Sodom and Gomorrah

1. In these days it is rumoured that somebody thinks he has discovered the ruins of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (I read the news on Religion Today) in the depth of the Dead Sea in Israel. Do you think it is possible that such an archaeological discovery has been made, which would confirm that these cities (which some people think they were just symbolic cities) really existed?

No, it is not possible that some archaeologists have found the ruins of these biblical cities for the simple reason that the Scripture says that they were turned into ashes. Here is what the apostle Peter wrote: “…. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, [God] condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6 – NKJV). It is evident, therefore, that since those cities became ashes, it is not possible to find any ruin of them.

Obviously, to us who accept the whole Bible as Scripture divinely inspired, the fact that one cannot find out the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah does not worry us at all. We believe that those cities really existed and that their inhabitants were wicked and God rained brimstone and fire on them and wiped them out from the face of the earth. Lot, his two daughters, and his wife were the only persons who did not perish because God saved them. However, the Scripture says that Lot’s wife looked back behind him (and by so doing she disobeyed God who had commanded Lot not to look behind him), and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:12-26).

Therefore, if in the future someone gives the news that the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been discovered, know that it cannot be true for the reasons I have just told you.

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