Last weekend in London, Jeanne and I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant where we had a great discussion jumping from topic to topic. We covered everything from morality and religion to politics. In the conversation the issue of life came up and I expressed my belief in the sanctity of life (particularly human life) and my opposition to war and capital punishment as a result; however, I also readily agreed that I’m quite bothered by many passages in the Old Testament where God seems rather tyrannical – killing women, children and cattle – in fact, sometimes calling for wholesale genocide.
    I know some Christians shy away from expressing any concern about Biblical passages, but I’m just not that kind of person. What’s the point in pretending? Often times when I’ve told other people about my questions, frustrations or doubts I end up with quite enlightening answers… so this is what I’ve decided to do… I’m going to annotate a passage of the OT that I’m particularly confused by. I recently read the story of Lot and found myself thinking “this just doesn’t add up to me” and am hoping some of you can comment on my comments in red and hopefully we’ll all benefit from the discussion.

    ¹ The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” Did Lot know they were angels already since he called them “lord” or was he just being hospitable to the guests? I know hospitality was considered virtuous.
      ”No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” Were they just testing him? Or were they unaware of the dangers?

    ³ But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. ⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” This is weird. I can’t imagine raping travelers was a common practice and yet Lot was clearly afraid of the men in town since he made it a point to hurry them into his house. I know some get hung up on the homosexual side of this, but I’m more concerned that there was a signicantly sized group ready to gang rape these men.

    ⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” WHAT THE?! Lot (an apparently righteous man who God has just sent angels to protect) now excuses himself outside to talk to the gang of rape-happy men. His solution to the men’s desires? Take his virgin daughters and rape them instead! *stiffles rage* So the men are under the protection of his roof, but the women aren’t? Clearly women are not as valuable. Uhm… this kinda really bothers me.

    ⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. So the men don’t want the virgin girls (who are how old anyways? perhaps quite young since women were married off at early ages) and are holding out for the hot foreign men, and threaten Lot.

    ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. The angels save Lot and the girls – okay that’s good. *phew!* But they don’t say anything about Lot’s evil plan? I find their silence deafening.

    ¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” So now it becomes clear that these men are from God and are going to rescue Lot’s family. I wonder why though – just a moment earlier Lot was fine with his daughters being gang raped, but now he’s seen as righteous again. And what of the rest of the town? Surely all the adults aren’t this evil, and what about the children? Nevertheless, God has said that the city is to be destroyed because of the “outcry” – from whom?

    ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. Here we learn the virgin daughters are actually engaged but their fiances think Lot is a bit off his rocker when he says the city is going to be destroyed.

    ¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” The fiances get left behind.

    ¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. ¹⁷ As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” They’re told to just get out and don’t look back.

    ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! ¹⁹ Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” Lot dislikes the idea of going and living in the mountains and bargains to just move to a smaller town.

    ²¹ He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) Interesting – so originally this small town called Zoar was going to be destroyed too; however, Lot really wanted to move there and the angels agree and wait for him to get there before doing anything to Sodom and Gomorrah. Why not save Sodom & Gomorrah too then?

    ²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵ Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. I never realized this until this reading – all the Sunday School images I can remember paint a picture of Lot & his family running as fire is rained down… but actually at that point they were already in the town of Zoar. So what does “Lot’s wife looked back” mean? Is that supposed to be literal? Could you see Sodom & Gomorrah from Zoar – or was it just that in her heart she longed to return there? And why a pillar of salt? Oh, and while I’m thinking of it… what did the vegetation ever do to warrant complete destruction?

    ²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

    ²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

    ³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. ³² Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father.” Excuse me? Lot’s daughters got the bright idea of having sex with their father and thought it was honorable because they’d preserve the bloodline – which they could’ve done simply by getting married. They knew there were men in the world since they had lived in Zoar before moving to the cave.

    ³³ That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. Ok, so the oldest girl gets her father plastered and then rapes him – and somehow he doesn’t remember a thing.

    ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I lay with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ³⁵ So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. Same thing happens the next night after the oldest daughter brags about raping their father the night before, and the younger daughter repeats it. Amazingly, again Lot doesn’t remember a thing and the conniving women win.

    ³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. Uhm… and Lot never gets a bit suspicious about how both of his daughters end up pregnant? And the end of the story explains that these two children are the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites (who God later requests that the Israelites destroy).

*sigh* I really needed to get away from university for a couple of days and be near people I know, and voila! Nick’s mom Jeanne arrives in London. I jetted down on a coach and spent the weekend with her and a few of her friends from the Midwest. Oh, to be near Americans again. =) It was quite refreshing, even if I was teased a few times for my occasional “British intonation”.

They were so generous and kind to me, and I feel like I got to know Jeanne in a way I hadn’t before as a result of spending a lot of time one-on-one. It ended up being a really fun experience and it was great to take everyone around on the Tube, showing off some of England’s biggest attractions.

I don’t want to post anyone’s pictures without permission, so here are a few shots of me at Madame Tussaud’s, just hanging with the celebs.