Throughout history, cities and nations come and go. They rise and they fall. A city might be destroyed by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, war, or by internal strife. In ancient times, when people witnessed disasters, they automatically concluded that the gods were angry with them. In other words, they had done something or neglected something spiritual that resulted in ultimate destruction.
Socially and Psychologically speaking, this explanation was easier to handle than the modern explanation that things happen by chance, or by natural acts of war from aggressive nations or nations "protecting" themselves.
Because disasters were the result of human behavior toward the gods (or God) in the ancient world, they believed they had control over those disasters - they could do the necessary actions needed to keep the gods (or God) happy. In our world, because we believe things happen by chance, we have no control over many of the horrors that can happen from time to time - getting cancer, car accidents, natural disasters, and so on, because these things have nothing to do with a spiritual existence in our way of thinking.
However, that being said, there are many believers today that hold on to the ancient ways. They believe that natural disasters are God's ways to punish people. When Haiti was rocked by earthquakes, there were preachers and lay people who said it was God's punishment on Haiti for rejecting the Gospel, and for practicing voodoo, homosexuality, or any other list of sins. Some even go so far as to say that school killings are more than one man's sickness, but rather are brought on by the openness of the U.S. in accepting homosexuality.
Others believe that the earthquakes and tsunamis of this past few years are God's signs that the end is near. To put it simply, they believe that God uses, creates, or allows disasters in nature, diseases, and human horror such as war and murder.
I would venture to say that most Christians today are in the middle somewhere, believing that some problems are from God and others from nature.
OLD TESTAMENT SINS THAT LED TO DESTRUCTION
Throughout the Old Testament, God destroyed nations - including his own people, Israel - because of different sins - the worst of which were violence, idolatry and economic injustice. Contrary to popular opinion, when prophets warned cities and nations about future destruction because of sin, homosexuality was not listed in the many sins that led to destruction, and neither was abortion. Instead, violence was emphasized, as was pride, neglecting the Sabbath, bad treatment of the poor, worshiping other gods, witchcraft, adultery, breaking covenants, and a list of other sins.
This could mean any of the following:
1. Homosexuality was driven underground to the point that it was not popular or known about during the prophetic eras of the OT, so there was no need for the prophets to mention it. Nevertheless, it was considered to be a huge transgression against God.
2. Homosexuality was considered a sin, but not a big sin during the time of the prophets. Economic injustice and idolatry were considered far more nasty.
3. The prophets didn't think homosexuality was a sin.
I believe that all of the following are true:
1. Israel's prophets did consider homosexuality a sin, but not the mother of all sins, the queen of every transgression.
2. Homosexuals may have stayed in the closet during the times of the prophets, and so homosexuality (as we know it) was not a big issue with the prophets - that is to say, it was not the issue of their day. No doubt the early prophets came across temple prostitution which took on homosexual forms as well heterosexual. But in these cases the prophets were more offended by the idolatry than they were by homosexuality.
3. Whether or not homosexuality was openly practiced during the time of the prophets, the prophets focused, most of all, on other sins that openly prevailed in their own day, emphasizing the worse ones, such as economic injustice, pride and idolatry. Thus, homosexuality was pretty much ignored.
On the side, I am convinced that homosexuality existed in Israel during every age; furthermore, it never disappears from any culture or any time. It simply goes underground when it must.
CONTEXT: THE SINS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH
Because context is so important, I bring up the other story of destruction from the book of Genesis - that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I have dealt with this in another blog, so will only summarize as follows:
1. Two angels went into Sodom because the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached critical level.
2. The sins that called down the angels of God, were committed before the angels came, and were not defined in any way until the prophet Ezekiel.
3. When the angels visited Sodom, men from the city wanted to rape them. Rape is a violent act. Although this event sealed the cities' doom, the angels came because the cities were steeped in other sins that may or may not have been related.
4. It may be that the people knew the 2 men were messengers of God and wanted to try out "strange flesh."
5. Whenever the sins Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned in the Bible, the sins are left undefined, except in Ezekiel and Jude.
6. Ezekiel clearly states that their sins were related to neglecting the needs of the poor.
7. Jude says that the cities in that area were given over to fornication (a term that loosely describes a wide range of sexual promiscuity).
8. In other verses in the Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah were used as examples more for the wrath of God than for any specific sin related to the cities.
9. Other Bible writers viewed worse sins than those of Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophets claimed that breaking God's covenant and worshiping idols were worse. And Jesus claimed that rejecting him or his messengers was far worse.
10. Looking closely to Sodom and Gomorrah, these are the possible sins that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
a. Violent Gang Rape that was homosexual in nature
b. Intermingling of the species (men with angels)
c. Poor treatment of visiting travelers
Now lets see if any of those line up with Noah's day.
The earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways (Genesis 6:12)."
The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil (Genesis 6:5 ).
Both of these verses leave a lot to the imagination; neither one clearly defines any sin. Corruption and wickedness can be a lot of different things, and so we read into the verse whatever types of sins are preached against the most in our day.
Looking deeper, however, we find the real reasons why God destroyed the world, and there are two clear reasons that Genesis gives for the destruction of the world.
1. In the first section of the the Ethiopian book of Enoch (written before the first Century B.C. and quoted in the Bible's book of Jude) the sons of God, who were angelic beings, had sex with human women; and from those unions, giants were born and eventually dominated the world, filling it with violence.
Others have suggested that the sons of God were descended from Seth (Adam and Eve's third child) and the sons of men were descendents of Cain.
Whoever these giants were, or however they came about (whether of angels or people), it seems that the writer of Genesis considered their existence a part of the reason that God decided to destroy the world.
Today we cannot relate to this passage of scripture, because we have no giants in the world, although many people fleeing Asian wars in boats (during this past few decades) were told that that there were giants in the U.S. Would the Bible consider tall people, like Europeans and Americans and certain African tribes, giants?
Others have suggested that the sons of God were descended from Seth (Adam and Eve's third child) and the sons of men were descendents of Cain.
Whoever these giants were, or however they came about (whether of angels or people), it seems that the writer of Genesis considered their existence a part of the reason that God decided to destroy the world.
Today we cannot relate to this passage of scripture, because we have no giants in the world, although many people fleeing Asian wars in boats (during this past few decades) were told that that there were giants in the U.S. Would the Bible consider tall people, like Europeans and Americans and certain African tribes, giants?
2. Genesis also tells us that God destroyed the world because there was so much violence in the world.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (Genesis 6:11).
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (Genesis 6:11).
So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth (Genesis 6:13)."
Violence is the only evil that is clearly defined, leaving us with a lot of questions and the need for more clarification. What type of violence are we looking at? And who was committing the violence?
WHAT TYPE OF VIOLENCE ARE WE LOOKING AT?
The Book of Enoch tells us that the violence on the earth that prevailed during Noah's day was the violence that the giants created by slaughtering humans; however, by the time the Book of Enoch was written, Noah was ancient history.
So we are left with the overall context of the book of Genesis to give us clues. And in Genesis we find several stories of violence.
1. Cain killed Abel.
2. Lamech killed a man in self defense.
3. Abraham slaughtered an army of pillagers who kidnapped his nephew Lot.
3. Sarah was probably abusive toward Hagar - Sarah abused (va-ta’anneha) Hagar. The Hebrew word suggests physical as well as mental abuse (Gen. Rabbah 45:6). http://www.moshereiss.org/articles/33_hagar.htm
3. Abraham slaughtered an army of pillagers who kidnapped his nephew Lot.
3. Sarah was probably abusive toward Hagar - Sarah abused (va-ta’anneha) Hagar. The Hebrew word suggests physical as well as mental abuse (Gen. Rabbah 45:6). http://www.moshereiss.org/articles/33_hagar.htm
4. The men of Sodom made every effort to rape 2 angels.
5. Out of anger, Reuben had sex with his step mother (this may have been rape) to shame his dad.
6. Simeon and Levi slaughtered the men of an entire village because their leader's son date raped their sister.
Of course the event in Genesis that is most like the destruction of the world is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And looking to Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that violence is the one strand that connects the two.
The writer of Genesis may have considered homosexuality to be a sin, but the fact is this: Violence is emphasized in both of God's wrath and destruction, other sins are not. I would say that the writer of Genesis believed violence was the worse of the sins. Consider also that as early as the time of the first family, Cain killed his brother Abel, which was an act of violence which likewise called down God's wrath on Cain.
After God destroyed the world with a flood, He regretted destroying the world, because people will always be violent - whether in self protection or in aggression. Even if God destroyed the world countless times, people would still resort to violence to solve their issues.
CONCLUSION
I believe that the reason God destroyed the world in Genesis 6 and 7 was due to the violence that dominated the world at that time, a violence that did not go away after the time of Noah, but continued in Sodom and Gomorrah and continues even today in every society.
Of course the event in Genesis that is most like the destruction of the world is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And looking to Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that violence is the one strand that connects the two.
The writer of Genesis may have considered homosexuality to be a sin, but the fact is this: Violence is emphasized in both of God's wrath and destruction, other sins are not. I would say that the writer of Genesis believed violence was the worse of the sins. Consider also that as early as the time of the first family, Cain killed his brother Abel, which was an act of violence which likewise called down God's wrath on Cain.
After God destroyed the world with a flood, He regretted destroying the world, because people will always be violent - whether in self protection or in aggression. Even if God destroyed the world countless times, people would still resort to violence to solve their issues.
CONCLUSION
I believe that the reason God destroyed the world in Genesis 6 and 7 was due to the violence that dominated the world at that time, a violence that did not go away after the time of Noah, but continued in Sodom and Gomorrah and continues even today in every society.
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