Page 73 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies

11, Jude 7). It is a perversion of God’s design for the pinnacle of His creation, which He established from
the beginning. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and
the two will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24) Also, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28). This last command cannot be fulfilled by
homosexuals.

Another reason why homosexuality is a particularly obnoxious sin to God is that marriage between a
man and a woman is the forerunner to the marriage between Christ and His bride, the church, after
believers have been raptured, as described in Revelation 19:7-9.[33] Marriage
between a man and a woman is integral to and underpins the whole fabric of the
Bible. The Bible starts with marriage, and it finishes with marriage. No wonder God
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calls any deviation from it an abomination.

Two locations have been identified as the location of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Steven Collins led a team in the excavation of Tell el-Hammam, and he is convinced
that this is the remains of Sodom. Note on the map, it is located north of the Dead
Sea. This Tell revealed layers of ash between 18” and 6’ deep, mixed with broken
mud bricks, charred pottery vessels, and human bones – all violently churned into
a tell-tale ashy matrix. The age of this tell is during the Middle Bronze Age (1,800 –
1540 BC), at the exact same time Abraham traveled this area (see reference,
previous paragraph for further information).

A second location is much broader and seems to identify all five cities mentioned in
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 13.

Notice each of the cities stands out from the surrounding terrain because of the
white ash contained within them. The city of Zoar was a "little one" or a newly
built city that was square. As cities grew or expanded, they quickly lost this square shape.

Genesis 10:19 indicates the five cities formed the Canaanite border; they could not have been grouped
at the south end of the Dead Sea as
popularly believed. They form a north-
south line along the Jordan/Dead Sea
area. Gomorrah is located at the base of
Masada, and in 1998, additional formations
were found in Jordan on the opposite side
of the Dead Sea from Gomorrah in the
Lisan Peninsula, including a large cemetery
area containing 1,000,000 graves. The
same structures as found on the Israeli side
were also found on the Jordanian side
- ash, brimstone, and even ceramic tile.
This is looking southwest at the southern
end of the Dead Sea. On the map above,
the red arrow indicates the view.

8 https://www.adefenceofthebible.com/2019/08/29/sodom-found-scripture-confirmed/
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