Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah

20Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah if taken literally is yet another biblical tale riddled with myths and absurdities that defy reason. The biblical citation above in my view dispels the myth that the biblical deity is omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere). The fact that he physically had to come down to see if what he had heard about Sodom and Gomorrah was true is evidence of this.

1The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Genesis 18:1
22The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Genesis 18:22-23

The texts cited above yet again dispel another biblical myth regarding God. 

20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Exodus 33:20

When Moses requested to see God he told him the words cited above. Yet here we have Abraham talking with the Lord as if he were talking to an ordinary man! According to the scriptures no man has seen God and lived. Yet somehow Abraham seems to have amazingly escaped this fate. Not only did he see him he walked and spoke with him as he would any other person!

God basically told Moses that if he found x amount of righteous people in Sodom that he would spare the city. Abraham was able to bring God down to ten righteous people and then they parted ways. Genesis 19 narrates the tale of Lot and his escape from certain death for finding favor with the Lord.

The deeds of a righteous man of God

 What does it take to be a righteous man? The answer is simple; someone who lives according to the law and obeys God in all his ways. God sends two angels to Sodom and they are met by Lot who compels them to dine at his home and spend the night. When the men in town found out that Lot had two male guests they wanted to rape them. This is where we see the righteousness of Lot shine forth.

5They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”6Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” Genesis 19:5-8

You don't believe it? Read it again. Lot offered his own daughters to a crowd of rapists in order to protect his guests! Lot was told to flee the city as the angels revealed to him what were God's intentions for the city. Lot fled with his wife and two daughters but his sons in law refused to leave thinking that Lot was nuts.

As they fled they were instructed not to look back no matter what they heard yet Lot's wife did look back and paid for her disobedience by being turned into a pillar of salt! As a result of that Lot was left alone with his two daughters. They initially fled to a small town called Zoar but for some reason they did not stay. The bible says they were fearful to stay at Zoar so they fled to the mountains and took up residence in a cave. 

After being with dad for a bit the girls got together and had a discussion.

31One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” Genesis 19:31-32

As planned they both got their good father drunk and took turns sleeping with him! Can someone say incest?! The ending of the story is the most shocking part of this story so brace yourselves! I will let the good book tell you the rest.

36So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab ; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi ; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Now you know where the Moabites and the Ammonites came from; the incestuous relationships between Lot and his daughters! So tell me Mr. Christian how is it that this book you call the word of God is supposed to be our guide to morality again? 

To sum it all up we have learned several things. The biblical deity is neither omnipresent nor omniscient. Lot was not as righteous as we were led to think. Incest was okay back then since God did not punish Lot for being drunk nor the girls for tricking him into a sexual relationship that eventually led to pregnancy. 

Note: All biblical citations are from the New International Version 

3 comments:

  1. As with the rest of the bible: If it makes sense, it's literal; if not, it's allegorical.

    I know that this is an oversimplification, but this, along with careful cherry picking, is how christians are able to interpret the bible as "true," or as "god's word."

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    1. It's not an oversimplification at all. That's basically how theists worm their way out of ridiculous texts in the bible. If it doesn't make sense literally then it's either allegorical or metaphorical.

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  2. How come you never hear about anyone getting "Gemmorrhized?"

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