What is Sodomy?

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Question: What exactly is Sodomy? Did its practice occur early in history?

Answer: First, let's look at the world's definition of sodomy from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary:

1. Copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal.

2. Non-coital and especially anal or oral copulation with a member of the same sex.

As early as the time of Abraham and Lot (roughly 1900 B.C.,) Sodomy was considered unacceptable and a sin. God also reiterated that Sodomy was against His will when He gave His laws to Israel. Let's take a look at a few Bible verses related to it:

"Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, 'Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.' . . . so they (the two angels) turned in to him (Lot) and entered his house . . .

"Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.' So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, 'Please, my brethren, DO NOT DO SO WICKEDLY!' " (Genesis 19:1-7, NKJV throughout)

The book of Leviticus, which are God's instructions not just for priests or even Israelites, but for the world, states the following about Sodomy and other sexual practices:

"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them . . . . If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them." (Leviticus 20:13, 15-16)

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.  It is an abomination.  Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it.  Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it.  It is perversion." (Leviticus 18:22-23)

The New Testament states what happens to those who reject God and His declaration that sodomy is wrong:

"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, . . . And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; " (Romans 1:24, 28)

In conclusion, the Bible clearly tells us God does not approve of sodomy.