Imagine for a second. You’re a parent of a couple of teenage daughters. As you look at them, you see the beauty and innocence in their lives. You have taught them about the value of chastity.
Your neighborhood is a really bad one. Every time anyone from your family ventures outside your home, you struggle with what they will be exposed to. You pour out your heart to God about the city you live in and the depravity you see all around.
And yet, after a series of events unexplained, unexpected and uncalled for, you find yourself offering your daughters for sexual favours to a sexually depraved mob banging down your front doors.
Of course, this is the story of Lot in Sodom. When the two angels met Lot at the city gates, Lot begged them to stay with him at his house. Sodom was a sexually depraved city where homosexuality ran rife and Lot was perhaps trying to save these two travelers as his heart constantly cried out to God about the depravity of his city.
As the town heard that “fresh meat” was at Lot’s house, they formed a mob and banged at the door of Lot in their efforts to “bang” the “fresh meat.” (If you are offended by the language here, imagine the offence of God on Sodom)
In Lot’s attempt to prevent this depravity, he offered the mob his most prized treasure - his two virgin daughters so that the crowd can do “whatever they like” to them.
Fast forward thousands of years and I find myself in Perth, Western Australia on a four day business trip. I am thousands of kilometres away from my wife and 2 kids and I am sitting having dinner with my work colleague and she brings up this story in her attempt to discredit Christianity.
Straight out of the pages of Oxford Professor, Richard Dawkin’s, “The God Delusion” she asks, “would you offer your daughter Sara for sexual favours to a mob of people?”
My colleague, Diane is a professional 31 year old woman. She is a clinical and technical specialist educator who has a university degree in genetics. Standing over 6 feet tall with a brain which stores and retrieves vasts amounts of data - she is a walking Pentium Quad Core processor and she has a gripe against religion and Christianity in particular.
She is your typical post modern woman who questions traditional norms not making sense nor having any relevance to her life of inner urban Melbourne where cafe’s and shopping is the norm. She is leftist in her ideology and accepts anything opposing God and faith as her religion.
In her scientifically brilliant mind, “faith” in the scientifically unproven is seen as a weakness and a delusion. Dawkin’s skepticism resonates in her mind as real as the screen is in front of your eyes as you read this right now.
And she uses the story of Lot to explain why she sees the Bible as a ridiculous reality.
“Would you use your daughter for sexual favours?”
“No.”
“That’s why I conclude the Bible is a ridiculous book.”
How would you approach this conversation? How would you get out of your Christian cliche and answer an honest question from a depraved, and yet brilliant mind?
By God’s provision, I gave my answer. But I want to know yours.
Tags: post modern, culture, missional, science, religion, sodom, gomorrah
here is the question…. Did God ask Lot to do that? Was Lot right in offering his daughters?
the OT is full of messed up people doing messed up things… just because it is recorded in the narative of the Bible doesnt mean God is “for” it…. I would have sat with this woman and looked up some of the other atrocaties in the Bible and asked… “Even those who Follow God can be messed up… how much more do we need him!”
just a thought…. BTW i found your blog through Dan Kimballs
Nice reply Andy and a nice angle to take on this. I guess Lot’s wisdom was questionable as his descendants ended up being the incest prone Moabites.
Never would have thought of that had you not have commented. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.