This is the second installment of my comment requested by a certain Haruki on the article of Sam Jordison, a blogger for the Guardian Unlimited UK, titled “The Bible’s Literary Sins.”

I want to emphasize what I have said previously. How can someone who does not even know how to read precisely an account in a particular story be a literary critic? The allegation of Jordison that: “There’s also no more striking example of random and bizarre sadism in literature than God’s decision to turn Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt and then make the luckless widower have sex with his daughters in a cave.” Nowhere in the story of Lot did God tell Lot (the luckless widower) to have sex with his daughters in a cave. It is the initiative of his (Lot) daughters, still in trauma witnessing the total destruction of no less than five cities, wherein no men (even their supposed to be husbands) survive to preserve their race.

(Genesis 19:30-33) "And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose."

The account is very clear that the daughters feared the demise of their father’s generation, because no man survived within the premises to be their husbands; and that Lot knew not what happened while he was drunk. To charge that it is bizarre sadism in literature is clearly a product, not only of ignorance, but an intentional lie to mislead people of the real score of truth. Lot did not ever commit the act of sadism! In fact, he did not enjoy any sexual pleasure, knowing nothing of what happened. Sadism is defined in Encarta dictionary as —

sa·dism [sáy dìzz?m]

noun

1. hurting others for sexual pleasure: the gaining of sexual gratification by causing physical or mental pain to other people, or the acts that produce such gratification

2. being cruel for fun: the gaining of pleasure from causing physical or mental pain to people or animals

3. cruelty: great physical or mental cruelty

God’s action on Sodom and Gomorrah — and the surrounding cities — is an act of justice, a fitting recompense for the evil that existed within them, which they (people of Sodom and Gomorrah) committed because of their abuse of free-will given by a merciful God to all men. Do not forget, Jordison, that you also have (and are abusing) your own freewill when you have charged my Lord Jesus Christ of being an “egomaniac” with dirty feet. Your literature is sadistic for imputing my God with such inappropriate and unpardonable offenses.

(Jude 1:7) "Just as Sodom and Gomor’rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire."

The truth, in whichever way or manner it is said and written, is the truth. Is it not true that you are a false accuser and an idiot? If its true, are you not satanic? I want you to answer these questions honestly — if you have a pinch of honesty. I also address them to your allies!

God’s act of turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt is not “bizarre sadism” in literature. Reading the story carefully and meticulously, considering the circumstances that surround it, will reveal that God is a God of justice and compassion.

(Genesis 19:12-16) "And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides a son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city."

Who said that the book of revelation “is a hallucinogenic head-trip without parallel from start to finish: exhilarating, unsettling, and gloriously mad”?

It was the hallucinating Jordison!

To predict the factual reality of what will happen 2000 years before, is not the product of hallucination, but of an unfathomable wisdom that a hallucinating Jordison can not understand.

(Revelation 1:19) "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter…"

To warn people of understanding the evil that they will face before it comes, is act of mercy and compassion — and not a product of hallucination.

(Revelation 6:8) "And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth."

The word "death" is a scary word. It was personified by someone riding on a pale horse; seen by John that will surely come or intervene in the history of humanity. The fact that no discerning mind can deny is that, 2000 years ago, what is happening now was written in the prophetic book of Revelation, called by Jordison as “crushingly dull”. Who, in his sound and sane mind, will deny that there is now an epoch of pestilences (AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, Multi-drug resistant TB, etc), wars, “killing with sword” by wild beasts of the earth? Even the wildest of beasts in the virgin jungle of the Amazon are being killed by these beasts of the earth — and ‘sam’ of these are Jordisonuesque.

(II Peter 2:12) "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption…"

(Hebrews 2:2) "For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;"

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To Mcbain, who posted the following comment on my article titled, “The Literary Quality and Wisdom of God’s Word in the Bible that ‘Sam’ Beast will Never Appreciate”:

Tell your friend, Jordison, to have a little respect for the faith and belief of others before accusing Christians of being “foul-mouthed.” Cleanse your mouth and fingers first before you type on your keyboard.

(Matthew 7:1-2) "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

You are birds of the same feather. I do not blame you. May you be enlightened. And for a brotherly advice, may I give you some food for thought:

Legal terms like, dura lex, sed lex, subpoena, reclusion perpetua,reclusion temporal, etc., when read by a beautician and a couturier may not arouse his or her curiosity. To a dull mind, the Bible may seem to be “crashingly dull,” but to someone with a vast knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and the English language, the Bible is a book of treasures.

Further, anybody who is appreciative of the etymology of the words which are now of common use in the English language, will not fail to notice the elegance of biblical literature — the prose and the poetry in it like —

(Genesis 2:23) "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Compare this verse to one of the most loved songs of the American people:

Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes

Drink to me only with thine eyes

And I will pledge with mine.

Or leave a kiss within the cup

And I’ll not ask for wine.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

Doth ask a drink divine;

But might I of Jove’s nectar sip,

I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,

Not so much hon’ring thee

As giving it a hope that there

It could not withered be;

But thou thereon did’st only breathe,

And sent’st it back to me,

Since when it grows and smells, I swear

Not of itself, but thee.

And you will see the literary elegance of the Bible in its original language text.

May my God bless you.

In Christ,

EFS