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I gather that. Just never heard him referred to as a "prophet". Lot wasn't a good guy. No indication he was a prophet in the Biblical texts. He certainly didn't do much to convert Sodom or Gomorrah.
I explain to literalists that it is a metaphorical and allegorical work of literary art that is about God and that which God is comprised of. But I do not have a problem with literal interpretations...as long as they accept everything it says literally.
I also avoid Devils Advocate type stuff...as that is typically just a way to be insulting and mocking.
If someone is noting the story of Lot and presenting it as a a story about "a dude facilitating the gang rape of his teen daughters", or, "a guy that offers his female children to strangers, to be used as sex toys"...they are certainly offering that account in as literal a interpretation as it gets.
Here is the thing though...if these stories are not taken in the literal sense, the overall intention falls completely apart.
Lots actions are meant to teach us what is the right thing to do, in such a situation, but if the story is viewed as symbolic or metaphorical, there is no lesson to learn.
And really, the same could be said of the 10 commandments, the golden rule, and so on...maybe these were not meant to be taken literally?
Here is the thing though...if these stories are not taken in the literal sense, the overall intention falls completely apart.
Lots actions are meant to teach us what is the right thing to do, in such a situation, but if the story is viewed as symbolic or metaphorical, there is no lesson to learn.
And really, the same could be said of the 10 commandments, the golden rule, and so on...maybe these were not meant to be taken literally?
Allegories have utility. Symbols have utility (in fact the mind deals heavily in symbols).
I mean taken literally, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is what to do if god sends angels to visit you in a neighborhood of depraved sexual predators. On that level, it doesn't have much general utility. I have yet to encounter that scenario in MY life at any rate, lol.
Literalness is a continuum, not a binary choice, too. The angels can be symbolic or allegorical placeholders for visitors in general, the crowd of perverts could be a stand in for any sort of jeopardy, yet the story's intent might be literally how to protect strangers who come under your roof. Just to float a possibility.
Allegories have utility. Symbols have utility (in fact the mind deals heavily in symbols).
I mean taken literally, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is what to do if god sends angels to visit you in a neighborhood of depraved sexual predators. On that level, it doesn't have much general utility. I have yet to encounter that scenario in MY life at any rate, lol.
Literalness is a continuum, not a binary choice, too. The angels can be symbolic or allegorical placeholders for visitors in general, the crowd of perverts could be a stand in for any sort of jeopardy, yet the story's intent might be literally how to protect strangers who come under your roof. Just to float a possibility.
The story of Lot's wife has utility in that the lesson could be to keep focused on where you are going instead of living in the past. They were leaving everything they knew and going into the unknown. Lot's wife could have been said to be "romancing" her former life the way an addict romancing a drug will prevent them from escaping.
Of course, I already thought that and made the story of Lot fit.
A little-known fact is that Lot was never able to return to the place of his wife's demise because he just couldn't stand to see the deer licking her.
Lol. Wasn't salt considered good in Biblical times?
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