Between salvation and Sodom there is no middle ground, no safe place to dwell. The Bible tells us to flee from temptation, not flirt with it. To find my identity in Sodom is a fatal attraction and it leads not to life but to judgement. God offers us a way of salvation and we dare not linger or look back. The problem with Side B Christianity is that it seeks to normalize homosexuality.

“Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” (Luke 17:32-33)

One of the most sobering stories in the Bible is the judgment of Lot’s wife. While fleeing from Sodom, she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt:

“Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:24-26)

To modern readers, this seems extremely harsh. Did Lot’s wife deserve such a terrible punishment? Was her sin really so bad? As Lot’s wife, you would think she would enjoy some kind of immunity. And yet, she looked back and perished. Just one look, that’s all it took.

Why did she look back? Probably, she had friends in Sodom. Probably, her identity was rooted in that place. Probably, she was feeling homesick. Although it seems quite innocent, that backward glance revealed a desire to return to Sodom. As a result, she suffered God’s fearful judgement. It was a fatal attraction.

Was she punished too severely? John Calvin, in his commentary on Genesis, ponders that question. Calvin writes:

“Now, if we can weigh all the circumstances, it is clear that her fault was not light. First, the desire of looking back proceeded from disbelief; and no greater injury can be done to God, than when credit is denied to his word. Secondly, we infer from the words of Christ, that she was moved by some evil desire; (Luke 17:32) and that she did not cheerfully leave Sodom, to hasten to the place where God had called her; for we know that he (Christ) commands us to remember Lot’s wife, lest, indeed, the allurements of the world should draw us aside from the meditation of the heavenly life. It is therefore probable that she, being discontented with the favor God had granted her, glided into unholy desires, of which thing also her tardiness was a sign…

If the severity of the punishment terrifies us; let us remember, that they sin, at this day, not less grievously, who, being delivered, not from Sodom but from hell, fix their eyes on some other object than the proposed prize of their high calling.” 1

God looks at the heart. It isn’t just outward obedience the Lord desires but a pure and contrite heart. Scripture makes this abundantly clear. Jesus described the Pharisees as whitewashed tombs — clean on the outside but filthy on the inside, full of death and decay (Matthew 23:27). Where the Pharisees prided themselves on outward piety, Jesus saw only inner filth and hypocrisy:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25).

In other words, holiness does not consist of outward actions alone, a message Jesus hammered home in the Sermon on the Mount. Sin begins in the human heart, with our wrong and unholy desires.

The sin of Lot’s wife was not trivial. It was, in fact, a stubborn refusal of God’s grace. In his boundless mercy, God offered her salvation — a way out of Sodom. More than that, God sent an angel from heaven to warn and bring her to safety. And yet, she ultimately rejected God’s grace. In a strange way, the punishment fit the crime. Refusing the gift of salvation, she became stuck and frozen forever between Sodom and salvation. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” In the end, Lot’s wife got her way.

What does this story teach us? Currently, the EPC is studying whether we should allow homosexual pastors into our denomination. Although they claim to be celibate, they identify as homosexual. In addition, they claim that same-sex attraction is a biological fact — something that cannot be changed, cured, or healed. In other words, there is nothing wrong with identifying as homosexual as long as you abstain from same-sex relationships. This position is known as “Side B Christianity” (the term first came into use about 20 years ago). By contrast, so-called “Side A” Christians affirm same-sex marriages and believe that homosexuality is just one of many forms of sexuality that the church should welcome and celebrate.

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