“ ‘…[W]e will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it’ ” (Genesis 19: 13).
The Bible story of Lot is a difficult one. The issue of whether Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned for homosexual behavior has been the subject of intense debate [1].
Some have argued that the sin which brought destruction down on the cities of the plain was a lack of hospitality toward strangers – intolerable in desert regions, as it would have placed lives at risk. Others have been outraged by the treatment of Lot’s virgin daughters, offered to the crowd in place of the strangers under Lot’s protection. They maintain, therefore, that the sin was rape.
Whichever interpretation we believe is correct, we should be able to agree that the story indicates there is a tipping point, a level of depravity a just God will not tolerate.
Consider these recent news stories, and what they reflect about our own society:
- In Spain, a soccer coach was arrested after a burglar broke into his home. Searching for valuables, the thief uncovered video of child sexual abuse he then turned over to police. The coach had used his status to gain access to vulnerable victims. One girl had been molested for six years, from the age of 10 onward.
- A former emergency room physician, Ali Salim, pled guilty in Ohio to involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of a 23 y.o. expectant mother and her unborn child. Salim, also, pled no contest to a charge of rape. The woman had turned to prostitution after a divorce, when unable to support her two young children. The prosecution alleged that Salim administered a fatal overdose of heroin to her, then failed to provide medical assistance. Salim had a history of supplying drugs to sex partners – often addicted prostitutes – obtained on Craigslist. Graphic video exists of Salim engaged in acts so obscene the video will be disposed of once the criminal and civil cases against Salim have been concluded.
- The World Privacy Forum has uncovered a practice by consumer data companies of collecting highly sensitive information, then selling it to marketers with little or no regard for the consequences. Lists are known to have been compiled of AIDs patients, dementia patients, rape victims, and police officers with their home addresses [2]. All this for the sake of profit.
Surely, this is depravity. Men and women of conscience cannot help but be appalled. And these are not isolated incidents. Which begs the question: What are we to do in the face of evil?
British philosopher, Edmund Burke, warned that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” [3]. We must stand up and be counted. We must speak up for what we believe is right…even when to do so is uncomfortable and unpopular.
Even a burglar knew that.
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[1] The story of Lot is not a justification for anti-LGBT violence, under any interpretation.
[2] At present, consumer information is only shielded from disclosure if it is used for employment, credit, housing, or insurance purposes. Data brokers, for instance, can readily access details such as the over-the-counter drugs purchased by consumers.
[3] There is some dispute as to the precise origin of this phrase.
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