What was the sin of sodom?

Answer 1

Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements south of the Dead Sea, believed on the Jordan side. It is thought that residents there were mining salt from the nearby Mount Sodom, which was one of the most valuable commodities in those times - and from which we derive the words 'salary' 'soldier' and others.

Apparently destroyed by earthquakes, endemic to the area. Given the hostile environment where few would want to live, as well as probable lack of pastimes or female partners, it had a reputation for homosexuality - hence the word 'sodomy'. Naturally after it was destroyed, religious attributions implied their sexual behaviour caused their destruction.

Being situated at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, the resulting evaporation of sea water is the cause for the salt. Since salt enabled the society to progress from hunter/gatherer, enabling the user to preserve meat instead of daily hunting, and permitted humans to begin developing agriculture, and later - iPhones, it is understandable why it was such a valuable commodity.

Even today the surrounding area is relatively fruitful, thanks to underground springs, and surrounding settlements take advantage of it. But it is still located in an extreme desert, as it was a few thousand years ago. The reason for the earthquakes is because the area is situated on the Israel/Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordanian side relatively moving northward at a rate of 2-2.5mm per year. There has been an estimated 100km movement since it first started at least 50 million years ago.