To many anti-gay Christians, I'm nothing more than a "sodomite" who is damned for all eternity. It doesn't matter that I've spent the last decade immersed in the Bible, ancient biblical languages, and the Christian theological tradition. It doesn't matter that I've dedicated my life to preaching, teaching, and ministering to all people, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The simple fact that I'm an openly gay man makes all of that irrelevant. To anti-gay Christians, God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in chapter 19 of the Book of Genesis is a warning to people like me.
Ironically, I believe that these anti-gay Christians actually have it backwards. The true sin of the Sodomites as described in the Bible has nothing to do with same-sex acts per se. Rather, the ancient Sodomites were punished by God for far greater sins: for attempted gang rape, for mob violence, and for turning their backs on strangers and the needy who were in their midst. In other words, the real sin of Sodom was radical inhospitality. And, ironically, it is often anti-gay Christians who are most guilty of this sin today.
That the sin of the ancient Sodomites was inhospitality was not news to me, but I expect that many who read the piece will not have known. In the desert environment, refusing hospitality to travelers could have meant death for them. Even today, people in the Middle East take hospitality far more seriously than folks in the West. Read the entire article, because it's quite good. I'm pleased to see this information at The Huffington Post.
H/T to Ann at Facebook for the link.
Yeah, I guess it doesn't hurt to keep repeating what the real "sins" were of the Sodomites. Especially since I'm about to do something like that on my blog to counter the attacks being lobbed in the name of God at the LGBT community locally.
ReplyDeleteSCG, my only surprise in the article was that the Hebrew word for what the Sodomites wanted to do to the strangers is yada. The first thought that popped into my mind was that they wanted to talk the travelers to death. I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. Afterward, I pulled myself together and got serious again.
ReplyDeleteBut if you don't believe in god why should any of this matter to you?
ReplyDeleteweirdly, the phrase "radical inhospitality" put me instantly in mind of Derrick's parents, throwing their son out of home because of the media fuss over his wanting to go to the prom with his boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteTechnically the concept of hospitality doesn't apply to family (or does it?), and yet it seems the same thing.
In the Gospels, Jesus refers four times to the sin of Sodom:
ReplyDeleteMatthew 10:15: I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
Matthew 11:23: 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.
Matthew 11:24: But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
Luke 10:12: I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Not one of the four refers to homosexuality.
Patrick Chang, the author, will be leading a queer Asian spirituality retreat this weekend. I'm attending. Woohoo! He'll soon start teaching at Episcopal Divinity School, so good for us.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see his piece is making the rounds. I found the discussion in the comments rather disappointing though. Too many fundagelicals on the one hand, and rabid atheists on the other for the conversation to be very edifying.
Wilfried, lucky you. Woohoo! And good that Patrick will be teaching at EDS.
ReplyDeleteI read only a few of the comments, but a good many were the same old, same old, which cause my eyes to glaze over. I liked the comment on the Hebrew word yada:
LOL "yada"
Ironic that it should cause such a fuss!
What can I say? Yada, yada, yada. I'm ironic to a fault.