Free The God Box by Alex Sanchez Page B

the Sodomites?"Cliff thought for a moment and replied, "No. He knew the men outside were gay, so they wouldn't want his daughters."77"Wait a minute." Dakota shook her head. "Lot offered his daughters knowing they'd be refused? Then why'd he offer them? That doesn't make any sense."I sat up in my seat, agreeing with the girls, but Cliff ignored their arguments and resumed reading aloud. In the following verses, the men of Sodom indeed refused Lot's offer of his daughters, telling him, '"Now we will deal worse with you than with them.' Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. But the men put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves groping for the door."As Cliff continued reading out loud, I turned the page, leaving a sweaty thumbprint.'"Then the men said to Lot, "Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.'""Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dakota interrupted again. "Lot went out to the mob to get his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters? So, were his sons-in-law also gay?"Cliff scowled at her, thinking again. "Yeah. Apparently. That's why they get destroyed with the rest.""What I don't get," Angie cut in, "is where were the women of the city during all this? Or were they supposedly also gay?""I'd like to say something," Manuel spoke up.
    "Maybe the story isn't really about homosexuality, but about rape. If the angels had78been female, and the men of Sodom said they wanted to 'know' them against their will, would people claim that the story shows heterosexuality is a sin?"Everyone in our circle turned to him, faces blank. It was the first time I'd ever heard anybody approach the story that way."The story is about homosexuality," Cliff insisted. "The angels weren't female. You're trying to change the story.""No, I'm not." Manuel replied. "I'm trying to look at it without a homophobe bias. The men of Sodom wanted to rape the strangers. The fact that the angels were men isn't the point. The point is that the people of the city wanted to hurt visiting strangers. The story isn't antigay; it's antiviolence."Cliff shook his head, unpersuaded. "The Bible says homosexuality is a sin." He quickly thumbed through his Bible to a page he'd marked. "Leviticus Eighteen-Twenty-two: 'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.'"I slinked down in my seat, cowering at the verse.But Manuel shrugged, unfazed. "So, are lesbians okay?""You're mocking God's Word," Cliff said, his fists curling."No, I'm just trying to understand," Manuel retorted. "In Leviticus Eleven, the Bible indicates that eating any seafood other than fish is an abomination. So does anyone who eats shrimp commit a lesser abomination than homosexuality?""That's ridiculous," Elizabeth said, glaring at Manuel."The Bible," Cliff insisted, "is the inerrant Word of God."Manuel cocked his head. "And does that make you inerrant to interpret it?""God, I hope not," Dakota groaned, pushing back her red curls."I don't interpret the Bible," Cliff replied proudly. "I just believe it. I believe everything in this book." He pointed his Bible at Manuel. "Do jow believe everything in this book?"79In response, Manuel glanced around the group and back to Cliff. "Do you even know what 'abomination' means in the Old Testament? It meant unclean and impure. Leviticus describes an ancient code of cleanliness and ritual purity. It forbade sex between men because Jewish