The Sin of Sodomy

Sodomy.  Now there is a great word.  Just saying it makes your mouth feel dirty.

Most people only have a vague idea what the word means.  Its origin lies in the Bible - and it means "behaving like someone who is from the city of Sodom."  The city of Sodom is well-known because it was fried by God in a shower of fire and brimstone.  But that isn't why the word is still in our vocabulary today.

In Genesis 19, there is an account of a group of men from Sodom who attempt to gang rape some angels who come to visit a guy named Lot, one of God's servants.  As a result, the word has come down to us referring to a number of different deviant sexual behaviors.  While this word has come to be used very little in the general public, it is still widely used by two groups: lawyers and religious fundamentalists.  The former use it to describe a collection of sexual crimes.  The latter use it to demean and offend homosexuals.

The irony is that the same people that spit that word out to classify and condemn gay people may, in fact, be sodomites in God's eyes.  Check out this verse:

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49

Did you catch that?  God is saying that sodomite is someone who is filled with pride, lives a life that is primarily self-focused, and ignores issues of social justice.

It is sadly ironic that some of the loudest voices attacking the "sodomites" are themselves sodomites - those who are self-centered, full of pride, and detached from the real needs of real people.  These people fancy themselves the voice of God's justice and truth - while all the while they are simply calling condemnation on themselves.

 So, what lesson should we take away from this?

That we should just sit back and mock the idiots who are giving other Christ-followers a bad name (not to mention misrepresenting Christ himself)?  That we progressive, non-politicized, freedom-embracing young evangelicals are so much better than those sign-toting, ignorant, detached-from-reality fundamentalists?

Sure - if we simply want to become what we mock.  We may not end up carrying signs of derision and mockery in front of their churches (and funerals), but we will carry the placard of pride.  We will see them as "other" and "less-than" - something we are not, and therefore worthy of our self-righteous condemnation.

So is the real lesson, then, to embrace a liberal mindset of tolerance - where tolerance means "non-judgmental acceptance"?  Is that the solution - to stay away from condemning the idiots with the signs and to stay away from any kind of stand on the scriptural stance against sexual sin?

Again, no.

I think the solution is simple - we need to recognize that we are all sodomites.  We are all broken, separated from God by our sin, walking in ways that degrade ourselves, others, and defame the glory of God.  We are all in need of rescue.

We are all in need of grace.  And it is only in drinking deeply of grace - of God's forgiveness made available to us through the sacrifice of his Son for us - that we can find a place of humble confidence that allows us to say something is sin and not condemn the sinner with feelings of superiority and self-righteousness.  The solution isn't to deny the presence of sin - it is to recognize the universal nature of sin.  And the universal need for grace.