it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than for a town that rejects the disciples Jesus sent out.
• In Matthew 11:23-24 Jesus denounces towns in which miracles were performed but where they did not repent, saying that Sodom would have remained to this day if those same miracles had been performed there.
• Luke 10:12 is similar to Mathew 10:15, saying it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than for a town that does not welcome the disciples Jesus sent out.
• Luke 17:29 talks about how people were 'eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building' before the sudden destruction of Sodom, and how it will be like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
• Romans 9:29 refers back to Isiah 1:9 and God's punishment, saying unless God had left some descendants, all of Israel would have been destroyed.
• 2 Peter 2:6 says God made Sodom and Gomorrah an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, in the context of establishing that God ' knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment'.  It then goes on to say 'this is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority'.
• Jude 1:7 talks about Sodom and Gomorrah giving themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.
• Revelation 11:8 says that the 'great city' is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt (where the two witnesses of God are killed by the beast that comes up from the Abyss.

In summary, the Bible verses that directly talk about the sins of Sodom say that the sin of Sodom was adultery, sexual immorality and perversion, but they also say that it was, arrogance and  not helping the poor and needy.  From these verses it appears there is no single sin that can be attributed as the sin of Sodom. 

However, as this study is taking longer than expected and I'm about to cook dinner, I'll continue to explore the issue of 'sodomy' and what the story might mean for us today in my next post...