Genesis 18 -19: Sodom and Gomorrah

It is perhaps the most terrifying story in the Bible. God is described as raining fire and sulfur onto a city and then turning a woman into a pillar of salt. A certain understanding of this story leads to this interpretation of our world:

"Where was God? He was in the winds of Katrina. Just as He came against Sodom and Gomorrah, it was God who came against this American Sodom and Gomorrah, New Orleans." - evangelist

In this Bible study we explored several possible ways of understanding this story. It would seem important that we struggle with the meaning. Jesus told us to "remember Lot's wife." Peter said that "He made those cities an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them." (2 Peter 2:6). Is the cosmic conflict going to end in the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed? In the book of Jude, Sodom is described "as a warning of the eternal fire of God's judgment." (Jude 1:7,8) What does this mean?

What are we to learn from this terrible story?

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