GOD - Chapter 10 (Homophobic)

Chapter 10 of GOD focuses on the homophobia of the Judaic deity, which doesn't happen to appear so much in the Bible, as much as its out-size influence would suggest.

"Backing up to the 18th chapter of Genesis, part one begins with an implausible account of Abraham physically meeting God face-to-face (Let's ignore the fact that God said 'you cannot see my face; for no one can see me & live.' (Exodus 3:20)" Barker continues, "God & the Angels were actually heading toward the city of Sodom, on a scouting mission to see if the place was as 'wicked' as God had heard."

This band is named 'Sodom'.
I wonder if they, you know, realize, what their name means?
Are they sodomites? Hot.
I like the one in the middle, & the one on the right

And we all know how that ended. My favourite description of Sodom was comedian Julia Sweeney's description of the city as 'sort-of like  Las Vegas', which is hilarious because I think Las Vegas really is our Sodom.

But, of course, it is this tale in which the act of 'Sodomy' get its name. Why? There is nothing particularly anal about it. The men of Sodom do want to rape the men-angels but who says it couldn't have been an oral rape? Sodom really had some hot-n-horny throngs. Perhaps they couldn't be satisfied fully in that way. But anyway, God destroying this city could be conceived of as 'homophobic', as it was filled with guys who wanted to dump their loads in his angels.

I guess the angels looked something like this

God wasn't all about that. This treatment just confirmed their wickedness, which he didn't already know (for some reason). As Barker states it,

"The writer does not explain why the omniscient Lord would have not known that fact in the first place"

And it is a fair question. I think of some very human reasons behind God not realizing -- May be putting angels at the potential rape by a gang he was reminding them who was boss. Maybe he wanted to destroy the city anyway & just wanted to feign a fair trial. Much more pertinently, there are some political possibilities here -- Another opportunity to see the low value of women & the distrust & outright fear at the potential of the sexual appetite. Before he reaches Sodom, he is asked:

"Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?"

That appeal was made by Moses, not exactly the most just person either, but if we take God's admonition to all-seeing power, YHWH knew very well going in that Sodom was filled with this type of spunk-hungry beasts. Barker narrates how the city failed the fateful test as such:

A rather cute rendering of the 'escape' from the doomed city

"The men of Sodom, all of them, young & old, surrounded the house & yelled to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them to us, so that we may know them" (Genesis 19:5)

Know them, eh? Wink, wink, Lol. Barker says that the crowds "Must have oogled" the angels "while they were heading to Lot's house...But the libidinous gang didn't want the girls." Obviously. Even the fact the girls that Lot offered were virgins didn't excite. These were some hardened pervs, like I imagine the residents of our Las Vegas would be. They want to have anal intercourse (I guess), & so we are bestowed the locution 'sodomy'. Not entirely self-evident, though that has not stopped theologians from naming-&-claiming others as 'sodomites'.

Barker points out that, from Orthodox scripture, it is not entirely evident how Gomorrah gets thrown into the mix:

I don't think there is Biblical backing for this image

"The writers don't tell us why the city of Gomorrah was punished for the inhospitality of the neighbor"

Of course the escape from Sodom that Lot & his family endured was not entirely successful because of Lot's wife. She disobeyed god & looked back when he told her not to. "Now that...his wife had become a geological feature," Barker writes "how would he have any heirs?...the daughters - The same girls who had been offered to be raped - came up with a plan...'we will lie with him'...(Genesis 19:31-32)" Again, why wasn't this bizarre (but obvious) act given the distinction of 'sodomy'? They were, after all, still close to the ruins of the city.

But back to God's homophobia. It is sort-of obvious that this is the case, but as just an 'abomination' it doesn't result in instant death penalty, like being disobedient to your parent, or adultery. Much hay has been made of homosexuality in the more-recent Christian fundamentalist tradition, but the emphasis doesn't seem to be merited. It would seem to me that God's main interest were more along the lines of maintaining patriarchal order, controlling the movement of women ,production of babies, & maintenance of the family. Homosexuality seems pretty irrelevant to any of that except for maybe the 'babies' part. Personally those passages we have seen from the Old Testament have been more against a 'dabbler' or 'bisexual' than they have at 'gay people,' (a people which there is little evidence even existed as-such before the 1800's)