[Vision2020] The habit of ‘vexing strangers’

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today’s (July 9, 2020) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks to Nick Gier.

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The habit of ‘vexing strangers’

Pastor Doug Wilson claims that sodomy is worse than slavery because God punishes it more harshly. Wilson is wrong to assume that the Bible teaches that sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were sexual. The ugly word “Sodomites” does not appear until the 11th century when Peter Damian first identified this behavior as male-on-male sex.

Jesus says nothing about the alleged sin of homosexuality, but he does warn that those who do not receive his disciples peacefully will be judged more harshly than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15). The Wisdom of Solomon describes them as “refusing to receive strangers” (19:14).

Protestant theologians generally joined Catholics in making sodomy a unique and unredeemable sexual sin. It is significant, however, to note that John Calvin, Wilson’s favorite reformer, prefers the social meaning of sodomy, reminding his readers that there was a “habit of vexing strangers” in Sodom and Gomorrah.

The brutal inhospitality of these people stands in stark contrast to Abraham’s generosity to three divine strangers who visit him in Genesis 18. After feasting at Abraham’s table, two of Abraham’s guests then proceed to Sodom where they intend to warn the residents of the impending destruction of their city. Leaving aside the dicey question of sex with angels, what happened then was “power rape,” a ferocious form of nonsexual initiation that happens far too often in our prisons.

The message for our time is that those who embrace those different from themselves, such as Abraham, are blessed, while those who discriminate against them should be despised. I will let readers apply this Biblical doctrine to contemporary America and discover to which group they belong.

See “The Real Meaning of Sodomy” at webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/sodom.htm. For Wilson’s support for slavery see the same site /wilsononslavery.htm.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.TomandRodna.com/MoscowCares
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
“A stranger is just a friend you haven't met.” - Roy E. Stolworthy
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