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Hey everyone, let's talk about a
story you've probably heard a 

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million times Sodom. 
But what if I told you that a 

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huge part of that story, maybe 
the most important part, has 

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been completely misunderstood 
for, well, for centuries? 

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OK, let's just put it right out 
there. 

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This story has been used a lot 
to condemn gay men. 

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But here's the twist. 
There are no gay men in this 

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story. 
Not a single one. 

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Yeah, the authors were talking 
about something totally 

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different. 
So what was it really about? 

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And you know what's really cool?
We don't even have to guess. 

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The Bible actually spells out 
the answer for us in a 

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completely different book 
written way later. 

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And trust me, what it says is 
probably not what you're 

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expecting. 
All right, so to get to the 

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bottom of this, let's play 
detective. 

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We're going to go right back to 
the source. 

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Look at the evidence piece by 
piece. 

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First stop, what actually went 
down in the city of Sodom. 

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OK, so here's how the story 
kicks off. 

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You've got these two visitors, 
total strangers who just show up

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in Sodom. 
They don't know a soul just 

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looking for a safe place to 
crash for the night. 

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So this guy named Lott sees them
and right away he invites them 

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into his house, offering them 
food and shelter. 

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I got to understand, back then 
this was a really big deal. 

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Hospitality, you know, 
protecting strangers was like 

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rule #1 it showed you were a 
good person. 

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But then things get ugly fast. 
A massive angry mob, we're 

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talking men from all over the 
city, surrounds Lott's house, 

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and they are definitely not 
there to say hello. 

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The mob is screaming at Lot, 
telling him to send the visitors

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out. 
And they say this one super 

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important line. 
Bring them out to us so that we 

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may know them. 
And that one little word no. 

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Well, that's the key to this 
whole mystery. 

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OK, so we've got our first major
clue, that word no. 

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Let's dig into the evidence. 
What in the world do they mean 

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by no? 
So the original Hebrew word here

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is yada. 
And look, yes, yada can mean to 

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have sex, but that's not what it
usually means when you've got an

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angry mob threatening strangers.
It almost always means something

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violent, like interrogation or 
assault. 

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Basically a brutal way to show 
who's in charge. 

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And this really gets to the 
heart of it. 

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Just think for a second about 
what this story doesn't talk 

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about. 
There's zero mention of love or 

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relationships or sexual 
orientation or two people who 

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care about each other. 
This is about violence. 

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It's a mob threatening 
strangers. 

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Like we said from the start, 
there are no gay men in this 

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story. 
So that leads us right back to 

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our big question. 
If the sin wasn't what so many 

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people have said it was, then 
what was Sodom's real sin? 

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And this is the best part. 
We don't have to guess. 

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The Bible literally gives us the
answer. 

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A prophet named Ezekiel comes 
along later and just spells it 

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all out for us. 
So Fast forward a few 100 years.

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This prophet Ezekiel is writing 
and he brings up Sodom and he 

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explains in super clear detail 
exactly what their sin was. 

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And here it is, the big reveal 
in Ezekiel 1649. 

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It says plain as day now this 
was the sin of your sister 

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Sodom. 
She and her daughters were 

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arrogant, overfed and 
unconcerned. 

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They did not help the poor and 
needy. 

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That's it. 
Nothing else is mentioned at 

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all, so let's just break that 
down really quick. 

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Ezekiel's list of Sodom sins #1 
arrogance #2 being overfed and 

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unconcerned, basically having 
more than enough but not caring 

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about anyone else and #3 not 
helping the poor and needy. 

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Do you see the pattern here? 
Every single one of these is 

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about injustice and just a total
lack of caring for other people.

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OK, so why is this such a big 
deal? 

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Why does this even matter? 
Well, because it means there are

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two completely different ways to
understand this story, and they 

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lead to two totally different 
lessons. 

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On the one hand, you have this 
common misreading that's been 

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used as a weapon to judge a 
whole group of people for who 

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they are. 
But then you have Ezekiel's 

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reading, and that version is a 
warning. 

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A warning against greed and 
pride and turning your back on 

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people who need help. 
I mean, those are two completely

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different takeaways, right? 
So when you're actually look at 

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the evidence, the whole story of
Sodom changes. 

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It stops being about who someone
is, and it becomes a powerful 

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lesson about a community's 
character. 

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It's really about how we treat 
strangers and how we care for 

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the most vulnerable people in 
our society. 

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And that kind of leaves us with 
a final thought, doesn't it? 

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The only reason we uncovered all
this is because we decided to 

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ask a few more questions about a
story we thought we knew. 

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So it makes you wonder what else
is out there to discover if we 

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just start asking new questions 
about old stories.