Patriarchs by Beth Moore


A collective gasp came from everyone in the group but two. "What are you saying?"

I replied, "I do not agree with Beth Moore on day 5. The problem is the seeming contradiction between Genesis 19 and 2 Peter 2:7. Enter Peter: ...and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) ***9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment... The Bible never contradicts itself and therefore, there must be a different explanation than that Lot had steeped in the wickedness of Sodom long enough to become blind to righteous ways. Otherwise, Peter would never had said that the wickedness of Sodom tormented Lot day to day."

How can Peter have called Lot righteous? He offered his daughters to the townsmen in place of the angels under his roof. What is righteous about that?

Absolutely nothing. Some say that Lot felt safe in offering his daughters because of the homosexual debaseness of the town's men and that they wouldn't be tempted by daughters, they wanted manflesh. I'm leaning that way because of what the men of the town replied to that suggestion.

How could Lot have been righteous if he stayed in Sodom surrounded by evil?

I am living proof that a person can succomb to the evil ways of the world little by little without even realizing that I was sinking back into a depraved person. BUT, God delivered me out of my Sodom, just like He delivered Lot out of his.

I believe that God was intently watching Lot as he lived in Sodom. I believe that God had angels watching and protecting him as well. I also believe that Lot's wife (who is nameless) was so addicted to the urban wiles of Sodom that every time Lot desired to leave, she pressed him to stay. I also believe that she bought into the ways of Sodom as normal just as Lot's daughters bought into the perverted ways. Their husbands to be were not very much in love with them because when Lot told them they were leaving, they laughed at his reason and then went back to drinking.

Certainly we should never interpret Scripture from personal experience. That is totally against hermeneutics, rules of interpretation. However, we see a lot of human experience in the OT which directly relates to our human experience. From this angle I would like to make a correlation.

Even when I was stuck in Satan's web of lies and filth and disobedience, I still knew Jesus was in my heart. There were some things that were abhorant to me that no matter how much I was exposed to them, I could never condone. I would never allow my precious daughters to be tainted by something that was wicked if it was within my power to prevent. Therefore, even if Lot had become somewhat numb to the wickedness around him, I just cannot fathom he would allow sin to become normal.

In Sodom, Lot was exposed to plenty of filth, yet his garments were not soiled (as in the church of Sardis Rev 3:4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.) Therefore, we see something really interesting here.

Lot was righteous and to see what that means, we must look in Romans 4 where Abraham's belief was accounted to him as righteousness. Just as David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works (v. 6)

So what is it that I disagree with? Beth is saying that even though Lot's family did not participate in homosexual sin, the "dividing right from wrong and healthy from unhealthy got blurred." For Lot's daughters, YES! Because of what they did to Lot. But, for Lot, no. He had kept his daughters virgins. He knew what was right and just. The only way he knew this was from God. Paul affirms this when he states that he would not have known what sin was except for the Law.

I believe that Lot recognized the angels and from Whom they came. They were Holy and stood out like a beacon from the wickedness and filth surrounding him because he baked them unleavened bread. I believe he put protection of them above and before protection of his daughters. His thought process was a bit skewed because he forgot how Big God is and tried a puny and ill thought out solution to the problem pounding at his door. I do not believe for one second that Lot thought those men outside his door would take him up on the offer. The men replied, "... he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal with you worse than with them."

So, no, I don't believe that Lot allowed the lines around sin to blur.

Otherwise, this is a most excellent study. All of Beth's studies are good and I have learned a lot. I highly recommend them to you if you haven't done one, just do it. If you can get a group of women together purchase the DVDs to view along with your study. They are most excellent.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi, gina. just stopping by to see how you're doing. you've got interesting insights. c",)

http://myblog2002.blogspot.com

Corry said...

Good post! Gina, I think we all have some sort of conscience and limits we won't pass, concerning sin. No matter how much we would be "off the world".

God's Grace.

David Meigs said...

The Lord is merciful and full of grace! All we have to do to see the time of Lot, is to look out the window.

God bless you,


David

Pilot Mom said...

Gina, I also love Beth Moore's studies. I haven't seen this one yet but will look into it!

Also, thanks for the link to the 'tag' the other day! :)

Anonymous said...

Lot illustrates the principle of how to boil a frog.

If you were going to boil a frog (no, not literally!) which one of these methods would be most effective?

(1) Boil a pot of water then place the frog in the pot.

(2) Place the frog in a pan of cold water and slowly turn up the heat.

Naturally, the second method would have a greater chance of keeping the frog in the pot. The frog would barely notice a difference in temperature. It may notice it getting warmer but the temperature would change so slowly that the frog would adjust. There would never be a sudden increase in the heat - a particular point at which the frog would notice that things had changed dramatically.
http://www.unitcoach.com/articles/frog.htm

As a Christian I live in very conservative Utah...with the Mormon Church being the power brokers.

When I arrived at Las Vegas the sights and smells were overwhelming. Pornography was open and the smell of alchol and cigarettes was constant.

But if a Christian who has lived all their lives in Las Vegas would not understand why I am disturbed with the lifestyle of their city. It is all they know...and they have gotten use to it...they adjusted. Yes....they have concerns about immorality and sin...but is blunted.

Lot lived with Abraham...but he chaffed at the nomad lifestyle so he went to the Vegas of the Philestines. It took some adjustment when he eventually moved his family into the city...and he didn't approve of what they did in Sodom....but he learned to compromise and adapt to Sodom.
Outwardly...he was a normal unbanite...inwardly his soul was vexed by the wickedness surrounding him. Outwardly living by the flesh...inwardly...his soul was in torment.

This is true of America today and what we as Christians accept...and America 10, 20 or 50 years ago and what was the standard of righteousness among Christians then. We draw a line....but it is drawn in sand...easy to erase and easy to remark further into the world system.

Refreshment in Refuge said...

Excellent points, Jer. One thing that bothers me, though. I do not know how to reconcile a "soul in torment" with "fleshly compromise". For me, it is impossible to compromise with the flesh, unless I hush the Spirit. (It is possible to do, but I strongly advise against it for that path leads to great sin.) If the Spirit is hushed, then the soul is not in torment. It seems to be a conundrum.

Becky said...

A clue that Lot knew who his guests were: he offered them UNLEAVENED bread. This is before Moses, mind you. In the Bible, yeast represents sin... he clearly understood who was before him.

Refreshment in Refuge said...

Thank you, Becky! I thought this way, too. Great minds do think alike!