The men of Sodom in the bible
All Christians virtually confirm the significance of accepting as well as welcoming homosexuals into their communities and most importantly protecting their civil rights. Therefore, religious traditions, Christianity, and Judaism can be depicted to be a safe place for gays, lesbians, and also bi-sexual to live their spiritual truths. Even though many Christians believe and many churches teaching that a person cannot be a Christian while at the same time having the same-sex relationship that God has condemned it in the bible, it is seen that a very small amount of scripture mentions same-sex activity. Therefore, same-sex passages ought not to be seen as a comprehensive statement and instead support each other irrespective of their sexual orientation.
The men of Sodom in the bible are depicted to have wanted to know the foreigners who came to the house of Lot so that they can rape them to show them their social as well as cultural dominance over them. In essence, the sexual acts between men happened in the Mediterranean just to show the supremacy of a group of men over the other (Johnson, 2010). Therefore, the story of Sodom is not primarily to condemn homosexuality, but the rape and inhospitality towards strangers are depicted as sins of pride and failure to help the poor.
It is apparent that the bible, together with its myriad of interpretations, be a sacred text for gay and lesbians because taking the clue of Jesus form the guide, it is denoted that the early Jewish opened their doors to the Gentiles. That was seen as an enormous shift in religious thinking since the Gentiles were seen as unclean, disgusting as well as perverse idolaters who engage themselves in immoral lifestyles the way the LGBT individuals are viewed. The holy spirit encourages welcoming of these Gentiles without requiring them to become Jewish first, which is a message that churches should welcome any individuals irrespective of their immorality of sins.
Religious communities can be differentiated from sacred text basing on its implications. A religious community can be depicted as a community made up of a group of people who practices similar religious beliefs. Religious community is, in the broader sense, used to define the individuals having a specific religion perceived as members of a community. Sacred text, on the other hand, is texts which are related to religious beliefs. These texts differ from literary texts by compilation of views and mythologies as well as ritual practices that are used to create a religious community.
Religious communities and religious texts work in tandem when it comes to developing societies. For instance, since the religious texts entail the laws, rituals, commandments, and the various beliefs which a religious community should adhere to, it can be denoted that the creation of a religious community involves incorporating these texts to create a religious community. These texts can help to set up guidelines that ought to be adhered to by the members. In this regard, religious texts always aid in the creation and maintenance of religious communities (Fishbane, & Levine, 2018). The two might repel each other when a different religion is adopted, which does not put into consideration the religious texts used in the creation of such faiths. As such, it can be viewed as the failure to adhere to the required guidelines.