Sodom & the ICE Men: What the Story of Sodom Really Teaches Us summary version

The biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah is often invoked as a warning against gay sex, yet a closer reading of Scripture reveals a very different message—one that speaks urgently to the church and the wider world today: a profound indictment of arrogance, greed, violence, and the mistreatment of the poor and vulnerable, especially the stranger. Read in its full biblical context, the story becomes a powerful call to compassion, justice, and humility.

What Actually Happened in Sodom

In Genesis 18–Abraham receives three mysterious visitors—two angels and the Lord himself. He reveals that the “outcry” against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great that he is going to investigate their grievous sins. In the following chapter the two angels then travel to Sodom, where Abraham’s nephew Lot sees them preparing to sleep in the town square. Following the best ancient eastern hospitality customs, he insists they stay with him, offering food, shelter, and protection.

But before the visitors can sleep, the men of Sodom surround Lot’s house and demand they be handed over so that they can have sex with them. Lot refuses, appealing to the sacred duty of hospitality: these men have come under the protection of my roof. The mob responds with hostility, threatening Lot himself. Only the intervention of the angels—who strike the attackers with blindness—prevents the assault. They then warn Lot that the city will be destroyed because its wickedness has reached its limit.

What the Sin of Sodom Really Was

The attempted rape in Genesis 19 is not presented as an act of sexual desire but as an act of violent domination and contempt for vulnerable outsiders. In the ancient world, rape—especially of male strangers—was a weapon of humiliation and power. Lot’s horror is rooted in the violation of hospitality codes and the abuse of those who should have been protected under their host’s roof.

But Scripture goes further. Ezekiel 16:49–50 gives the clearest summary of Sodom’s sins: pride, excess, complacency, and failure to care for the poor and needy. These foundational sins created a culture in which such extreme sexual violence against strangers became possible.

Sodom's arrogance culminated in what Ezekiel calls an “abomination.” The New Testament sheds further light. Jude 7 describes Sodom’s people as pursuing “strange flesh”—a phrase often misunderstood. The Greek word used is heteros, meaning “of a different kind,” not “same-sex.” Jude’s point is not about homosexuality but the attempted assault of angelic beings, a violation of divine order similar to the events of Genesis 6. Their sin was not homo‑ but hetero-sexual: seeking sexual domination over beings of a different order. This reflects a deeper spiritual rebellion—an attitude of “I can do whatever I want, to whoever I want, even God’s angels.”

Taken together, these passages show that Sodom’s defining sins were arrogance, greed, violence, and the abuse of the vulnerable. The attempted rape of the angels was the ultimate expression of a selfish, greed-driven society that had abandoned justice and compassion.

What the Story Teaches Us for Today

This biblical perspective challenges the way many Christians have used the Sodom story. Whether one holds a traditional or revisionist view of same‑sex relationships, the overwhelming message of Scripture is not a preoccupation with sexual ethics but a relentless concern for the poor, the stranger, and the oppressed. These themes appear hundreds of times across the Bible, far outweighing the handful of verses touching on same‑sex behaviour.

Jesus reinforces this emphasis in Matthew 25, where he describes the final judgment. The criteria he gives are strikingly practical: feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned. These are the actions that reveal genuine faith. The story of the Good Samaritan makes the same point: our neighbour is not just the person like us, but the outsider, the foreigner, the one we might be inclined to either overlook or abuse.

The Old Testament repeatedly reminds Israel that they were once foreigners in Egypt and must therefore treat foreigners with compassion. Jesus himself was a refugee in Egypt as an infant. Hebrews 13:2 explicitly links hospitality to the Sodom story, urging believers not to neglect welcoming strangers, “for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

A Call to Examine Our Actions and our Politics

If these are God’s priorities, they should shape not only our personal lives but also our public choices. How we vote, how we use our resources, and how we respond to political rhetoric about migrants and the poor all reflect our obedience to Christ’s command to love our neighbour.

Behaviour that demeans, excludes, or persecutes the stranger mirrors the sins of Sodom far more closely than any private sexual behaviour. I believe the current President of the USA in both his personal behaviour and policies embodies the very attitudes of the Sodomites that Scripture so utterly condemns: arrogant pride, greed, cruelty, and hostility toward the poor, needy and strangers. By targeting migrants, refugees, or the poor, they stand in direct opposition to the biblical call to "strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" and welcome “strangers”

Donald Trump's policies have emulated Sodom’s violent mob, who rather than welcome “strangers” to their land, tried to violently abuse them. They have copied Sodom's sin through his ICE thugs’ violent persecution of “strangers” he views as  “garbage” to be rounded up and removed from the country. So hell-bent are they on ejecting these “undesirables” that they’re prepared to gun down anyone deemed to get in their way.

In Britain, thank God, we won’t get Donald Trump on our ballot paper, but we will get a party whose policies quite closely mirror his, led by a man who sees him as an ally and whose own history of racism and dishonesty appears little better: Nigel Farage’s Reform party.  

Christians should examine whether the leaders and parties they support reflect Christ’s priorities or Sodom’s. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not a weapon to wield against sexual minorities but a mirror held up to societies that neglect justice and compassion.

The True Lesson of Sodom

The real message of Sodom and Gomorrah is the same message Jesus taught: love your neighbour as yourself. Welcome the stranger. Strengthen the poor. Reject arrogance, greed, and violence. These are the values by which God measures people. And in a democratic society, these are the values that should guide our votes, our voices, and our lives.