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From: davet@oakhill.UUCP (Dave Trissel)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Black's ravings (comment about Sodom)
Message-ID: <365@oakhill.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Mar-85 05:18:37 EST
Article-I.D.: oakhill.365
Posted: Mon Mar 18 05:18:37 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Mar-85 08:14:57 EST
References: <863@ames.UUCP> <akgua.1314>
Reply-To: davet@oakhill.UUCP (Dave Trissel)
Organization: Motorola Inc. Austin, Tx
Lines: 45
Summary: 

From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)

> The verb "know" is the typical KJV euphemism for "have sex".  ...

From: teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz)

>       The word used in the Bible ( Hebrew version ) is literally, and
> we will know them. The word to "know" is used to mean sexual relations
> in other places ( Genesis Ch. 4, verse 1 - And Adam knew Eve his wife,
> and she conceived and bore Cain ).

From: rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob])

> P.S. The word "know" in the earlier English translations used in
> this fashion usually means sexual relations.

Do erroneous statements such as these represent the typical Christian's
understanding of God's word?

First of all the hebrew verb "to know" used
in the text on Sodom in Genesis 19 occurs 943 times in the Old Testament.  In
only ten of these occurrences does it have the sense of carnal knowledge.  The
Greek translations use an expression equivalent to "making the aquaintance of"
or "becoming familiar with" which is in marked contrast to the verbs employed
in reference to Lot's daughters which clearly refer to sexual behavior.
(I would put both Hebrew and Greek versions here but USENET is not as
powerful as my Macintosh :-) )

Jesus himself refers to Sodom implying that inhospitality was its undoing
(Matt. 10:14-15, Luke 10:10-12.)   Ezekiel not only lists the sins of Sodom
   "pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.. neither did
she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy" (16:48-49 KJV) but contends
that they are less serious than the sexual sins of Jerusalem.
Ecclesiasticus says God abhorred the Sodomites for their pride (16:8).

The bottom line here is that interpretation of the Sodom story in terms of
homosexuality is disputed by all later references in the Bible itself.  This
is only the tip of the iceberg.  For those interested (especially Christians
that claim they care about truely understanding what God's word
says) I suggest reading Chapter Four of John Boswell's "Christianity, Social
Tolerance, and Homosexuality" where this came from.  As far as that goes, you
can read the rest of the book to to get an idea how "Christian" viewpoints can
change from season to season on this and other issues.

David Trissel             {ihnp4,seismo,gatech}!ut-sally!oakhill!davet