The story of the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah begins with Abraham conversing with three strangers that he meets in transit. One is identified as god, while the other two are revealed to be angels. God reveals that he plans to destroy several towns that he deems wicked. Abraham convinces him to spare the towns if ten righteous people can be found within the cities. The two angels are sent to Sodom, where Lot greets them and offers them lodging. The result is that every man in the city demands sex with the male strangers. The mob pursues the men relentlessly, and the angels decide that ten righteous people cannot be found in suck a wicked place. Despite offering his daughters up for rape, Lot is deemed righteous and the angels do tell Lot to flee with his family. Several members of the family cannot be convinced. Lot flees with his wife and daughters. As they flee the city, Lot's wife looks back on the destruction and is turned to salt because of this. Lot and his daughters end up hermits, and his daughters fear never being able to marry and have children. They decide to get their father drunk and have sex with him, and they bear children from this union.
In one analysis, this story is mentioned as evidence that god is merciful. I find it odd that a merciful God would destroy a town with even one righteous person in it. That he would eventually agree to a minimum of ten is not merciful. To say that forgiveness is a virtue, and then cruelly punish an entire population to me seems hypocritical. It is easily noted that even the best people can be corrupted by their environment. Even in the story, even Lot who exemplifies goodness is corrupted enough by the wicked city to offer his daughters up to a mob. The wonderful thing about human beings is that no matter how wicked we are at times, anyone of us is capable of change. We are conscious beings with the potential for almost anything. This is why I believe that any punishment that is not designed to better a person is unfair. To write off an entire city is definitely an unfair punishment. To write off people who weren't necessarily going to right their ways, but who might have, is not right. There are a lot of problems with punishment in our society. From capital punishment to laws that allow serial-rapists to walk free, we are not even close to acheiving a just system of punishment. I don't have the experience to define exactly what a just punishment would be. Yet I believe above all else that a punishment should not just fit the crime but allow the opportunity for penitence, forgiveness and growth.
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