Sodom & Gomorrah

(Written after seeing "Clash of the Titans" and I can't help but see some similarities between God's relationship with the people in the Bible, and the gods' (like Zeus') relationship with the humans in Greek mythology, i digress once again).
Judging by the title, some of you might be wondering how I am going to approach such an oft-cited moment in biblical history.  But one reason I'm reading the Bible is to determine if, as is often said, there are moments where the Bible has been misused or misinterpreted.  For example, when I was growing up, Sodom & Gomorrah (S&G) represented evil, wicked cities where people had sex with everyone for sport.  This story conjures up images of homosexuals practicing "Sodomy" with reckless abandon...ostensibly against man's and God's laws. 

Sodomy: 

**Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French sodomie, from Late Latin Sodoma Sodom; from the homosexual proclivities of the men of the city in Gen 19:1–11

Date: 13th century

: anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex; also : copulation with an animal

And I was taught that because of this behavior, God destroyed these cities. Of course later on I learned that God mainly destroyed these cities because too few righteous people lived there.  Here, I hope to provide a concise and complete summary of the demise of S&G.
First, this story should begin with the omnipresent/omniscient God discussing S&G's demise with Abraham (still known as Abram at this point), "I have heard a great outcry from [S&G], because their sin is so flagrant.  I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard."  Genesis 18:20-21 (why does God have to 'go down' to determine wickedness of S&G? - also, 'going down' reminds me of Clash of Titans, where the gods similarly would often 'go down' to check on human population.  Abraham asks God if He plans on killing the wicked and righteous people alike.  Abraham intercedes on Sodom's behalf, trying to persuade God to spare the righteous (now i see he was not interceding on Sodom's behalf, but on his son's behalf as he knew his son and family resided in Sodom). He starts by asking whether God will still destroy the cities if 50 righteous people are found, and God said he would not.  Abraham chips away at this number, ending up with 10 and the Lord replied, "Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten."  Gen. 18:32. 

So, any basic reading of that last scripture reveals that homosexuality is not the issue with respect to the city's destruction.  God decided to destroy the city only if ten righteous people were not found in all of S&G.  But of course we all know God ultimately destroyed S&G, so presumably ten righteous folks could not be found anyway.

And the saga continues, with two angels appearing at the entrance of the city where Lot, Abraham's son, finds them.  Lot invites the angels to his home and they replied, "Oh no, we'll just spend the night out here in the city square."  Gen. 19:1-2.  Lot insisted and they went home with him.  He prepared a feast, they ate well, and before they retired for bed "all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to spend the night with you?  Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!'"  Gen. 19:4-5.  

Wow! Are they serious? Gang raping?  Well, yeah that would be a wicked thing...gang raping a guest of your neighbor!  Hello?  Very few experiences I imagine are more wicked.  They seemed intent on getting some same sex angel booty even when Lot offered his two virgin daughters instead, "Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection."  Gen.19:8.       

This guy is not making a LOT of sense.  I wonder if offering your virgin daughters (if so lucky to have any) was custom in the event a gang of anus-thirsty men came banging on your door to run a train on your male visitors?!!  Odd, I tell you.  Luckily the angels finally decided to use their powers by blinding all the rabid rapists, and they gave up their anal mission.  Lot and company escaped before the cities are burned, of course his wife turned back during the escape, against direct advice, and turned into dust.

But maybe homosexuality was accepted back then, and deemed wicked only a gang raping?  I say this because unbeknownst to me prior to this reading, another similar instance occurred in the book of Judges.  And here again, there is no clear admonishment of the gay lifestyle generally.  This is the story of the Levite and the Concubine, during the days when "Israel had no king and all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes".  Judges 21:25. 

This Levite was living in Ephraim, and he brought home a woman from Bethlehem to be his concubine.  She is angered by him and returns to her father in Bethlehem.  He chases after her, greets and eats with her father for a few days, left with her towards home, and made a pit stop in Gibeah's town (land of the tribe of Benjamin) square.  An older resident saw them and took them to his home to wash their feet, eat and drink.  And then....

"While they were enjoying themselves, a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, 'Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.'"  Judges 19:22.  Oddly enough, the old man replies, "No, my brothers, don't do such an evil thing.  For this man is a guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. Here, take my virgin daughter and this man's concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you like. But don't do such a shameful thing to this man."  Judges 19:23-24.  Notice also how he didn't ask, but just offered up the Levite's concubine!!
In this story, the willing Levite throws his concubine out and the gang rapes her until the morning. The Levite discovers her dead before they reach home in the afternoon or evening.  "When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body into twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe throughout all the territory of Israel."  Judges 19:29.  This sparked Israel's war with the tribe of Benjamin, which tribe was soundly defeated, and whose remaining men were provided wives by Israel.  See Judges 21.  (Incidentally, the tribe of Benjamin was allowed, after realizing that 400 virgins was not enough for their men, to lie in wait and kidnap women of Shiloh during an annual festival of the Lord. See Judges 21:10-24).

I think it is safe to say that S&G being described as the cities destroyed because of homosexuality can cease and officially be deemed a misinterpretation.  The story of S&G did not articulate that homosexuality was banned, deemed illegal or even immoral in God's eyes.  The gang raping was deemed wicked in both instances by God and man.  And it's direct evidence that the gang raping happened in other cities, albeit not as pervasively as S&G (notice how in the story in Judges, only "a crowd of troublemakers" were involved, whereas in S&G "all the men of Sodom, young and old" are implicated).

I choose not to fully address the treatment of women in this post, but these stories also illustrate what value is placed on women, as in both cases men volunteered (never was it demanded of them) their virgin daughters and concubines, and urged angry mobs to do whatever they liked with them, all in the name of protecting male overnight guests in town.  In closing, I did not walk away from either of these stories with the feeling that God outlawed homosexuality.  I walked away understanding the punishment of S&G to be more related to the fact that not even 10 righteous people could be found (God didn't demand that Abraham find 10 heterosexuals).  I also walked away with the feeling that homosexuality was a part of life back in those days, and that gang raping, of a woman or a man, was deemed wicked and shameful in the eyes of God and mankind.

My guess is that since this word (sodomy) and story (Sodom & Gomorrah) has been ingrained in our heads for such a long time, at such an early age, most who violently disagree with homosexuality (and base it on this story) tend to subconsciously relate it back to gang raping, anarchy, and generally "evil" lifestyle where even male angels were almost gang raped and cities were destroyed. Actual facts of this story beg to differ.  We just have not been using our heads on this one.  Thanks for reading and I remain open to hearing any interpretations of this story, biblically supported or not, that differ or contradict mine. Feel free to comment.      

The Creation and Noah

So, I thought it fitting to give thanks and stop where I am (just beginning Proverbs) and blog about my experience thus far in reading the Bible from the very beginning to the very end.  For what it's worth i also wish to share that I am reading the "New Living Translation" of the Bible.

Let me also state up front that my purpose is neither to criticize the Bible nor praise every word.  However, some of my reaction will involve things in The Good Book that confuse me, inspire me, and teach me something I had not previously known.  I imagine many people have never, and maybe will never, read the entire book and some of my reactions may prove informative for them, and may even lead some to read the book for him/herself.

But before I get into quotes and discussion, I would like to share an overall opinion.  Thus far, I get the impression that this book (especially the first five books of Moses, known as The Pentateuch) sets out to establish God's relationship ("unfailing love") and the concomitant covenants He made with the people of Israel, solely the people of Israel.  Any and all other people are treated as enemies unless such foreigners wish to join or ally themselves with Israel, ridding themselves of their gods and choosing instead to worship the all-powerful God of Israel.  Also, whenever the people of Israel lose focus and worship other gods, the God of Israel allows pagan nations, such as the Philistines and Egypt, to rule over Israel as punishment for any number of years.  Once they realize their demise is due to their sinning (worshiping other gods and ignoring God's regulations), they beg for forgiveness and the God of Israel returns and protects them once again.  Israel is portrayed throughout as God's chosen and highly favored people. 

But let me begin with interesting moments in the book of Genesis.  Other entities seem to be referenced in Genesis, leading me to believe God is working alongside similarly intelligent/wise beings. See Genesis 3:22 (Then the Lord God said, "Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil.").  I presume God, in saying "us", is speaking about other celestial beings as Adam/Eve are banished from Eden, but it's not specified.  Not only is there a reference to other celestial beings knowing good and evil like God, there's reference to other humans in the world when God punishes Cain for slaying his younger brother Abel.  Cain's main fear with his punishment, "You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer.  Anyone who finds me will kill me!"  Genesis 4:14.  So Cain seems to be aware of other human life that is not in God's presence as he was, and that those individuals are likely to harm him.  God shares the same awareness and replied (before putting a mark on Cain to warn anyone who kills him), "No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you."  At that moment of course, God seemed to be physically among Adam/Eve/Cain/Abel...physically present and visible.

So the story progresses, Adam/Eve have another son, Seth, and they all live for over 900 years, multiplying the earth until God sees nothing but evil all around. As you know, God destroys the world, and saves Noah, who back then was the only "blameless" man around.   All of the world is said to be descendants of Noah.

I will end this entry with my reactions to God's early punishments.  As mentioned earlier, Cain, a crop farmer and first son of Adam/Eve, slew his younger brother Abel, a shepherd, because of the following:

"When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift - the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift."  Genesis 4:3-5.  We are not told why Cain nor his gift was rejected by God.  But God saw how dejected and angry Cain looked and said the following, ""You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master."  Gen. 4:7.  Maybe this was a test by God to see how the older brother will react to this favoritism God seemingly showed his younger brother.  Maybe God needed more than the crops Cain offered, or maybe Cain should have brought God his best crops, as Abel brought God "the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock."  Seems like a misunderstanding gone bad to me. 

Later, and after blameless Noah and his family are saved via the Ark during the flood, and after God confirms his covenant with Noah and his descendants, the relationship between Noah's sons (Ham, Shem, Japheth) is explained.  See, Noah cultivated the land after the flood and planted a vineyard. And as you know, he became drunk off the wine he had made and lay naked inside his tent.  Ham, father of Canaan, sees his father naked and tells his brothers, who, without seeing him naked, covered him with a robe.   Noah cursed Canaan, the son of Ham for what Ham had done, "May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives. May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant! May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant." Gen. 9:25-27.

Of course i was confused by the "crime" and the punishment, confused further as to how Noah had power to curse anyone, let alone his own son's descendants.  Fast forward to the story of Lot and his daughters post destruction of Sodom/Gomorrah.  Lot's older daughter convinced the younger in an indecent proposal, "There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can't get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father."  Gen. 19:31-32.

Surely, God must have co-signed Noah's curse against Ham's child Canaan (the alleged ancestor of Africans), but why no cursing of the daughters of Lot, who got him drunk with intent to have sex with and be impregnated by their father?  Incest was accepted and in some ways expected back in those days.  But the reason why Canaan was cursed for his father Ham accidentally seeing his grandfather Noah naked escapes me.  And why Ham wasn't cursed is interesting as well.  In fact, I had always thought of it as Ham's curse, so i learned something new there!!  Incidentally, this curse has been used to justify the enslavement of Africans.

In my next entry I plan on discussing Sodom/Gomorrah and other issues.  Ride with me.       

On Reading the Bible

Well, ladies and gentleman. Yours truly has begun reading the entire Bible, aka "The Good Book" from front to back. Like many of you, I was raised with a Bible in my baby carriage, immersed in Christianity before i could even think on my own. And so was my mother, as was her mother, and so on until you reach far enough into the peculiar history and see this same religion being imposed on African slaves forcefully, the only option to conversion being death of course. Sadly, this was done before any slaves were even taught to read English. Very vivid images of this process and others can be seen in Haile Gerima's film entitled, "Sankofa". But I digress.

So, why am i reading "The Good Book?" I am reading it out of sheer curiosity. Mind you, I am reading this book with full knowledge that it has been edited, and edited, and I read it knowing full well that its translation to English significantly takes away its original meaning. The fact that books were purposely omitted is recognized as well.  As you know the Bible, after having been spread orally for centuries was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It was translated to Old English in the 7th Century. I choose to read this book because it is one of the most important, most often read and discussed, books in world history. I simply want to empower myself in the event I end up in yet another discussion about the Bible.

This book has been promoted as the "infallible word of God." While it was written (and edited) by humans, it is said to have been inspired by God. I have been told many things about this book. And throughout the years I have developed my own opinions on the matter. But ultimately I thought to myself, how can I claim to have any footing or foundation in the Bible if I had never taken the time to read every word?  So i began reading it recently, while taking copious notes. I am in the end nothing more than a truth seeker, SO I SEEK (Remix of TLC's "So I Creep" is on the way)!!

I want to experience the book for myself for the first time. Sure, like many others, I've gone to church and heard others' interpretations. But I am not a great spectator, and I choose to use my freedom and education to develop and reach an informed understanding of The Good Book. Please share this experience with me as I blog every now and then throughout this process.

Before the end of 2010, and probably during Ramadan, i also plan on reading the entire Qur'an as well.  Insha'allah.