chool and allowing women to come to church in fine jewelry or without a hat; yet preachers allow it. In biblical times there was no understanding of homosexuality as a sexual orientation. Our question today is about people and their relationships, not just about sex. The story of Sodom is probably the most famous Bible passage that deals with homosexuality, or at least, is said to deal with it. It is found in the book of Genesis.A man named Lot offered two angels, who came to the city of Sodom, a place to stay for the night. In that day and age, hospitality was extremely important. But, later that night, the men of the city came to Lot’s house and asked for the two men staying there, so that they could “know” them. 11 Most people believe it means the men of Sodom were interested in taking the two men at Lot’s house for the purposes of sex and that was their sin. However, there are 943 times that the translation of “to know” someone has been used in the Old Testament and only ten of them refer to sex. Many people argue that it simply means that the men of Sodom wanted to find out who these strangers were and what they were doing in their town. After all, Lot was not a native of Sodom and they were unhappy with his inviting strangers to stay with him. Whenever reference is made to Sodom in the rest of the Bible, there is no mention of sexual offense except that of adultery. Moreover, it is the inhospitableness of the people of Sodom because they refused to take in needy travelers, that was, in God’s eyes, a great sin. Even Jesus understood the sin of Sodom as the sin of inhospitality. Many other passages in the Bible say exactly that. Yet people continue to cite the story of Sodom to condemn gay and lesbian people. The irony of Sodom is that the very people that oppress homosexuals because of the supposed “sin of Sodom” may themselves be the real “sodomites,” a...
