the Sodom truth?

[Mia14]

I found this article link on the debatingchristianity.com site, and I thought it was really worth reading.

Sodom truth?


Amazing how powerful words, and thier translation or mistranslation, can be.

[Jennifer5]

nothing came up when I clicked on the link

[pnggrad79]

I clicked on the link and I got "Page Cannot Be Displayed".

[Dash]

Looks like the linking tool betrayed dear Mia. It should have come out like this...

http://rainbowallianceopenfaith.home...dom_BuzzA.html

Very interesting article, by the way. I like having all the references. I was only aware of a few of them. The story of Sodom is the perfect case of misuse of scripture to demonize a group of people. I've only ever been taught that the story of Sodom is not about homosexuality...even when I was growing up in a conservative Mennonite Church. Yet, it persists as the first...almost always the very first...religious slander against gay people.

[Vanessa White]

Very, very interesting, for a person like myself who rarely feels prepared to argue points of the bible. It will help me feel better armed should I need to be at any time. Thanks, Mia.

[Jennifer5]

That is interesting... I always like hearing things like that article, I always find these things really interesting... especially when they can actually back them selves and it makes sense

[BruceChris]

It is interesting that so many people have an interpretation of the bible that they wish to share with the world. Their implication is usually that their interpretation is the the only correct one, or at least the most correct one, and of course, they all have different interpretations! From what I can see, the interpretations on this site are pretty slanted. True, they're slanted in OUR favor, but slanted, none the less. Now I'm not saying that they're wrong, but they are very much of a minority viewpoint. I think I'll stick with the view that the Bible does not say anything anti-gay, or pro-gay. Just pro-love, ours and Gods.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[suzer1013]

It's rather like the myth that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Everyone has believed it for so many years, that it became "truth."

If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it enough times, even for years, always proclaiming that this is the "truth," people will believe it to be the truth. I never knew that the Sodom and Gomorrah story wasn't really about homosexuality until several years ago, when I started looking up research and commentaries for myself.

Susan

[tdogg]

That's the problem with the 'anti-homosexual agenda' - most people skip the reading and research and go straight for the bandwagon - of someone else (who has also failed to conduct their own reading/research). It's so much easier to jump on an existing bandwagon then develop one's own opinion, especially when that opinion may end up being unpopular in one's current group of peers.

Great article - thanks for the reference Mia and the correct link Dash !

[NonLemming]

Originally Posted by Mia14

I found this article link on the debatingchristianity.com site, and I thought it was really worth reading.

Sodom truth?


Amazing how powerful words, and thier translation or mistranslation, can be.

Link came up fine for me, Mia.

I'd like to take it a step further.

Bible truth?

Discuss amongst yaselves while I melt the butta for the gahlic bread.

[BruceChris]

the Traditional Values Coalition. http://traditionalvalues.org/ These guys are every bit as homophobic as Fred Phelps himself, but they seem to take much better care of how they present themselves. Let's just hope that they are not big players.

P&L, BC

[Mia14]

I fixed the original link afterwards.

As far as the Bible, I've thought it had some wonderful ideas, but something about the fact that it was compiled by humans bothers me. Some of it is great, but much of it, for me, leaves something to be desired.

[BruceChris]

Now that we have an admittedly disputed definition for the word "sodomy", can anyone tell me just what the dickens Gomorrah-ry is?

P&L, BC

[tdogg]

Mia, those are my thoughts exactly!

BruceChris, oh there are so many ways I could go with that one....but gotta get back to my housecleaning.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Mia14

As far as the Bible, I've thought it had some wonderful ideas, but something about the fact that it was compiled by humans bothers me. Some of it is great, but much of it, for me, leaves something to be desired.

Bible--written by humans:

I see it as more of a glass half full/glass half empty type of question. Sure, I would love to be able to open my Bible to read, "Hi guys, this is God. I'm about to lay out 100 of the most important truths you need to know. Oh, yes, and I will answer every single question you could ever have." Wouldn't that be great! But of course, if the Bible said this, human nature would work to dismiss it as soon as we found something in it we didn't agree with. I don't know that anything would be different if God had bypassed human authors.

But, look at the glass half full--what do we learn through these human authors? (I'll focus on the N.T. here)

1. Even in the Gospels alone (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), we find that the writers showed different levels of skill and used different styles of writing. Often, the authors would speak differently based on their audience--sometimes aiming their writing to the Jews, sometimes to the Gentiles. You can see in their differing use of vocabulary that each writer was truly a unique individual, expressing the story through their own personality and perspective. And then, back to the Gospels, you notice that each writer puts the story in a slightly different order (which, by the way, was totally acceptable in their culture) and did not always use the same stories (there were plenty to choose from). And John--well, he wrote the history of Jesus Christ in a totally unique, and extremely theological way. When you recognize all the differences and unique perspectives of each biblical author, you then step back and look at their overall message and realize that it was the same! Every book of the New Testament shares the same foundation--Jesus Christ. In the Gospels, we have the same story, told in 4 different ways, and yet the story remains the same.

2. Back to the Gospels. Any one person could create their own religion quite easily. I think I could make up an interesting religion if I tried. But with Christianity, the main story of Jesus is told by four very different individuals. And the cool thing is that they obviously didn't get in a huddle saying, "O.K., before we write this out, let's get our story straight!" In fact, the differences that we find in each Gospel reflect the fact that the same story is being told through four different personalities, without any concern for making all four stories fit perfectly together. This actually supports the validity of the Gospels, as it points to the fact that the story remains the same, even as told by different people with different vocabularies, skill, and personalities. (Plus, you will notice that biblical writers didn't clean up the story. They included the more embarrassing aspects of those who followed Jesus. They were more interested in reporting what happened than in making themselves look good).

3. And these early Christians so believed in the story of Jesus Christ--the same one told by each N.T. writer, that they willingly suffered persecution and death for their belief.

4. AND...much of the N.T. focuses on the crucial role of the Church (all those who make up the Body of Christ...a.k.a. "Christians")...God desires to work through the Church. Jesus is no longer on earth in human form, but the Holy Spirit resides in those who follow Jesus. If God is going to work in the world, he works through his people. Once again, we are left wondering---can we trust that God can use humans to perform his will? --Human agents to reveal God's willl and heart through Scripture, human agents to be the hands and feet (and heart) of Jesus in the world....we will always come back to the question of whether or not God can really use people like us!

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

Now that we have an admittedly disputed definition for the word "sodomy", can anyone tell me just what the dickens Gomorrah-ry is?

P&L, BC

Dickens? Thought he was the author that.....oh my....Bruce Chris....you can't mean....yes?.....no?.....play on words?.....blush.

Gomorrah. I like the short answer from answers.com.

Gomorrah or Gomorrha (both: g?môr'?, –m?r'?) , in the Bible, city, destroyed with Sodom. Some have speculated that the ruins southeast of the Dead Sea at Numeira, discovered in 1973, may be those of the city.

Maybe they should have been called the Twin-Sin Cities.

Unlike Dash- I had my first inklings about the supposed evils of homosex from this much flogged biblical tale. (Homosex: an interesting word- chopping off the 'ul' leads one away from the 19th century and into the present. It's descriptive without have the pregorative tone that 'homosexual' retains in many quarters.) This bibical tale was reframed for me after reading John Boswell- God bless his soul. Amazing what a little critical thinking can do for one. The references are great. Thank you for the article.