Bible Verses That Freak Me Out #7 - "This was the guilt of Sodom" - Ezekiel 16:49

Everybody knows about Sodom and Gomorrah - they were gay, so God smote them.

Problem is, Sodom is referenced a lot in the Bible, and the vast majority of those have nothing to do with sex.

Take for example Ezekiel 16:49 -

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy."

That's from the fairly rigidly translated New American Standard. The New International Version says they were "arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned."

I knew a Romanian graduate student who told me that in his country one tradition about the city of Sodom was that the people of the city would embrace visitors, and then proceed to pick their pockets. Once their pockets were empty, they would take knives and start to cut scraps off of their clothes. After a few minutes in town, once well-dressed visitors were left penniless and in rags.

As the American church struggles with its response to homosexuality, we need not forget to struggle against being "arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned."