They must have been shocked, because then, as now, Sodom and Gomorrah smelled bad.

Though not for the same reason.

The modern mind equates S & G with gay sex. That’s been so for about 1600 years. (But not before that.)

According to Genesis 19, however, the men of Sodom were as willing to gang rape Lot’s virgin daughters as his strange visitors.

The issue is gang rape, violence against persons to whom is owed the sacred obligation of hospitality and the protection that comes with it.

It’s not homosexual people.

Ezekiel 16 is the only place in scripture that spells out the sin of S & G (the “you” addressed is Jerusalem):

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.  Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.

Ezek 16:49-51 (NRSV)

Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned for pride, selfishness, indifference to the suffering of the poor.

I know the arguments about homosexuals get hot and heavy. The prospect of gay marriage bothers many folk.

We live in a society that promises every individual “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What’s more basic to human happiness than freedom to build a life with the person you love?

Jesus built his life on loving God and neighbor. Isn’t he more offended by loveless arguments and loveless lives than by who we choose to love?

Yes, there are a few “Thou shalts” and a few “Thou shalt nots.”

Keeping two people from promising to love each other, and no one else, for a lifetime, however, has nothing to do with “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not.”

It has to do with hate.

Which, last time I looked, is at the top of God’s  list of “Thou shalt nots.”