Spartan
Well-Known Member
Dr. Bryant G. Wood's article from 2003 is not supported by any scholar and considered Pseudoarcheology - is a pseudoscience focused on the study or promotion of archaeology in ways which do not meet the basic standards of the scientific method.
This can definitely be swept under the rug.
Search mainstream scholarship it's just a vague story with no location, evidence and likely a myth taken from older similar myths.
Christians can't even decide if that was even a reference to homosexuality or to hospitality and the site and references to salt are vague and likely just a limestone and salt hill.
Josephus provides little confirmation? - "The Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient biblical city of Sodom. He refers to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites"
Homosexuality or hospitality?
"Sodom and Gomorrah have been used historically and today as metaphors for homosexuality, although the widespread consensus among theologians and biblical scholars is that this association is incorrect.[7][8][9] The extrabiblical tradition linking it towards homosexuality emerged from the writings of 1st century Jewish philosopher Philo, who equivocated the sin of Sodom with homosexuality; before then, no exegesis of the text suggested a linkage to the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah with same-sex attraction.
FIrst of all, the only "widespread consensus" that the Biblical accounts of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are incorrect are among Biblically-challenged liberal theologians. Conservative theologians are in the opposite camp.
Second, there is a Biblical foundation for the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah to be sexual in nature. Jude 7: "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."
Third, Jesus (God Himself), instead of buying into the argument that Sodom and Gomorrah were only a myth, confirmed the reality of the cities - Matthew 10:15 - "I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day." NLT
And to close: "Those who attempt to explain away the biblical condemnations of homosexuality claim that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah were certainly being inhospitable. There is probably nothing more inhospitable than homosexual gang rape. But to say God completely destroyed two cities and all their inhabitants for being inhospitable clearly misses the point. While Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of many other horrendous sins, homosexuality was the reason God poured fiery sulfur on the cities, completely destroying them and all of their inhabitants. To this day, the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were located remains a desolate wasteland. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a powerful example of how God feels about sin in general, and homosexuality specifically." What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?