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.