One person wrote:

While the Ezekiel passage does give some weight to the debate that lack of hospitality was the sin in Sodom for which God punished the city, it seems to be a bit overstated that "It is the most explicit Biblical attempt to summarise and name the sin of Sodom". I think nearly all other refernces to the sin in Sodom are references to sexual acts, including Jude 1:7.

Nathan responded:

Quite right. Most of the references do speak of the sexual sin of Sodom. My suggestion that Ezekiel 16:49 is the most explicit summary was based on the way it sets itself up: "This is the guilt of your sister Sodom:......" I'm not suggesting that the sexual sin had nothing to do with it, but that the sexual sin is being included under a broader banner: failure to offer welcome, sustenance and protection to the strangers and the poor. The acts described in Genesis are a violent rape. The rape was being used against outsiders in a similar way to the way rape is often used as a weapon of war to this day, especially in ethnic wars. As such it constitutes both the "sexual immorality and unnatural lust" named in Jude, and a violation of the Israelite law's hospitality code with its commands to care for the widow, the orphan and the alien, and not exploit or victimise them.

Is there anybody out there (however strongly you believe that homosexuality is evil) who really believes that if the incident in Sodom had been a heterosexual rape instead of a homosexual rape that God would have let the city survive on the grounds that it was a lesser offence?

Peace and hope,

Nathan

______________________________________ Nathan Nettleton Pastor, South Yarra Community Baptist Church Melbourne, Australia