With as outspoken as I have been concerning marriage equality
and ‘gay rights’ (the fact that we have to make such a distinction in
this day and age is just ludicrous), some may be surprised to see me
reference Sodom and Gomorrah, the oft cited context for rationalizing
hate and homophobia as divine mandate.
Before taking to the stage, I was a history student. That was my first degree in fact. One of my focuses was religious studies. I feel that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is in serious need of revisiting, because a lot of people missed some very important points in this parable.
Abraham is told by God that Sodom and Gomorrah is going to be destroyed because of the immense wickedness of the people residing there. The nature of this ‘wickedness’ is not specified. Abraham asks for a reprieve because his nephew Lot lives there.
God sends two angels to Sodom to investigate. They go to the house of Lot and a mob of people gather outside Lot’s house, demanding that Lot turn these two beautiful men over to them so they can rape them.
“Rape?” you say? I never remember hearing about ‘rape’ in Sunday school. That’s because rape is an uncomfortable topic that is often treated like Leprechauns and Glenn Beck. If we just ignore it, it’ll just go away.
But I want to point out that at no point are the angels’ CONSENT enquired about. This mob wants to rape these two men.
Lot, to save these two angels, offers his two daughters who have ‘known not a man.’ Now, often this is assumed to mean they are virgins. But in two cities where homosexuality is apparently quite common, I think it could also be inferred that his daughters might have actually been lesbians.
So let’s lay this out. Lot is offering his two daughters, who are either virgins, lesbians, or both to be GANG RAPED by an angry mob outside his house. So they don’t gang rape to angels sent by God. That ‘wicked’ enough for everyone?
The mob decides this is not an acceptable substitute and threaten to kick his door in to gang rape these two angels. The angels blind the crowd and get Lot out of there.
And ‘God hates gays’ is what people take away from this story?!
This is a society so far gone that mob rape is common place. They’re discussing it in a large group out in the open. I don’t think sexual identity has anything to do with it. This is about consent, which there is none. This is a culture that is habitual and flagrant about SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
I’d be ready to nuke this city too.
And I bring this point forward for a few reasons.
1) So many people TOTALLY missed the point of this story.
2) Sexual violence is about the most atrocious thing a person can do.
3) We have a serious issue in addressing sexual violence in this society. It exists. Ignoring it does not make it go away.
And if it’s enough to make God and angels lay waste to two entire cities, I think it’s about time we wake up, see the real moral of this story, and agree that sexual violence cannot and will not be tolerated.
We’ve had the story for over 2,000 years; it just lost something in the initial translation.
Before taking to the stage, I was a history student. That was my first degree in fact. One of my focuses was religious studies. I feel that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is in serious need of revisiting, because a lot of people missed some very important points in this parable.
Abraham is told by God that Sodom and Gomorrah is going to be destroyed because of the immense wickedness of the people residing there. The nature of this ‘wickedness’ is not specified. Abraham asks for a reprieve because his nephew Lot lives there.
God sends two angels to Sodom to investigate. They go to the house of Lot and a mob of people gather outside Lot’s house, demanding that Lot turn these two beautiful men over to them so they can rape them.
“Rape?” you say? I never remember hearing about ‘rape’ in Sunday school. That’s because rape is an uncomfortable topic that is often treated like Leprechauns and Glenn Beck. If we just ignore it, it’ll just go away.
But I want to point out that at no point are the angels’ CONSENT enquired about. This mob wants to rape these two men.
Lot, to save these two angels, offers his two daughters who have ‘known not a man.’ Now, often this is assumed to mean they are virgins. But in two cities where homosexuality is apparently quite common, I think it could also be inferred that his daughters might have actually been lesbians.
So let’s lay this out. Lot is offering his two daughters, who are either virgins, lesbians, or both to be GANG RAPED by an angry mob outside his house. So they don’t gang rape to angels sent by God. That ‘wicked’ enough for everyone?
The mob decides this is not an acceptable substitute and threaten to kick his door in to gang rape these two angels. The angels blind the crowd and get Lot out of there.
And ‘God hates gays’ is what people take away from this story?!
This is a society so far gone that mob rape is common place. They’re discussing it in a large group out in the open. I don’t think sexual identity has anything to do with it. This is about consent, which there is none. This is a culture that is habitual and flagrant about SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
I’d be ready to nuke this city too.
And I bring this point forward for a few reasons.
1) So many people TOTALLY missed the point of this story.
2) Sexual violence is about the most atrocious thing a person can do.
3) We have a serious issue in addressing sexual violence in this society. It exists. Ignoring it does not make it go away.
And if it’s enough to make God and angels lay waste to two entire cities, I think it’s about time we wake up, see the real moral of this story, and agree that sexual violence cannot and will not be tolerated.
We’ve had the story for over 2,000 years; it just lost something in the initial translation.
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