I thought there are a few people on here who might be interested in this.

[Alex]

While it doesn't provide any proof that the destruction of Sodom was the wrath of god, or even that the city in question was Sodom I figure there are enough people here interested in religion who might want to read it.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/biblical-sin-city-sodom-destroyed-by-asteroid-stronger-than-nuke-expert/ar-AA1hkiaX?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8147bd37fe9c4b02a3912126176b6b33&ei=16

[ER]

For some reason I couldn't get the link to load but from the title it's an interesting idea. Like a pearl needs a grain of sand to start it off, I think a lot of ancient stories are based on events that really happened, however much the tale might grow in the telling or be capitalized upon.

[Alex]

Here is the article. I think the good Dr. is suffering from confirmation bias. It is the kind of thing I quite often see misused as somehow proving one holy book or another because it happens to fit something mentioned ergo it must be the same event and it must have had divine origins. I mean, it doesn't disprove such a thing either, but I can easily see how people would grab onto a natural disaster and claim it is their god punishing the unrighteous. Hell, that still happens today.

An ancient city that met a fiery end in what could be described as an asteroid impact more powerful than an "atomic explosion" has been identified as the biblical city of Sodom, according to a biblical studies expert. Dr. John Bergsma, a prominent theologian, contends that excavations in Jordan provide substantial proof that one of the Bible's most dramatic and improbable narratives may indeed be factual.

Bergsma asserts that archaeological findings in Jordan corroborate the existence of the biblical city of Sodom. Prior research had already indicated that the ancient city of Tell el-Hammam, located in the southern Jordan Valley, suffered a catastrophic fate—a revelation that Dr. John Bergsma, a theology professor at Ohio's Franciscan University, believes aligns with the biblical account.

As per the Book of Genesis, God unleashed brimstone and fire upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in response to the sins of their inhabitants, resulting in their complete obliteration. Similar destruction patterns were uncovered at Tell el-Hammam, leading Bergsma to reevaluate the credibility of the biblical narrative. He pointed to signs of extreme heat detected on skeletons and pottery fragments unearthed by archaeologists, suggesting a possible impact from an asteroid.

Around 3,600 years ago, Tell el-Hammam thrived as a city, surpassing both Jerusalem and Jericho in size and strength. However, its prosperity abruptly vanished. The absence of signs of a siege in the ruins suggested that the city and its neighboring area were not subjected to military attack.

Bergsma received insight into some remarkable discoveries from Steven Collins, the chief archaeologist at Tell el-Hammam. Among these discoveries were pottery shards coated with trinitite, a glassy substance formed when an atomic bomb detonates in a desert, as Bergsma explained. Additionally, human remains were uncovered, with skeletons intact up to the mid-spine, above which only scorch marks remained. These findings provide substantial evidence that a tremendous burst of heat from the sky incinerated the twin cities on the Jordanian side of the river.

Steven Collins likened the devastation to the Tunguska event of 1908, in which a massive asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over Siberia, causing widespread destruction. He added the proposed airburst would have been larger the Tunguska event, which had 1,000 times more energy than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima."

Remarkably, this cataclysmic event also appears to have produced substantial quantities of salt, as noted by James Kent, an associate professor of earth sciences at the University of California – a detail that may remind some of the story of Lot's wife, who turned into a pillar of salt following the destruction of Sodom. While Collins is confident in his conclusions, some archaeologists have accused him of prematurely drawing conclusions without sufficient field evidence.

The story of Sodom and its sister city, Gomorrah, ranks among the most well-known tales in the Bible. It recounts Abraham's negotiations with God to spare Sodom, a name synonymous with sin, in order to protect its few righteous inhabitants. However, God's response was unwavering: "And He turned over these cities and the entire plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the vegetation of the ground," as recorded in the Book of Genesis. The morning after, Abraham witnessed the aftermath: "And he looked over the face of Sodom and Gomorrah and over the entire face of the land of the plain, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the earth had risen like the smoke of a furnace."

[Alex]

For some reason, that article was rather awkward to cut and paste. Sections had to be done individually.

[lester1/2jr]

There has never been any record of a city called Sodom that anyone has been able to find

Bergsma asserts that archaeological findings in Jordan corroborate the existence of the biblical city of Sodom.

Prior research had already indicated that the ancient city of Tell el-Hammam, located in the southern Jordan Valley, suffered a catastrophic fate

so...an ancient city NOT called Sodom was destroyed and this proves the existence of the city of Sodom?

[indianasmith]

There has never been any record of a city called Sodom that anyone has been able to find

Bergsma asserts that archaeological findings in Jordan corroborate the existence of the biblical city of Sodom.

Prior research had already indicated that the ancient city of Tell el-Hammam, located in the southern Jordan Valley, suffered a catastrophic fate

so...an ancient city NOT called Sodom was destroyed and this proves the existence of the city of Sodom?

We don't know what that city was called 4000 years ago.  Tel el-Hammam is the modern name for it.

[ER]

A month ago I read about an apparently reputable and much-published archaeologist who claims he has evidence that around the year 400 AD a comet exploded above Cincinnati and brought the Hopewell civilization to its end. In general his theory hasn't been well-received by his colleagues but one group leaping to support the idea is some LDS members who say the Hopewell were the peoples described in the Book of Mormon, and that science has them confused with "Native Americans," and that major events in The Book of Mormon took place in Ohio, and that an event like a comet striking Ohio fits the Book of Mormon narrative.

[lester1/2jr]

at any rate, it disproves the biblical claim that God destroyed the city. It was merely an asteroid.

[ER]

^ I dunno, man, when Marduk slew Tiamat with fire from a burning ram he plucked off the broad plain beside the Tigris back in ancient  Sumeria, it was still Marduk smiting the Mother of Dragons, it's just a matter of the method used. To me it seems like kinda the same deal; asteroid, fire from the sky, differing views of direct agency from the divine toolkit.

[lester1/2jr]

"The vast majority of archaeologists working in the region do not believe that Tall el-Hammam—or the sites of Bâb adh-Dhrâʿ and Numayra, both traditionally associated with Sodom and Gomorrah—can be (or even should be) equated with these mythical biblical cities.Dec 15, 2021"


Would also point out that in the very next scene Lot, whose wife was just turned into a pillar of salt, has drunken sex with his daughters on successive nights which God was apparently fine with.

[RCMerchant]

I don't see any reason for anyone worshipping such an evil desturctive being- " Thou shall not kill" my ass.
You can break any sin in the name of an invisible God.  f**k that. I am of the belief that most conflicts in the history of mankind is the result of some f**king Religion. And don't even think that politics and religion are not the same thing.  Some folks think Trump is the second f**king coming. Lemmings.

[lester1/2jr]

I weirdly agree with RC. Religion is very weird

[ER]

I imagine God, too, finds religion weird. The finger pointing at the moon isn't the moon, after all.