Pastor John:
Somebody told me recently that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they did not show proper hospitality to the two visitors that came to visit Laban. I thought that he destroyed those cities because of their perverse immorality, not because they didn’t help people who needed a place to sleep that night.
A.S.
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Hi A.S.
I have heard that theory before, but it is silly.
God did not pour out fire and brimstone on those cities (and two others as well, Admah, and Zeboiim) and kill all those men, women, and children because they were lacking in the social graces. The wealth of those cities led to the sins of sloth and excess mentioned in Ezekiel 16:49, which led to the kind of life that was an abomination to God (v. 50). Lack of proper etiquette would never have been described by the prophets an abomination to God.
jdc