Sodom and Gomorrah

In general religious zealots don't know a lot about their own (religion's) history. It shows that their leaders just want blind followers, not critical thinkers. 

Just ask a zionist what they know about what one Baruch Goldstein did in 1994 in the historical site of Ramallah.

Over the course of centuries historical sites have been renamed and given new purposes by new local rulers. For instance: did you know Zion was originally a Canaanite fortress and that Palestinians are the Canaanites closest direct descendants? While nowedays there are people who actually believe the place should be in the hands of zionists. Even though zionism was founded in the late 19th century. Zionists base their claim to the land surrounding Zion on the fact the Israelites from the Bible slaughtered the local population to gain control of their resources. But children in Israel (click. Disturbing) get taught from Holy Scriptures that were written hundreds of years later and never learn about these Biblical facts.

Holy Scripture speaks of the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The popular reason for God's murder of the inhabitants is their wickedness. Evangelicals, aka fake christians aka christo-fascists like to cry that it was because the civilians of the two destroyed cities engaged in homosexual sexacts. But that's not what the Bible says. 

The Qu'ran speaks of the Sodom and Gomorrah event as punishment for sexual immoral acts like adultery and mistreating strangers, their neighbours and the poor. 

Those who actually read the concerning passages know the used term was 'detestable things, moraly disgusting', not 'homosexual acts'. That was an interpretation from hundreds of years later. As a matter of fact, the word 'homosexual' didn't appear in the Bible (1 Corinthians 6:9) until the Revised Standard Version (RSV) came out (...). In 1946. Originally the sins of Sodom included pride, apathy, complacency, idleness, and unconcern for the underprivileged. In short: God smythed the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because they were selfish, greedy, racist bigots. Not because they had sex.

This article by Ed Oxford is very insightful. Here's a quote:

So we went to Leviticus 18:22 and he’s translating it for me word for word. In the English where it says “Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination,” the German version says “Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination.” I said, “What?! Are you sure?” He said, “Yes!” Then we went to Leviticus 20:13— same thing, “Young boys.” So we went to 1 Corinthians to see how they translated arsenokoitai (original Greek word)  and instead of homosexuals it said, “Boy molesters will not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

What evangelicals call 'homosexuality' was written down by the people who wrote the Bible as 'sexual acts with young boys'. Whatever your favourite populist tells you to believe: the Bible is against pederastry, not against homosexuality. Church leaders had that part changed in 1946. Now wonder why.

Interestingly enough the word 'Knabenschander' ('young boy molester') didn't get translated to 'homosexual' in the German language version of the Bible until 1983. Side note: the terms 'homosexual' and 'heterosexual' were first coined by Karl Maria Kerbeny. In 1869. 

Watch the documentary 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture to learn more.

It appears homosexuality wasn't something 'wrong' until it was deemed as such in the era of the nazis.

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If the destruction of Sodom was really to punish people for despicable sexual acts, why did God spare Abraham's cousin Lot? You know, the guy who had sex with his daughters?

People calling themselves 'christians' and state homosexuality is wrong, base themselves on a mistranslation of the words malakoi and arsenokoitai. There's consensus amongst people with actual knowledge on the matter that that didn't mean 'homosexuality' but related to sexual abuse, predatory behaviour, pederasty. 

So, if anyone should go to hell, it's not homosexuals but people like Robert Morris, a former Trump campaign spiritual adviser.

The events as described in the holy books probably happened for real: geological evidence points to earthquakes causing ground liquefaction and landslides, possibly exacerbated by water-rich soil near the sea. Those poor people in the Bronze Age never stood a change against Mother Nature. The natural, devestating event, had nothing to do with their behaviour.

If God (Allah, Jehovah or whatever you prefer to name the deity) really wanted to punish adulterers and child molesters, how come almost everyone on Epstein's client list hasn't long ago been smythed? 

Anyway, here is biblical scholar Dan McClellan stating a thing or two on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. And homosexuality: