[soc.religion.christian] The Sin of Lot's Wife

gfs@odin.icd.ab.com (12/19/90)

{Moderator, please post this again since the first time the subject was
not displayed.  There have been some responses and the subject line gets
messed up as well.   Thanks --- Greg }


THE SIN OF LOT'S WIFE


	To start, I must confess that the story about Lot's wife has always
bothered me a little bit.  To recap Genesis, Lot (a relative of Abraham), and 
his family lived in the city of Sodom, which was destroyed along with the city 
of Gommorrah (sp?) by God for their great evil, corruption, sin and perversion
of every sort.  An angel, a messenger of God, warned Lot to get out of the city
with his family and anyone else who would come with him, to save their lives.
Further, the warning was given to go, leave the city, flee to the desert and 
not to look back.  As the family left and was fleeing, Lot's wife turned around
and looked back, and was turned to a pillar of salt.
	What always bothered me is the harsh punishment for breaking what
seemed a trivial command, not to look back.  After all, the hard part was
leaving, leaving house, home, friends, a total way of life, pulling up stakes
and trusting the extraordinary supernatural message that was given.  So after
all that was obeyed, why ultimate punishment for simply looking back?
	This morning I finally had some insight as to what the sin of Lot's
wife really was and why it was so grevious, and why all of us should pay
very close attention.  
	Before today, I had kind of generally accepted the notion that Lot's
wife looking back meant that she really did not want to leave, that her heart
was really back there with the people and life of the city.  But now I 
understand some points very clearly.
	Consider this, Jesus said "If you look at a woman with desire 
[lust], then you have already committed adultery with her in your heart."  
The lesson: What is in our heart counts as much or more than our actions.
The sin is already committed even before the act may or may not happen.  We
may not always obey God's commands joyfully, sometimes it is hard.  Sometimes
we feel we have to force ourselves, drag ourselves, by pure force of will.
But we obey.  Sometimes we may not like it, but we do it.  That is part of 
our human imperfection.  Lot's wife did not like the idea of leaving, but she
went along with her husband and did it.  Sometimes this is all God can expect
from us.  But Lot's wife went further.  When turning around and looking,
she looked with true desire, and committed the sin in her heart of really
choosing against God in favor of her old way and means of life.  It wasn't
just a slip of the eye, a furtive glance.  She looked back and in her heart
actually went back there to the city.  Since in principle she went back to
the city in her heart (what is in our heart is what really counts), she
was destroyed along with the city, sharing its fate, rather than the salvation
of Lot himself.  The lesson: What is in our heart counts as much or more than
our actions.
	
	Secondly, consider this: God knows that we are weak and need help.  He
knows that it would be hard to leave everything behind.  By saying "Don't look
back", is a word of help.  The physical act of looking on that which you just
had a hard time leaving gives rise to the temptation of reconsidering the
choice.  Not looking back is part of coping with the loss.  It makes leaving
emotionally easier.  God knows this, and this is why the command was given,
probably specifically for Lot's wife herself, God knowing the difficulty with
which she was struggling.  Sometimes to make ourselves go, we have to focus all
of our strength on just making the first footstep.  Sometimes to resist a 
temptation, we have to focus all of our strength on simply not looking at it.
One step at a time is all we have the capability for.  God gives us instructions
for the greater goal (our salvation), as well as the step today (our daily 
bread).  It is at our peril to ignore the daily bread given, while wanting all
of the answers at once, wanting the end of the journey before we take the next
step.  For Lot's wife, in her state of mind, in her situation, not looking
back was a life or death situation, and for her all that mattered in that
moment was obeying the simple "Don't look back".

	You see, it is not that God punishes harshly for breaking seemingly
trivial commandments.  That is exactly backwards.  The truth is, seemingly
trivial commandments can be life or death situations for us that we don't
realize.  Unless we know better than God (which we don't), it is at great peril
that we take lightly even the seemingly trivial commandments of God.  You
want a modern day example?  As a Catholic, I am under obligation to go to
church EVERY Sunday and holy days as well.  Seemingly trivial?  Does a plant
need water every day?  Can I stop breathing because I feel like it?  I think
rather, that going to church does me more good than I realize.  It's a direct
commandment for me, and the way I accept it is on the basis that God knows
better than I do what I need.


	Why should we all care about the lesson of Lot's wife?  I happen to
believe that in addition, it is a picture of the sin that many, many persons
will commit at the Lord's Coming.  I think much of the message of Christianity
is not to get too attached to money, material possessions, social status, etc.
("Store up treasures in heaven, not on earth where moths destroy and rust
consumes" forgive my paraphrase.)  At the Lord's appearance in the world,
each and every person will have to choose between Him and everything in the
life the person had previously known, material goods, career, social status
etc.  That which we will keep fully is the love we have.  In fact I think
that that time will be one of the most intense experiences of love and
community that we have ever known.  There will be a very, very strong bond
of brotherhood (sisterhood) for those going with the Lord.  I try not to put
labels or names on things since those labels or names mean different things
to different people, but I dare say what I am describing here is something
like the Rapture.  My insight is that at the time of the Lord's Coming, each
one of us personally will have the choice to go with Him or not.  Woe to those
who would choose in their heart not to go, for as Lot's wife, they will share
in the destruction.
	Another example from the Bible was the Exodus out of Egypt.  People 
were asked to leave behind everything they had known in return for a promise
from the Lord.  Even though the life in Egypt had been harsh, the Bible tells
that many began to wish to return to Egypt, they remembered the meat they had
to eat, and the wine to drink, and life really wasn't so bad.  Was Moses to
lead them to die in the desert?  This became the root of those who rebelled
against Moses and made the false god of the golden calf, and were subsequently
destroyed along with it.  The sin of the people was the turning away from
choosing God, and returning in their hearts to the life away from God.  I dare
say that many of these people probably left Egypt not out of clear choice for
the Lord, but simply to escape the situation in Egypt.  They thought that 
anything would be better than where they were, and wanted to 'try it and see'.
The 'try it and see' attitude amounts not to choosing, but to delaying a
choice.  Are we taking a wait-and-see attitude with God?


	Just for a mental exercise, test yourself against the following 
imaginary scenario:

	One day, just like any other day, you receive a message from God.  With
all of the same faith that you have ever had in God, you know that it is an
authentic message from God.  (That is, the message and the means of its 
communication leaves you absolutely no doubt in your mind that it is from
God and not a delusion from Satan.  Accept for the moment that this is true.)
God tells you to take your family (husband/wife, children if you have them,
those immediately living with you), and walk straight out of your house,
leaving everything behind and don't look back.  Leave your car, your house,
your clothes, your money, your lawnmower, your diploma, your passport, your
bank books and birth certificates, credit cards, wallets and purses.
There are food and enough provisions where you will be going.
You are told to walk toward the rising sun. (If you are on the west bank of a
lake or something, skirt around to the south first, if not, then by the north.)
You realize that by leaving, this means that you are giving everything up.  
To give you the frame of mind I mean, think of it in the following terms. 
(I do not suggest this is what the situation will actually be, but I am trying
to paint a picture in terms that we can understand and relate to). Imagine 
that if you leave, while you are gone, someone will come and take everything. 
They will break in and steal.  The mortgage will forclose, or landlord evict 
and take possession.  You will get fired from you job because your company 
regards you as quitting.  All your bank accounts will be absorbed because you 
were not there to claim them.  There will be nothing left if you leave.  Worse,
you may have some friends or even relatives who tell you you are being foolish,
throwing everything away that you have worked so long and hard for.  Be real, 
they say, snap out of it, don't be a fanatic.
	What are your feelings?  Will you go?  How long will you think about
it?  How hard of a decision is it?  Is it a gut-wrenching decision?  Be as
honest with yourself as you can.
	Will you try to be smart and wait a little while, to see if anything 
starts to happen, and then get out at the last minute?  Or do you go out, but 
pitch camp a short distance away, to watch and see if anything happens, thinking
you will fight off anyone who comes to try to break in?
	If you decide to go, be honest now, will lingering in your house,
looking at how comfortable and nice (and expensive) everything is, perhaps
being even a little bit sentimental, make walking out the front door easier
or harder?
	As you step out the door, with those you love with you, you feel
the love of God in your heart drawing you ahead, toward the very bright light
in the sky.  But you begin to notice that the bright light is a little
brighter than you remember the sun ever being.  In fact it seems more brilliant
and shining than the sun could possibly be.  You are greatly thrilled in your
soul, filled with the sense of God's presence, God's love, and you know that
it is not the sun ahead of you, but the Lord Himself.
  You want to go closer so badly that you feel as if you are being drawn by a
powerful force.  Your family is smiling and the children are laughing.  What
you have is happiness, your loved ones, a sense of purpose, a sense of being
alive.  Everything you have ever known is right behind you.  Behind you
are real, physical things.  What you have is only a feeling.  Are you being
irrational, emotional?  Will you throw away hard reality for a feeling?  

				Choose.



By this example, I hope to paint a picture of the crisis of faith.  Lot's wife
failed this crisis.  I believe in all sincerity we each have to undergo the
same crisis of faith.  Interestingly, we can make our decision now.  We don't
have to wait for that last moment.  This is the reason for Jesus admonitions to
give of what we have to the poor.  This is why Jesus says it will be very hard
for a rich man to get into heaven.  He is telling us to detach ourselves from
our possessions now, so that when the time comes, we will have already made the
choice and there will be no difficulty for us.
	The crisis of faith is harder for some, easier for others, depending on 
how we each have prepared ourselves, how we each have been living our lives.
This is the reason for going to church regularly.  This is reason for giving
freely of our time and money to charity.  This is His model life for us that
He lived on earth.  Store up our treasures in Heaven, not here on the earth.
It is for our own good!  Picture a man drowning with a bag of gold coins in
his hand.  The gold is heavy, and is pulling him down.  He must drop the gold
to survive, or else drown by its weight pulling him down.  The Lord wants us
to free ourselves of the burdens that weigh us down and work against our
salvation.  Any time and every time we choose money, wealth, success, over
love, friendship, helping someone truly in need, we are truly condemning 
ourselves just as surely as Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

Sincerely, In Christ

Greg Shay