- Some people think that God doesn't spoke never. The atheists.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans only until Abraham. These are the muslims, disconsidering all the profets after and their prophecies, Jesus, Son of God, the Father, the apostles, saints after them. Rejecting every information about Kingdom of Heaven, staying in the same dark as people from the 4000 years ago, believing instead the tricks of Mohammed.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans only until Moses. They miss-interpret or dis-consider all reveletions after Moses. These are jews.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans until apostle Paul wrote his last letter and apostle John wrote Revelation book. They ignore all the saints after apostles. These are the protestants, the "Sola Scriptura" believers.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans until to holy fathers in 7-th ecumenic council from Nikea, or until around 1054. They ignore all the real saints after this council. These are the catholics.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans until around the first world war, or until 1923. They lost the apostolic way, ignoring all the saints from the last centuries. These are orthodox new-calendarists.
- Some people think that God spoke to humans until nowadays, and He will speak uninterrupted until the end of the world, as the loving Father. Who are these people?!
- If you are an atheist, you will think that Sodom and Gomorrah story is a genocide, is not an act of God, and cannot be any acceptable God like this.
- If you are jew or muslim, you will think that what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, was an act of justice.
- If you are a protestant, you will understand that what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, was a logic act of the God.
- If you are orthodox, keeping with discernment all He revealed to humans in all times, you will know that what happened there was an act of love.
The opinions regarding the narration of Sodom and Gomorrah, as with every biblic narration, variates based on this diversity in receiving of God's revelation.
The different views on this subject comes from the understanding of the subjects: "What is a human?", "What is the purpose of human life?", "Which is the will of God?" .
To answer to these questions, an atheist will consider everything the science has recorded about humanity along the time: medicine, anatomy, astronomy, physics, maths, ... Because he will not perceive anything beyond the 5 human senses and the scientific tools as their extensions (microscope, telescope), the atheist will conclude: Sodom and Gomorrah is a genocide story as other stories from bible.
The muslim and the jew will think: From God is everything: life, death, health, disease, food, starvation, etc. Everything is decided by Him. God is just. So, what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah is an act of justice.
But understanding starts to work, to have some kind of logic, when a human is considered in his integrity as a living being. If the human is composed only from a zillions of cells, that can be seen on microscope, then YES: was a genocid. But if a human has: body, soul and spirit, then NO: what happened there is only a small part of a big picture. Some bodies burned there, but what happend with the souls? What happened with the spirits of these people? What significance has the 2000 years later Resurrection from Death of Jesus Christ, regarding of them? etc...
In Holy Tradition of Orthodoxy is known that God revelated His knowledge to the saints and lets other humans to learn about His revelations from them, by applying in the same time: faith and discernment.
In the year 1389, on June 15, the serbian prince Lazarus died in lost battle against Turkish Emperor Amurat, a battle between christians and muslims. On night before the battle, Lazarus was visited by one of the great angels of the God to offer a choice between an earthly or a Heavenly kingdom. Lazar opted for the Heavenly kingdom, saying immortal words:
"perishable is earthly kingdom, but forever and ever is Kingdom of
Heaven!". (orthodoxwiki.org/Lazar_of_Serbia)
Before to die, being in death agony, he start to bend about his choice made in the name of his country, invaded now by muslims. The angel came again and answered to all his questions which torture his soul. One of the question was:
what is the most necessary thing for a man at death's door to ask of
his God?
The angel of God answered him:
"At the end and at the beginning of the earthly journey, as well as on
every step of that journey, it is most important for the earthly
wayfarer to ask God for two things: first, the forgiveness of sins;
and second, the bestowal of the Spirit of God. Everything that is full
must first be emptied in order for it to be filled. It must be cleaned
first, and then adorned. The Spirit of God does not enter a house
occupied by a demonic slave of sins, and He does not adorn an unclean
home with either His presence or His heavenly gifts."
And then the angel explained to him, and to all humans through Lazar, the complete anatomy of the human, having body, soul and spirit, how important are each of them, which are their roles and component parts they have ... reveling many other mysteries about: proto-parents Adam and Eve, about Heaven, love, superior minds, gold freedom, significance of cross, ... http://tzarlazar.tripod.com/
In this light can be seen that people of the Sodom and Gomorrah, or people from the Noah times, they lost the purpose of their life completely, and decadence or their souls were continuous growing, reversing the values of life from truth to lie, from freedom to slavery, from joy to suffering, from real love to carnal lusts, all these translated in separation of God, ie eternal suffering.
Only in the light of Traditional Orthodoxy, somebody can understand that what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, or in Noah times, and in all the times, are acts of a loving God. And His love for humanity is overwhelming, cannot be understood entirely or comprised by a human mind.