Kum Ba Yah = Ka Blewie?

God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use of what was against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing that what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which is due.

Sure sounds old-school …

Who said it?

Pat Robertson?

I’m sure y’all know it was Saint Paul (Romans 1:26b-27). Before we get too puffed up, let’s listen to Jesus, the God-Man, Himself:

Preach, saying the Kingdom of God is at hand … And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city (Matthew 10:7b; 14-15).

Wow. Those who reject the saving message of Christ — and his messengers — shall be judged more harshly than Sodom and Gomorrah.

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?

That’s all we talk about these days (in a way).

I believe, I don’t have the reference handy, CS Lewis said something about us, perhaps, finding out at the Last Day that those sexual sins weren’t nearly as high on God’s list as, say, the Virtues — and our failure to struggle toward them.

When Abraham found out that God was going to destroy those great cities, he did a little bargaining (Gen.18 ff) …

Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

God answered Abraham, If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

The story continues, the number of necessary righteous dwindling, till Abraham says: Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.

God said: For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.

Then, of course, something happened in the night which led angels to urge Lot to leave, saying: Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.

What happened (you may read the story for yourself) is currently a matter of debate. For instance, I once heard an Episcopal priest preach that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for “inhospitality” — more than anything else. Yet, if I am treated badly at the local Burger King and I complain to the manager that one of the employees was inhospitable … will he automatically think sodomy?

Of course not.

But if I make a complaint about someone using that old-fashioned word, sodomy, are they likely to think: “What! Inhospitality? How dare they!”

Not at all.

And yet, here’s the rub, given our culture’s current obsession with sex-talk, we may indeed be in danger of damnation, kablewie, due to our inhospitality.

In 1981 Fr James Meena wrote:

“I remember standing in the choir loft as a young man looking down on 30 or 40 souls coming to worship in the house of God. But as the war clouds began to gather over Europe we saw a few more people in Church … those who were aware of the coming catastrophes of World War II. But we weren’t involved in the War, yet!

Then our young men were inducted into the Armed Forces, even though we were not yet at war. They began to say farewell to kith and kin, to don the uniform of their nation and go off to prepare for battle. Sill the Church was not filled. Then, Pearl Harbor and the general mobilization and all the young men were called up to the service of the nation. The Church suddenly became filled with people coming to pray, not for the salvation of their souls, not for the forgiveness of their sins, but to make bargains with God. But as soon as the crisis passed, those bargains remained unkept.

Today our bellies are full again. We enjoy a greater degree of affluence than any other nation in the world and we are still putting off the dedication that God requires of us. We passively worship God and think that that’s enough, and it’s not …

We should strive …. to show our love without pretense, and sincerely prefer good to evil. Love each other as brothers should and have a profound respect for each other. If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Don’t give up, and keep on praying. If any of the Saints are in need, you must share with them and you should make hospitality your special concern (Romans 12:6-14).

More from St Paul …

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them (Rom.1:28-32) .

That last sentence, Romans 1:32, is scary. It’s one thing when the sin being discussed is something base and “elsewhere;” it’s another thing when the list of No-Nos is so long and bears such a close resemblance.

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things (Rom.2:1).

Who would Jesus bomb?

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomor’rah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven (Gen.19:24) …

“In the day of judgment we are not judged directly by God the Father, whom we cannot see, but by the incarnate Son whom we do see, Christ Jesus. Christ will judge of the basis of the light He Himself has given to each of us and our response to His light” (Note from Orthodox Study Bible, p.341) .

Those consumed by the lusts of the flesh … just as Sodom and Gomor’rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire (Jude 1:7) .

And then, again, look at the words of the Judge, Himself: Preach, saying the Kingdom of God is at hand … And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city (Matthew 10:7b; 14-15).

Who would Jesus bomb?

But Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt (Gen.19:26).