The excavation of Sodom

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Well....to say 'became' does not say she literally was transformed into a pillar of salt. You are reading that into the text. Paul said he became all things to all men in order to win some. Did he literally become a gentile? No....its a descriptive term. Of course God could have transformed her on a molecular level into sodium chloride. I think it's more likely that she was consumed by the event and overtaken whereas lot and his family was delivered. If she is still there, I suspect her body is there, encapsulated in rock salt. In the end, it doesnt matter. God judged and destroyed sodom. Its historically proven the event happened.

The Bible is literally true, and it says became salt, so she became salt.

God said it, so it's true. To say otherwise is to call God a liar or to say the Scriptures are not inerrant.


The Forum Statement of Faith is that the Scriptures are inerrant:



Rapture Forum's Doctrinal Statement and Core Values (what we believe)

We hold to the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial dispensational system of theology and subscribe to a literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of scripture.

* Literal means we believe the bible is the inspired word of GOD to be taken at face value unless there is compelling reason to do otherwise (usually indicated in the context of the passage).




No allegorization of God's Word, please and thank you.

I have seen the pillar of salt that Lot's wife became. It's a real pillar of salt. Worn, but nonetheless, a pillar of salt partway up the slope of the hill leading away from Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

[Lepter]

The Bible is literally true, and it says became salt, so she became salt.

God said it, so it's true. To say otherwise is to call God a liar or to say the Scriptures are not inerrant.


The Forum Statement of Faith is that the Scriptures are inerrant:



Rapture Forum's Doctrinal Statement and Core Values (what we believe)

We hold to the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial dispensational system of theology and subscribe to a literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of scripture.

* Literal means we believe the bible is the inspired word of GOD to be taken at face value unless there is compelling reason to do otherwise (usually indicated in the context of the passage).




No allegorization of God's Word, please and thank you.

I have seen the pillar of salt that Lot's wife became. It's a real pillar of salt. Worn, but nonetheless, a pillar of salt partway up the slope of the hill leading away from Sodom and Gomorrah.

I suspect you have seen a salt deposit that you have been told was lots wife. As the Bedouin wasnt there to see her transformed, it's down to opinion and tradition.


But are you saying EVERYTHING in the bible is always literal unless you think otherwise?

Is this literal?
Job 38...
“What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their season
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

Literal or allegory? The next chapter describes literal animals so the context says literal...but we know there is no womb for ice and Orion does not have a literal belt. God is more than capable of using literality or allegory as he sees fit. Look at the parables. Rich man and Lazarus. Literal or allegory?
If literal....heaven will be watching and listening to lost souls in torment? Wow.
God uses allegory to describe things....I mean is rev 13 literal?

I totally agree that the bible is the inerrant word of God and to have differing views in interpretation doesnt mean that I'm saying God is lying. There are many different schools of thought in doctrine.
But it's dangerous to pidgeon hole God in one style of speech. I mean are the 4 corners of the earth or 4 winds? Are there literal pillars of the earth? That's what flat earthers use to back up their views....but that's another subject.

GOD BLESS YA.... of course it could be literally lots wife. God is more than capable of doing the act. The event happened. That's all that matters.

 

[Len]

Rich man and Lazarus is literal to me
Rev 13 is literal to me ...... just sayin

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Woman rides the beast would be literal in at least one way if we have a woman President, as the Presidential limo is called "the beast."

 

[Lepter]

Rich man and Lazarus is literal to me
Rev 13 is literal to me ...... just sayin

Then heaven will be hell if I can see my unsaved lived ones suffering for all eternity.

 

[Work4Peanuts]

Then heaven will be hell if I can see my unsaved lived ones suffering for all eternity.

Apples and oranges.

Lazarus and the rich man both died pre-cross, so they were both sent to Sheol, the place of the dead. One side was torment for the unrighteous, and the other side was referred to "Abraham's Bosom," a paradise for the righteous awaiting their redemption from Christ's finished work on the cross. It was separated by a great gulf that could not be crossed.

After the cross, Abraham's Bosom became unnecessary because the righteous could go directly to heaven.

 

[Len]

Then heaven will be hell if I can see my unsaved lived ones suffering for all eternity.

God is gracious and would not allow us to suffer those thoughts, I think we will understand everything we need to know to cope with thoughts like that "if" they occurred.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ... Revelation 21:1-27 ESV

 

[katt]

I clicked onto the link, but I can't find that article, I've bought the book of Jasher twice, but can't seem to keep the book long enough to finish it. It keeps getting lost..

 

[Salluz]

Apples and oranges.

Lazarus and the rich man both died pre-cross, so they were both sent to Sheol, the place of the dead. One side was torment for the unrighteous, and the other side was referred to "Abraham's Bosom," a paradise for the righteous awaiting their redemption from Christ's finished work on the cross. It was separated by a great gulf that could not be crossed.

After the cross, Abraham's Bosom became unnecessary because the righteous could go directly to heaven.

Insights like this are why context is king. Abraham's bosom is different from Heaven, which is also different from the New Jerusalem and New Earth. Good stuff

 

[cavalier973]

Inhospitality? That's what my pro-homosexual, pro-gay-marriage, pro-fill-in-the-perversion-here professor in college said about Sodom and Gommorah!

Well, I *did* hear that they found several preserved doormats with the words, "Go away" printed on them.

 

[cavalier973]

My guess with regard to Lot's wife isn't that she briefly glanced over her shoulder, but that she hung back, and turned to stand and watch, either out of curiosity or out of despair and sadness over Sodom's destruction.

There seem to be some Christians that want to hang back and watch the destruction of the earth during Daniel's 70th week, rather than go on to see the Lord Jesus.

In any case, there are worse places than Sodom, according to our Lord Jesus. Capernaum, for one. Had Jesus performed miracles in Sodom, it would still be there today, He said. That indicates to me that the core sin of Sodom is unbelief. (My mother-in-law said that, once, and I agree with her.)

 

[Rocky R.]

My guess with regard to Lot's wife isn't that she briefly glanced over her shoulder, but that she hung back, and turned to stand and watch, either out of curiosity or out of despair and sadness over Sodom's destruction.

There seem to be some Christians that want to hang back and watch the destruction of the earth during Daniel's 70th week, rather than go on to see the Lord Jesus.

In any case, there are worse places than Sodom, according to our Lord Jesus. Capernaum, for one. Had Jesus performed miracles in Sodom, it would still be there today, He said. That indicates to me that the core sin of Sodom is unbelief. (My mother-in-law said that, once, and I agree with her.)

Really? I haven't met one of those. Although I heard Dr. Ed Hindson mention that he had some students who expressed they did not want the Rapture to take place because they didn't experience marriage yet. He went on to say that six months after they had gotten married, the same students now wished the Rapture would happen very soon!

 

[cavalier973]

Really? I haven't met one of those. Although I heard Dr. Ed Hindson mention that he had some students who expressed they did not want the Rapture to take place because they didn't experience marriage yet. He went on to say that six months after they had gotten married, the same students now wished the Rapture would happen very soon!

I suspect that some who are midtrib, posttrib, or "prewrath" hold this attitude.

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

Inhospitality is referred to as one of the sins of Sodom according to Ezekiel 16:49-50.

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."

Their pride and apathy for the poor while living in abundance caused them to commit abominations. It certainly is inhospitable to try to homosexually gang rape visitors to the city. They were destroyed for their abominations, but the description of Sodom in the passage above feels uncomfortably familiar to this American in this day and age.

The sins of a nation (or city) pile up in conjunction with each other. A socio-cultural entity never has just one sin going on, as the Apostle Paul notes in his lists of sins of the people who belong to this world, in the last days. The O.T. often just refers to the general moral malaise as "lawlessness". To confirm just how disgusting the ancient pagans were, we have only to look at Paul's letters to Timothy, who, because he was a pastor in Ephesus, had that kind of pagan culture surrounding him. The Roman Empire had put a lid on much of the debauchery in the areas it controlled, so you can imagine how bad it was before Roman Law had some role in preserving cultures and societies from complete depravity. Sodom and Gomorrah were completely depraved and needed to be destroyed so that the surrounding cultures could be spared the gangrenous encroachment. The law was made against such things. But for those who are led by the indwelling Holy Spirit have no need of the law because the fruit of that Spiritual filling is "...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things, there is no law..."

 

[gregb4hope]

That is my response when unbelievers criticize God as being cruel and judgemental. I tell them that he has been way too patient with humans throughout history and point them to read the Old Testament focusing on the stiff-necked Israelites after all God did. Like seriously?! How more loving can God be?! They usually just shut up.

My sister did seem surprised by my answer and thought she might check it out. It hasn't happened yet, but I keep praying God sends more laborers in her path.

I agree, God gave grace to Adam & Eve, at least we know Adam lived well beyond an earth day of 24 hours and died at the age 936, me believe. Though a day of the Lord is as a 1000 years. So God stay true to his word in order to allow man opportunity. God's grace was given to Cain who murdered his brother, Abel. And the greatest grace is on Calvary Hill as HE GIVES US OPPORTUNITY TO BE SAVED BY ACCEPTANCE OF THE FORGIVNESS OF CHRIST. Time is running out with the rapture coming upon us so soon in my opinion. This event doesn't stop grace for grace will continue when the book of Revelation is opened and opportunity is available as a tribulatiion saint. Salvation lives but it comes at a cost if you know what I mean. Such is the essence of God,s love and discipline for mankind.

 

[cheeky200386]

I agree, God gave grace to Adam & Eve, at least we know Adam lived well beyond an earth day of 24 hours and died at the age 936, me believe. Though a day of the Lord is as a 1000 years. So God stay true to his word in order to allow man opportunity. God's grace was given to Cain who murdered his brother, Abel. And the greatest grace is on Calvary Hill as HE GIVES US OPPORTUNITY TO BE SAVED BY ACCEPTANCE OF THE FORGIVNESS OF CHRIST. Time is running out with the rapture coming upon us so soon in my opinion. This event doesn't stop grace for grace will continue when the book of Revelation is opened and opportunity is available as a tribulatiion saint. Salvation lives but it comes at a cost if you know what I mean. Such is the essence of God,s love and discipline for mankind.

That's right! God is so merciful as we all deserve hell.

 

[Kerbluey]

Every single time I see this thread title pop up I misread it as The EVACUATION Of Sodom and scratch my head for a bit....

 

[Batman]

Hard to believe Sodom and Gomorrah, the true Mt Sinai with the split rock, etc., and global flood evidence all over the globe being available for the world to see.......and yet all they see is doubt, bickering, resentment, rebellion, and refusal to seek the Creator of all things.