Our Sister Sodom

Sitting here for a bit trying to think of exactly how to phrase what I have been thinking about, my mind will not ease. Truthfully, it has been a real problem lately. I have too much to think about - I am busier than I care to be and then I hear a convicting lesson on my own lifestyle choices and I find that enough is enough.

When I recall the story of Sodom and Gomorrah I remember that their sin was something very terrible to God. I usually recall the homosexual aspects of the story and am happy to not have a share in that struggle. However, a good man shared a unique perspective on the history of those cities that is as old as the cities themselves. Read on and see if you can pin point the spot where my stomach began to ache and my mind began to race.

44 " 'Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter." 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. 47 You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

49 " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

Here at the end of the story there is no mention of gays going to eternal hell. Oh, how is wish it could be! Instead I am faced with this harsh reality: God's concern with the poor far outweighs my need to feel safe, my future kids educations, my status in my church, my work and amoung my peers. I prefer the condemnation of those who sins are not my own and I live and die by God's grace and mercy when I realize that I am indeed - arrogant, overfed and unconcerned.

There are no truely worthy poor and God helps us all.