Falloutdude Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Did they exist? If so, what happened to them? I've heard conflicting stories of this biblical account. I've heard there are no remains of the cities and that there is no real evidence that it happened. However i've also heard/read of two other cities who were supposedly burnt, and one of which supposedly contained evidence that the event killed the residents before they could even react... Ever since i heard of this story i thought "comet" or "meteorite". Has anyone else read anything about this? Since there doesn't seem to be much on the subject except apologetics grasping at straws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaToOmega Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Sodomy and gonorrhoea. Sure they exist. Basically its...oh...my bad... As far as I know there is nothing conclusive. Going back that far its hard to get anything really conclusive actually. There may have been cities that were destroyed by something/someone or it may have been totally fictional. The Biblay is a really poor source of historical information as its intertwined with all sorts of B.S. Much of it was taken from other works for example. Having said that maybe there are others that know more but if anyone claims something conclusive about that time frame then check the evidence really really carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Did they exist? Maybe. I would say probably not. It's really impossible to know for certain. The area they were supposed to have been situated is pretty unpleasant though. Is that enough hedging? I'd say a bigger problem for any town would have been methane explosions as opposed to something exotic like a meteorite/comet strike. There are fault lines running all through that region and if the gas were to ignite the whole place would explode. I recall reading in some text about a city in the middle of nowhere doing just this. If I'm remember it correctly the author notes it just kind of was blown off the map one night and it's known the methane was present in the area. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I'll boldly say they don't exist. How could such an event happen? There isn't really a way. And in a valley that's as barren as the Dead Sea area is, 2 cities like them? Not buying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 I'll agree that these cities didn't exist like in the biblical accounts. This would be like the biblical Jericho. It would be a mythical place as none of that happened. But there appears to be a Jericho, entirely separate from the biblical narrative, that is entirely real. It seems we would need to figure out if there might be other possible candidates for these cities using some clues from the bible: Genesis 10:19 And the border of the Canaanite is from Sidon, [in] thy coming towards Gerar, unto Gaza; [in] thy coming towards Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, unto Lasha. This all seems reasonable enough based on just approximating. Genesis 13:10 And Lot lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the whole circuit of the Jordan that it [is] all a watered country (before Jehovah's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as Jehovah's garden, as the land of Egypt,) in thy coming toward Zoar, If I'm reading this correctly then all of that area is to be considered watered and fertile. This does not seem reasonable. It seems to place Zoar to the south (at the bottom of the circuit). Genesis 19:24 and Jehovah hath rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens; The two(?) cities get wiped out. Genesis 19:25 and He overthroweth these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground. Nope. All of the cities and all of the people get wiped out. Everything in the valley of salt gets nuked right here. Genesis 19:28 and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace. Abraham sees not just two cities wiped out but the entire circuit of cities. Genesis 19:30 And Lot goeth up out of Zoar, and dwelleth in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he hath been afraid of dwelling in Zoar, and he dwelleth in a cave, he and his two daughters. Except for one. I skipped it for effect. But Zoar gets to escape destruction because Lot and his slutty daughters are taking refuge there. So Zoar could actually exist (or have existed) and might have been a refuge city. It might lie south-east of the Dead Sea. Outside of the "destruction" zone. Maybe near some hills with some caves? The area reminds of something like a Petra. People living in caves carved into the mountains. But this might be a real place. The rest is just myth. There were people living along the sea that collected the asphalt but I don't know where they lived and perhaps their villages were destroyed in some cataclysm (as I mentioned the gases were a real threat). Other than an oasis the valley would always have been desolate and smelled like sulfur. There's no reason to accept it was nice like other areas were. Instead the story appears to be explaining why that area is so messed up (an "origin" story). Anyhow, there were five cities and four were destroyed. Only two are ever mentioned by anyone. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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