Sitting around with the family the conversation turned to religion. My cousin then went on to discuss things he’s come to the conclusion about wrapping up with talking about it being the end times and drawing a parallel to Sodom and Gomorrah and modern day sodomites... I’m sitting there and legit go... Mom isn’t happy hahahahaha
It's sad to see that after millennia of human existence, people are still buying into bullshit like this. Politicians and companies are destroying the environment. Innocent children suffer with violence and abuse. Governments spend absurds amount of cash on all kinds of weapons and killing machines. But according to some people, the end of the world is coming because Steve kissed his boyfriend. How nice it would be if people used the energy and time they spend on attacking and killing LGBT+ people, black people, women and other groups for something constructive that would actually help the world. "But who cares about violence and corruption, right? The real problem is gay marriage!" ¬¬ It doesn't make any sense.
Every time I hear the term sodomy or sodomites I do an eye roll. It's really plumbing the depths of biblical literacy to reference this story as evidence of anything at all, but why worry about biblical literacy if you can snip out a few lines to undergird some petty mindedness or prejudice of your own? If anything is bringing us closer to the end times it's more likely to be along the lines of what @Chiroptera wrote about, summarised as human selfishness and greed.
It’s not likely the sin your cousin had in mind, but the US is absolutely committing the sin of Gomorrah that Jesus and other prophets in the Bible actually itemized. Ezekiel talked about the sins of Sodom being that they were over fed, unconcerned and didn’t take care of the poor and needy. Jesus talked about Sodom being unwelcoming to strangers. So, Republicans and the Evangelicals who empower them are absolutely committing the sins of Sodom as we speak on our border. And it is damning.
That's just something we as gay people tell each other about the whole "Sodom and Gommorah" thing to feel better. That the "sin" of Sodom and Gommorah was that they were "unwelcoming to strangers," but I've studied the bible pretty extensively and it's quite clear that the "sin" of "Sodom" is homosexuality. You can whitewash it all you want but whoever wrote the book of lies was a homo-hater.
Was it the only reason? I've read that the reason lesbian relationships, for example, were specifically cited in certain passages was due to it being one of the defining features of ancient Egyptian culture. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-way-of-the-gentiles/
Ezekiel 16:49-50 New International Version (NIV) 49 “‘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. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Matthew 10:14-15 . (Jesus talking) "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." Ok.
I don’t disagree that those who translated and formed the Bible as is today let personal bias in. There’s many things I find problematic with scripture but I actually agree with the statement the other person made... I mean when the crowd called for them to turn over the angels for them to “have” it kinda points out what some scholars feel about the other scriptures regarding men lying with men and such... it’s not about consensual sexual acts but rather sexual violence. Something that happened between slaves and their masters, generals and young soldiers, etc.
People believe a lot of stupid stuff. I think there was an English politician who was suspended from his job when he said that the bad weather that year was a punishment from God for legalizing gay marriage. My own personal problem with the Bible is men, men and more men. It’s all about the men. Men wrote it, the twelve apostles were all men and we should worship the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. I fully believe the Bible is a bunch of made up stories used to control people.
Who are we to judge one another as human beings? All the verbal stories before the bible written, nothing ever got changed in the telling? All the times the bible was translated, nothing ever was changed? Our words today mean the same as they did two thousand years ago? To me the bible means love and compassion not anger and judgement from one another. People that hate, how bad are they broken inside that they act the way they do? To make themselves feel better? Those of us that have been broken, (Maybe still a little broken. depending on the day, lol) and have began rebuilding the foundations of their/our lives are the strongest of all!
