Did you ever get an ear worm? Most of the time it's an odd song that you've heard and you keep replaying it in your head, over and over. Almost maddening. Well, I've had an ear worm of sorts this last week or so. Even as I read this morning's passage it is heard with the tint of that passage about Sodom and Gomorrah that is often used to condemn homosexuality. That particular passage ( Genesis 19:1-11 ) is probably one of the most misinterpreted in the entire Bible.
The issue at hand was really how the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah treated the two strangers ( angels ) under the care of Lot. By all accounts the cities were well off but the story reveals just how crude, rude and unsociable the residents were.
This is not unlike America today, well off but very unsociable. By all accounts we are a blessed nation. Our standard of living is quite good. Perhaps we do not realize it or take it for granted. I had the good fortune to see the other side in volunteer work in the Dominican Republic many years ago. While not an unhappy people and certainly there were loving and welcoming, they were in poverty that we could barely comprehend. Worse perhaps than what we think of poor in our poorest areas of our own country.
The unwelcomeness and proclaimers of faith, as opposed to 'doers' of faith want control over the masses. This unwelcomeness and control was what got the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah in trouble, i.e. destroyed. When you read the passage you see that it was not a wholesome relationship the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were seeking with these two guests of Lot. They wanted to have sex with them in order to control them. Show these guys who is boss and demean them in the best way they could think of, treat them as an object, treat them like they were women. Is there that much difference in they we treat people today, especially how men treat women? I heard a group of 'Republican Women' address the concerns of the Kavanagh debacle. One woman said something like 'what guy hasn't done something like that in their youth'. My God woman, is this the Stockholm syndrome all over? Can't you see what you are saying, rationalizing and perpetuating?
To twist and divert from the condemnation of rape in Genesis, the story become one of condemning homosexuality. The story is clearly not about being gay. The story is one of clear rape. Violence. Control. It is amazing that in the passage, Lot, instead offers his two virgin daughters to the townsmen in the place of the two male guests. Wouldn't that be rape as well? I would think so. Do we similarly then condemn heterosexual love relations? No, because this passage was not about wholesome relationships but about rape, pure and simple. This method of control was evident in ancient times and it is perpetuated and even justified today. It is symptomatic of a male dominated society and is as vicious, wholly un-Christian and dismissed as white privilege and racism. The two may well indeed go hand in hand as methods of control by an aging male white minority.
The crux of all this is not simply the misinterpretation of Scripture which is sadly true. The truth lies in our actions versus our words. The truth is we cannot claim to be Christian and display, rationalize or live lives of control and being unwelcoming if not hostile.
That is what got the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah killed if we are to learn anything from that passage from Genesis. If we are to learn anything from today's passage, we are to be witnesses of our faith by our own good actions. How do we respond to incidents, stories and policies that are not welcoming, loving , inclusive and supportive of good lives? How do we promote the life of Christ in what we do, how we vote, how we act?
Rape has no place in civilized society. Anywhere.
James 1:19-27
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment