Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah were corrupted with fornication and homosexuality, and they were boasting of it! (Jude 7, Ge.19:4-11),.. and Yahweh punished them severely.

The reason of the Corruption:

Genesis 19: 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They 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."

6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. 8 Look, 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." (Gen.19:4-8, NIT).

4 Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!" 6 Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. 7Then he said, "Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! 8I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home." (Gen.19:4-8, CEV).

Obviously Genesis is talking here about Homosexuality as the corruption, and calls it this wicked thing, a terrible thing!... so much that Lot wanted to give them his two virgin daughter to have sex with them to avoid the two men to be abused sexually by the men of Sodom

Jude 7: 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. ( Jude 1:7, KJV)

The New International Version translates, sexual immorality and perversion The Amplified Bible translates, gave themselves over to impurity and indulged in unnatural vice and sensual perversity

The Contemporary English Version translates, Their people became immoral and did all sorts of sexual sins The New International Reader's Version translates, They gave themselves over to sexual sins. They committed sins of the worst possible kind.

So Jude recounts the reason of the chastisement of Sodom as giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh... They gave themselves over to sexual sins. They committed sins of the worst possible kind... and one of the worst possible kind of sexual sins is homosexuality, most specially when it is done with a sense of pride, and public, boasting about it, shouting it to the world by words and deeds. It is like a cheater or a liar who feels proud in public to be a cheater or a liar or a thief or a criminal or an alcoholic or a drug-addict...

The Punishment:

Before the punishment Abraham argued with God: If there are 50 right ones, would you punish them?... and 45?... or 40?... or 30... or just 20, or 10?... (Gen.18) ... Abraham could not find the 10 right ones... and God destroyed them completely:

"Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land." (Gen 19:30-38)... Yes, the Bible says it was done by the Lord, by God in Person.

God in Person was also the one who sent each one of the 10 Plagues to Egypt in Exodus 7-12... and Jesus in Person will be the one who will send the bad ones to eternal Hell, as Jesus Himself proclaims in the Bible: 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:........ 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matt.25:31-32, Matt 25:41, read it in full, Matt.25:31-46, one of the best pages of the Bible).

All Along the Bible:

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah was deeply imbedded in Israelite tradition: It becomes a proverbial example as the extreme of depravity, not only for the sexual orientation, but for boasting about it: 32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness.

33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. (Deut.32:32-33).

14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah. (Jer.23:14). 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town (Matt.10:15).

23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. (Matt.11:23). 8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified (Rev.11:8). (Deut.32:32, Isa.1:10, Jer.23:14, Ezk.16:46-56, Matt.10:15, Matt 11:23, Luke.10:12, Rev.11:8).

And it also becomes a proverbial example of the anger and judgment of Yahweh: 22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it. 23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger. 24 All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?"(Deut.29:22-24).

9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of ourGod, you people of Gomorrah! (Isa.1:9-10).

16 May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. Jer.20:16). 11 "I overthrew some of you as I [d] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Am.4:11).  6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (2 Pet.2:6). (Deut.29:22-24, Isa.1:9, Jer.20:16, Jer 49:18, Jer 50:40, Lam.4:6, Amos.4:11, Zep.2:9, Luke.17:29, 2 Pet.2:6, Jude.1:7).

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is the sexual preference for and sexual behavior between members of the same sex. "Gays", between man and man, and "lesbians" between woman and woman. In the Holiness Code of Leviticus is considered "an abomination" (18:22), and such behavior was punished by death, "If a man has intercourse with a man as with a woman, both commit an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood be on their own head" (Lev.20:13).

John Paul II distinguishes between "homosexual orientation" and "homosexual acts"; the "homosexual orientation" is not a sin, but "homosexual acts" are always a sin. The New Testament mentions it as "shameful passions" and "perversion", "God has given them up to shameful passions. among them women have exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and men too, giving up natural relations with women, burn with their lust for one another, males behave indecently with males, and are paid in their own persons the fitting wage of such perversion" (Rom.1:26-27).

The Bible does not recognize homosexuality as biologically constitutional, genetic, or hereditary, but sees its roots in the sinful nature of man, a psychosocial, learned behavior, expressing rebellion against God and calling for redemption. Such persons are responsible for their behavior. This is a very complex psychological problem with many possible roots or causes, calling for both Christian compassion and God's redemptive power through the Gospel.

Number one, we should never judge anyone else (Matt.7:1-4). Number two, Jesus can deliver us from any sin and any vice or iniquity. At Calvary he paid for both, for all our sins, and for the factories to make sins, for our iniquities or vices, as described by Isaiah 53:4-5. Any time you and I commit a sin, we should go immediately to Confession, up to seventy times seven, always!… always trust in the Lord!… and God will deliver us at its due time, for the Israelites took 430 years to be delivered from the Egyptian slavery!.

Worse Sin than Homosexuality:

But there is another sin much worse than homosexuality, and that is "prostitution against God", to go after Baal and trust in him, or trust in money, or power, or glory, instead of trusting in God… this is the worse sin along the

Bible, the sin we most often commit, and the one we usually don't confess!. "Truly I tell you, on the Day of Judgment it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town… as for you, Capernaum… it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you" (Matt.10:15, Matt 11:23)... and every time we sin, "we crucify again the Son of God and hold him up to mockery" (Heb.6:6). Sodomy:

From Sodom, means a man who has sexual relations with another man. It comes from the episode of Genesis 19, when the two messengers of Yahweh are received as guests by Lot, the men of Sodom attempt to assault them sexually, preferring the two men even to the two virgin daughters of Lot, boasting about their sexual orientation and desires... and Sodom was destroyed by a rain of fire and sulfur from the heavens (Gen.19:24).

Anal sex is also considered as Sodomy. "Sodomite" is the one who practices such acts of sodomy.