19:8Genesis 19:8

Lot took the strangers into his own house and sought to shield them from abuse by the mob, determined not to leave them to its mercy because they had come under the shelter of his roof.PP 158.3 He went out to persuade the crowd, calling them brethren in hope of shaming them from their wicked purpose, but they turned upon him and the angels drew him back and rescued him by striking the men with blindness so they could not find the door.PP 159.1–2+1 This was the visit of the angels to Sodom to rescue Lot before the city was destroyed by fire.ST Dec 1, 1909+2 His offer of his daughters belongs to the ruin that followed his choice of a home in Sodom for worldly prosperity above moral influences, for he meant to keep himself free from iniquity and command his household, but he signally failed and his household was overcome by its surroundings.CE 224.2–225.2+1 The days of Lot marked by this scene stand as a warning picture of the moral corruption and abandonment of restraint and purity that would characterize the last days.SA 5.2–5+1

Lot was fulfilling his duty to protect strangers who entered Sodom from the abuse they faced there by receiving them into his own house, resolved not to abandon them to the mercy of the rabble because they had come under the shelter of his roof.PP 158.3 He went outside to persuade the mob, calling them brethren in the sense of neighbors and hoping to shame them out of their wicked purpose.PP 159.1–2 Instead of being turned back, they attacked him, and the angels rescued him.PP 159.1–2

The angels defended him from the crowd outside his door by striking the men with blindness so that they could not find it.Ms 19a, 1886, par. 1–3 The scene belongs to the visit in which angels came to Sodom to rescue Lot before the city's fiery destruction, protecting him and leading him safely out.ST Dec 1, 1909+2

Genesis 19:8 stands in the midst of extreme sexual impurity and social wickedness, when the men of Sodom sought to abuse Lot's guests and the city was steeped in grave licentiousness and corruption.SA 5.2–5+3 That setting makes Sodom an example of sexual impurity and a warning that the world becoming like Sodom brings serious harm.Lt 103, 1894, par. 16–19+2 Its pollution did not stay contained but spread as its inhabitants taught others their forbidden practices, its sins reached heaven, and God destroyed the city and its beauty because the earth was defiled by its inhabitants.Lt 106a, 1896, par. 7

The city's corruption had become so deep that it had passed the limits of divine forbearance and faced judgment.Ms 94, 1903, par. 16 Its conduct had degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins of corrupt passion where inclination and passion bore sway over reason, self was god, and the knowledge of God was nearly obliterated by selfish indulgence.Lt 6a, 1890, par. 88–92 That contaminating influence called forth the wrath of God in most dreadful destruction by fire and brimstone to rid the earth of its curse.Lt 6a, 1890, par. 88–92 God destroyed Sodom by bolts of fire from heaven, showing that sin kept increasing after the Flood and that men have not learned that God means what He says.ST May 26, 1898

Sodom was consumed for the same crime found among the Canaanites, whose corrupt practices included communion with evil spirits and sexual immorality.ST May 27, 1913 The disobedient inhabitants were punished and Lot was saved, proving that God does not excuse disobedience from its penalty.Lt 35b, 1877, par. 14–18

Genesis 19:8 shows the ruin that followed Lot's choice of a home in Sodom for temporal advantage and worldly prosperity above the moral and religious influences surrounding himself and his family.CE 224.2–225.2+1 He entered Sodom intending to keep himself free from iniquity and to command his household after him, but he signally failed.CE 224.2–225.2 The corrupting influences about him weakened his own faith, and his children's connection with the inhabitants bound up his interest with theirs, placing his household voluntarily in an atmosphere of worldliness, unbelief, lax morality, temptation, and associations unfavorable to piety that counteracted parental influence and hindered the development of piety and right character.CE 224.2–225.2+1 His conduct in offering his daughters belongs to that failure, and securing worldly wealth and honor for children at the expense of eternal interests and title to the immortal inheritance is a terrible loss.CE 224.2–225.2+1

His children were ruined and his own soul was barely saved, leaving his life-work lost and his life a sad failure.CE 224.2–225.2+1 Sodom's destruction cost him his possessions, some of his children, and his wife, for though he entered rich he left with nothing, escaping with little by an angel's help and led out before the city was destroyed.MYP 419.1–2+3 He later warned his daughters and sons-in-law to flee, but they mocked his faith and perished.Ms 50, 1893, par. 20–22 His residence warns against choosing a home without regard to its surroundings and moral influences, and warns to leave a dangerous moral environment rather than remain in it without strength to resist its influence.10MR 234.1–236.1+1 His choice also warns against establishing a religious institution in a wicked place, even when its surroundings may appear attractive.1MR 250.1–251.3

The days of Lot marked by this scene are a warning picture of the moral corruption that would characterize the last days, when extreme sexual impurity and social wickedness like that of the men of Sodom seeking to abuse his guests would reappear.SA 5.2–5 Sodom stands as a warning of what the world may become when moral restraint and purity are abandoned.ED 228.1 Its corruption, marked by depravity, cruelty, violence, and crime, is set beside the corruption of the present age for comparison.SPBC 194.1–2 The deeds practiced around Lot's dwelling are compared directly with the iniquity of the modern world.Ms 204, 1903, par. 20–22 Its inhabitants had morals as corrupt as those of worldly people who undermine faith in the Bible.MYP 85.3–86.1

The world is becoming like Sodom, and that moral corruption of grave sexual corruption and licentiousness brings serious harm.Lt 41a, 1874, par. 20–25 It is an example of a world shaped by rejection of God's law and restraint, corrupted and polluted by that rejection.ST Jul 22, 1897 Its conduct degenerated from lightness and frivolity to debasing sins of corrupt passion, where inclination and passion bore sway over reason, self was god, and the knowledge of God was nearly obliterated by selfish indulgence.Lt 6a, 1890, par. 88–92 That contaminating influence called forth God's wrath in most dreadful destruction by fire and brimstone to rid the earth of its curse.Lt 6a, 1890, par. 88–92 The same eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, marrying, and gratification of appetite and passion at the neglect of eternal interests now abuses the body, destroys health, unbalances the mind, strengthens animal propensities, sears conscience, and dishonors God, and will awaken the sword of justice against the indulgent, while Christ's followers must be temperate and seek those things which are above.Lt 6a, 1890, par. 88–92

The verse shows the bold and defiant licentiousness, impurity, and crime of Sodom, which was headstrong, independent, and persistent, walking in the imaginations of their own hearts, so that God could not perpetuate their lives and in mercy proved Himself a God of vengeance by destroying them.Lt 22, 1892, par. 15–16 Those now on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan, with all advantages and all the light and evidences of truth shining upon them, who do not purify their souls by living up to those advantages are like the inhabitants of Sodom, and guilt rests upon their choice.Lt 22, 1892, par. 15–16 The history stands as a picture of wild license and every excess that follows indulgence in tobacco and the intoxicating cup, when reason is shut away and men act under Satan as captain in blasphemy and contempt of God.Lt 40a, 1878, par. 6–12 It shows what a land of boasted liberty and advantages will become if winebibbing, blaspheming men of wealth and high society give tone to public opinion and take the lead.Lt 40a, 1878, par. 6–12 Sodom and Gomorrah exemplify carnality and want of strict purity, with men and women professing godliness yet sold unto sin and practicing adultery, and that same condition now makes the world a second Sodom and Gomorrah.Lt 65, 1891, par. 3

The account of Sodom's wickedness is used as a comparison for the sexual sins of married men and women.4MR 119.1–4 The practices in the marriage bed make the world like Sodom.Ms 152, 1899, par. 4–5 Its setting of sexual corruption that broke down all barriers of reserve and true decorum shows forward, immodest pursuit between the sexes, flirting and cheap talk and ways, as becoming like the Sodomites.Lt 39, 1888, par. 7–12 Such conduct is offensive to God and destitute of Christlike humility, elevation of character, and the Spirit of God even while professing to be Christians.Lt 39, 1888, par. 7–12 Those who live this way venture upon the long-forbearance of Jehovah, misapply their powers and pervert privileges and opportunities, and will meet God's close judgments and terrible things in righteousness and reap a harvest they will not be pleased to garner, and unless moral taste is refined and Christ becomes an abiding principle in the soul few such youth will ever see heaven.Lt 39, 1888, par. 7–12

Lot stands in wicked Sodom as God's man, proving that even in a great and wicked city God has a people of His own, and just as He had Lot in Sodom He still has thirsting souls in wicked cities like New York panting for pure truth.Ms 148, 1901, par. 18–19 The account of Lot in Sodom is a picture of the moral corruption found in cities, yet even places steeped in sin have their Lots.6T 136.1+2 Reformers are called in such places to stand for God's law and work to relieve suffering.6T 136.1 Every city steeped in sin may have people like Lot, a faithful person amid a deeply sinful city.Ms 30, 1896, par. 10

His history warns families to consider the moral and religious character of a place, not only its worldly advantages.Ms 50, 1893, par. 20–22 Lot later warned his daughters and sons-in-law to flee before the city's destruction, but they mocked his faith and perished.Ms 50, 1893, par. 20–22 The setting is one of deeply depraved practices destructive to purity, warning that young people should be guarded from places, associations, and work that expose them to such practices, and should keep as far from Sodom as possible.Lt 165, 1900, par. 8–9

Taking youth to associate with worldly people repeats Lot's act of bringing his family into Sodom where they were shut in with worldly people of all grades, high and low.11MR 41.3–43.5+1 Taking youth to Battle Creek and associating them with worldly people is compared to Lot taking his family there.11MR 41.3–43.5 Bringing promising young men and young women to Battle Creek to take the nurses' course and care for the large number of guests at the Sanitarium repeats that act, placing youth in close association with worldly people and in danger, against God's design that youth be educated elsewhere.Lt 189, 1903, par. 6–8

The inhabitants of Sodom were steeped in licentiousness, corrupt in body and soul, following the imaginations of their own corrupt minds and dishonoring God by wicked inventions until they hated the God who made them.Ms 3, 1897, par. 23 Destructive lusts indulged by wicked inventions destroy discernment between the pure affections given by God as attributes of human nature and unlawful lust, and make people as sinful as those before the Flood and in Sodom.Ms 3, 1897, par. 23 Whole families today who corrupt their way before God in the same indulgence are in the same condition and need to be terribly alarmed.Ms 3, 1897, par. 23 The sin at Sodom is cited as an example of sexual impurity, identifying sexual abuse as a Sodomitish sin, a morally defiling practice and an abomination before God.Lt 103, 1894, par. 16–19+1