Homosexuality and the Sin of Sodom

In her book entitled, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield notes that homosexuality is only a symptom of the condition of one's heart, reflecting where someone has been. It is not the root problem itself, and in fact, the sin of Sodom (which is often assumed to be homosexuality based on the narrative of Sodom's judgment by God in Genesis 19) is not as offensive to God as those of His chosen people, the Israelites.

The root sins of both Sodom and Jerusalem are actually very similar, but Jerusalem's is more offensive and more dangerous because unlike the Sodomites, the Jewish people had seen the power of God on display and had been the recipients His mercy and other spiritual blessings.They knew God's power and mercy, so they knew better, yet they forsook Him anyway, whereas Sodom had not received the spiritual blessings bestowed upon the nation of Israel.

"And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day." (Matthew 11:23, NIV)

Ezekiel 16 clarifies the sin of Sodom as being something to which we call all relate, for while we may not all struggle with homosexuality, we are all tempted by the same root sins that were merely manifested as homosexuality and violence in the Sodom account. God references the sin and judgment of Sodom to reveal the greater sin of the Jewish people.

48 "As surely as I live," declares the Sovereign Lord, "your sister Sodomn and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant,overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did destable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.."  (Ezekiel 16:48-50, NIV)

Rosaria Butterfield summarizes the fundamental "sins of Sodom" described in Ezekiel 16:48-50 as follows:

1. Pride, which puffs up and provides a false sense of independence (when we should be completely dependent upon God) and entitlement, is the root of all other sins.
2. Materialism/Excess:  Focusing on acquiring increased wealth, being entertainment driven, refusing to live below your means, and having an overabundance of idleness will lead us away from God's standard.  Rosaria explains that we develop an acquired taste for God’s standard as we discipline our minds, hands, time, and money. Rosaria writes, "Undisciplined tastes will always lead to egregious sin, slowly and almost imperceptibly.
3. Lack of Mercy: The first 52 verses of Ezekiel 16 describe the sins and subsequent judgment of Sodom, Jerusalem, and Samaria, but five of the last 11 verses explicity speak of God's mercy, restoration, and atonement as these nations acknowledge their sin while experiencing the consequences of those sins. God offers hope and compassion despite the long list of ways they have repeatedly betrayed their holy God. God calls us to be merciful to others just as we have received His mercy. The call to offer mercy, compassion, and charity is both for our own good and for the good of the community.
4.  Lack of Discretion or Modesty

After considering and summarizing Rosaria's insights referenced above, I considered how those core sins are obviously at the root of many of the social/political issues evangelical conservatives speak out against today, such as abortion, gay marriage, pay-for-play, media deception to serve political interests, IRS targeting of conservatives, illegal spying, refusing to apply the rule of law to the Clinton scandals, entitlement mentality, socialism, transgender ideology and the child abuse inherent in medical group advocacy of chemical and surgical gender transition. But then I had to consider that Christians also manifest these same core sins with behaviors that do not seem as appalling to the church community, yet they are just as repulsive to God (and even more so) than those of unbelievers, even radical pro-abortion, atheistic, progressive lesbians like Rosaria was before Christ completely transformed her heart, mind, and life.

Consider the following sampling of behaviors, actions, or choices in light of the four core sins of Sodom:

• Taking advantage of meal deals, coupon programs, or loop holes in a way never intended by the business provider
• Overstating tax deductions when filing income taxes
• Refusing to engage in your community because you require copious amounts of "downtime"
• Excluding neighbors, classmates, or other acquaintances from a social function you are hosting because you do not want to associate with or be seen with people who are different from you or who are not as classy or affluent as you would prefer
• Skimping on your tithe to the church by redirecting that money to a charitable organization where your name or business will be promoted as a result
• Reading Fifty Shades of Grey or viewing pornography for pleasure or simply out of curiosity or peer pressure
• Virtue signaling on social media with demands for large government funding of programs and entitlements for illegal immigrants or refugees while refusing to welcome strangers into your own home
• Gossiping about or even slandering those who are different from you, who have inadvertently offended you, or who you envy 
• Claiming to be a victim entitled to special treatment instead of taking personal responsibility and asking God to give you resilience or help you overcome 
• Bearing false witness to accomplish an earthly goal while justifying your deception with the false notion that the ends justifies the means.
• Committing gluttony at every church potluck in the name of "spiritual fellowship" or in the privacy of your own home for "comfort" 
• Softening and distorting the gospel to win more "converts" without sharing the truth that Christianity involves suffering, sacrifice, and full surrender of one's entire life to Christ, giving these so called "converts" false hope that a simple prayer offered with questionable sincerity is all that is required for salvation and sanctification
• Posting pictures of yourself in a skimpy outfit on social media to show off your new toned body following a rigorous diet/exercise program
• Spending far more time and money on your outward appearance, vacations, entertainment, or on acquiring expensive material possessions than you invest in God's kingdom
• Church and ministry leaders focusing more on being relevant and entertaining than on delivering truth and compassion
• Church and ministry leaders spending more time and money on externals (facilities, audio/visual equipment, coffee and doughnuts) than on meeting physical and spiritual needs
• Rejecting accountability
• Refusing to make Bible study and prayer daily priorities because you are "too busy" with lesser things
• Relying on Ted Talks, business tools and metrics, secular advisers, financial resources, and other worldly means for knowledge on building healthy marriages, families, ministries, and businesses instead of relying fully on God and His word for wisdom and guidance
• Brushing off or concealing legitimate sexism or abuse with the dangerously deceptive mantra, "Boys will be boys"
• Laughing at crude or defamatory comments
• Refusing to stand up and pray for those who are being persecuted for Christ's sake

When we Christians speak out against gay marriage, abortion, greed/entitlement centered socialism, or any of the other secular progressive issues listed above, do we first acknowledge our own behaviors which are rooted in the same sins of pride, materialism, lack of mercy, and/or immodesty?

Are we humble enough to realize that we are only able to overcome our sin struggles as God's word in us becomes bigger than ourselves?

Are we seeking to win converts to our opinions or political preferences, or are we seeking to introduce the lost to the only hope of the world, Christ our Savior?

Are we seeking to condemn the world (John 3:17) or to show the lost the unconditional love of Christ? Without receiving God's love, no one can truly love God or others according to God's perfect standard, and without love, there is only death. (1 John 4:8, 1 John 3:14)

After her radical conversion from atheism, lesbianism, and radical leftism to becoming a fully devoted Bible believing, faithful follower of Christ, Rosaria wrote, “My sexuality wasn’t sinful because it was lesbian per say but because it wasn’t Christ controlled." 

What areas in our lives are not Christ controlled?  Until every area of our lives are surrendered to Christ's lordship, we cannot judge the homosexual's sin as being any worse than our own, but we can offer them hospitality, compassion, and God's uncompromising truth with humility, impartiality, and love.

Gardening for the Soul

The recent news of Kate Spade's sudden death has me pondering once again the pervasive suffering and overwhelming anguish that plagues our society.

We have been born into a fallen world, so we will all experience suffering and trials in this life. The trials may come in the form of overwhelming loss, injustice, oppression, miserable circumstances, mental or physical disability, broken relationships, anxiety, stress, or fear. The struggles may be external or internal. They could be physical, chemical, or spiritual in origin, but no matter how those struggles manifest themselves, we at least share in common the certainty that difficult seasons are a given in life. We may never understand why God allows some people to suffer exceedingly more than others, with some so overwhelmed by crippling anxiety and depression that they falsely perceive suicide as the only relief, but we must cling to the truth. God is good. He is perfect in love, and He is sovereign over all.  While we can't answer all the why questions or see how God could possibly work any of this for good, we have to trust Him, knowing that while our perception and understanding are finite, He is infinite.  His plans, purposes, and ways are higher and better than ours.(Isaiah 55:9) While God doesn't promise to remove us from difficulty, He does promise to go with us through each trial, to redeem those trials for good, and to use them to help us grow into His likeness, all for His glory.

The way God works through our suffering reminds me of gardening imagery presented in Jonathan Cahn's must read work, The Book of Mysteries. God created man and woman in His own image and placed them in a garden to tend, just as God is the gardener over all, including our souls.

When Jesus took on all our sins on the cross and died, his body was placed inside a tomb in a garden. Just as a seed must die and be buried before it can produce new life, Jesus died, and His body was placed under the earth for a time, so that He could bring forth new life. His followers were devastated by grief, desperately confused, and without hope. Had they forsaken all to follow Him only to be abandoned? They did not yet understand that Jesus HAD to suffer horrifically and die, for that is what all our sins cost Him, but it all had a grand and glorious purpose - to save the world! He would rise again, just as He said. His seed produced a spiritual harvest that completely transformed the course of human history, such that all who follow Him may bury their old sinful selves and be made new, both in this life and in the next. Because of His suffering, his children will rise again as He did and live with Him forever.

Our family is not especially gifted at gardening. All we seem to grow well are weeds and rocks. Nevertheless, we recently tried to plant a garden over the plot of land our pet rabbit once called home. After we planted, two weeks of tropical storms and heavy rains came. Those weeks were dark, depressing, and miserable, but when the storms had finally passed, our seedlings had already outgrown the boundaries of our garden.

Life's storms have a way of accelerating our growth in the Lord. If we look up to God for light and receive the water that falls like our little seedlings did, we will flourish beyond any boxes we may have erected for God in our lives. As we cling to Him through the storms, we become fruitful and grow stronger and closer to Him each day. On the other hand, if we dig down deeper into this fallen earth, rejecting His light and hiding from life's storms, then we will remain as lifeless seeds, stifled beneath a hardened shell. Gardeners know this truth well.

When trials befall us, by all means, let us get help in whatever form is appropriate. Every life is sacred and of immeasurable worth, so let us unashamedly go after the help we need so we may fulfill God's glorious plans for us. But let us not forget that these trials have an eternal purpose that is far greater than the storms we see right now. And let us claim God's promises, for He is always faithful. The only one God has ever forsaken was Himself as He bore the weight of all our sins on the cross. (Mark 15:34) His love for all of us, hardened and dead little seeds that we were, held him there alone and abandoned. What amazing love the Father has bestowed upon us!

‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose...
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it....
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay"  (Isaiah 46, selected verses)

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  (Philippians 1:6)

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  (Deuteronomy 31:8)

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."  (Romans 8:28-29) 

Challenge: Summarize the Bible in Three Minutes or Less

I am often criticized for being too long winded or too wordy and rightly so!  For a leadership training course, I have been challenged to verbally summarize the Bible in 3 minutes or less. I treasure every word of the Scriptures, so I think writing a 200 page thesis may have been easier for me.  It's between five and six minutes now.  What should I leave out out of God's precious and inspired love letter to us?
 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He made the first man, Adam, and then the first woman, Eve, in His own image, so they could enjoy fellowship with God and each other. They were to reproduce and be effective stewards over all God made on the earth.

When God created the world, He made all things good.   There was no sin or death in the beginning!  (Genesis 1)

Desiring authentic relationships with all people, God let them choose whether to obey Him out of love or to chase after our own selfish desires instead.  Tempted by Satan, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, which brought sin, suffering, and death into the world. God punished them and deported them from the Garden.  God also punished Satan and promised that the seed of the woman (a son who would be our Messiah) would defeat Satan forever.  (Genesis 3)

Adam and Eve bore children who populated the earth.  As the generations grew, sin increased until the world became so corrupted that God sent a flood to wipe out every living thing except for the one righteous man left, Noah, his family, and two of every living animal.

God made a covenant with Noah not to flood the earth again (Genesis 8:21), but Noah’s descendants also rebelled against God.

God called Abraham and made a covenant with him.  (Genesis 17).  He promised to give Abraham many descendants who would produce nations and kings, to give his descendants the fruitful land of Canaan, and to be their God.  Abraham believed God, even while waiting until Sarah (his wife) was 90 and he was 100 before God gave them a son together through whom the nation of Israel was established.

Abraham’s family grew as God had promised, but his descendants quarreled. God’s redemptive plan was in motion, however, and He gave us glimpses through the lives of Abraham and his descendants (like Joseph) how He would ultimately fulfill that plan through the promised Messiah.  

Then the Egyptian pharaoh enslaved and abused the Israelites.  The cruel and excessive burdens he placed on them were too much to bear, so they cried out to God for help, and He heard their pleas.  God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. (Exodus 3)  Pharaoh refused to let the people go until after God had sent 10 dramatic displays of His power in the form of plagues (Exodus 3:20) on the Egyptians.

God led the Israelites out of Egypt, just as He promised and performed many more signs and wonders for His people, yet the Israelites whined and disobeyed God. 

God gave the Israelites the Law, and He wrote the 10 greatest commandments (for all humanity) on tablets of stone.  These laws helped them recognize their desperate need for a Savior, for God’s righteous standard is too high and the daily offerings and sacrifices would never be enough to atone for their (and our) sins.

Their descendants eventually entered the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness under Joshua’s leadership.

God stabilized the kingdom of Israel under King David and his son Solomon.  There was a time of peace under Solomon’s reign, but sin and conflict continued again.

Eventually, Israel divided into two kingdoms.  

God sent prophets to warn the people of God’s coming judgments because of their evil deeds and to urge them to repent and turn back to God, but many leaders refused to listen and led the people further astray.

So God allowed foreign powers to destroy both kingdoms and to carry the people off into exile.  Faithful Jews were persecuted, but God protected His remnant and allowed some like Esther and Daniel to rise to great power.  

Then King Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple and their city, which lay in ruins.  Ezra and Nehemiah helped Israel rebuild.

At last, Jesus, God’s only Son, the promised Messiah came to earth.  He was born to a virgin, Mary.  He fulfilled every Biblical prophecy foretold of His coming, ministry, and death.  The probability of one man fulfilling just eight of these prophecies is statistically impossible with the odds at 1 out of 1x10⁷, yet He fulfilled all 300+ prophecies exactly!

Jesus taught about God’s kingdom and His righteousness with great power and wisdom. He worked many miracles, showing Himself to have authority over death, illness, demons, and the laws of nature.  He taught his followers by example to love others unconditionally and sacrificially.

He experienced all the pain that human life in this fallen world brings, yet He remained sinless.  He willingly suffered and died on the cross, bearing ALL the punishment we deserve.  For just as the law required a sinless sacrifice to atone for sin, Jesus fulfilled the law as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind forever.

Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, just as foretold, and appeared to many people, providing plenty of eyewitness accounts.  

After giving His followers instructions to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all He commanded them and promising be with them always (Matthew 28: 19-20), Jesus ascended into Heaven.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon Christ’s followers, just as Jesus had promised, filling them with His power, so they could continue Jesus’s work on earth. (Acts 2)

The first church formed and grew rapidly and believers gathered to worship, study God’s word, pray, and share in fellowship.

Peter and Paul became the first great missionaries of the early church. New churches were established across the Empire. Followers were martyred, but the gospel kept spreading.  After a radical conversion, Apostle Paul traveled extensively teaching, church planting, training leaders, and writing much of the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The last early church leader, John, was exiled to the island of Patmos where God gave him visions of coming tribulations, which He recorded in the book of Revelation to warn us of judgments to come.

Christ is coming again in full glory to establish a new heaven and a new earth.  He will return as the Victorious Warrior and Conquering King the Jews expected during His first coming, but first He had to remedy our sin problem on the cross before he could come in judgment.  His perfect kingdom is without sin, so He will judge the whole earth and the prince of this earth, according to His perfect righteousness, giving each person what he or she chose and pursued in this life.  Those who chose Christ’ offer of salvation and pursued His righteousness and love will enjoy eternal communion with Almighty God in perfect holiness forever.  Those who rejected Christ, choosing instead the things of this world and their own selfish desires, will receive the world they worshiped as it all goes up in flames and separation from the God they never wanted for all eternity.

The entire Bible is a revelation of God’s infinite holiness, mercy, and love.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!  (Romans 5:8)

When we acknowledge our sin and accept Christ as Lord and Savior, His Spirit lives in us and teaches, guides, perfects, and empowers us to fulfill God’s perfect transcendent plan for each of us. 

The truths contained in God’s word have been radically transforming lives for our good and God’s glory for thousands of years.

I still have a lot of tweaking to do, but this has been an eye-opening, faith building exercise.

(Special thanks to LEL1517's YouTube channel for the valuable resources)

If the assignment was to summarize the Bible as the gospel message instead of as a chronological narrative, I could keep it under two minutes.

God created everything good and perfect, but humankind chose to mess EVERYTHING up. (Genesis 1-3) The rest of the Bible is the story of God's fathomless love revealed through His redemption plan. He sent his only Son to live a humble life of service and to ultimately suffer all the punishment our sins deserve to save us from the mess we've made because there is no way we can ever save ourselves from the depths of our own depravity. While we were still sinners, mocking, scorning, and rejecting Him, Christ died for us! He defeated death and rose from the dead three days later, so we too may rise again and live with Him in righteousness forever.

Christ is coming back as conquering King to establish a new heaven and a new earth. Christ will reign with perfect justice and wisdom forever. Before he can set up a perfect Kingdom, he must judge all the earth and the prince of this earth who is Satan (the father of lies who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy). On Judgment Day, those who have rejected Christ, choosing this world and their own selfish desires, will get what they have chosen their entire lives. They will receive this world and all that is in it as it ALL goes up in flames, and they will spend eternity separated from the God they never wanted.

But those who chose Christ as Savior and Lord living to know Him more will inherit the riches of Heaven as God's beloved children and live forever in the perfect holiness they so desired in this life with the One they have loved above all else. Face to face, they will relish in His loving embrace.

Judgment Day, as described in the last book of the Bible, is all about getting what we chose for ourselves in this life FOREVER. Choose what is good, right, pure, and eternal. Choose Christ.