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Dear catholic.com visitors: This website from Catholic Answers, with all its many resources, is the world's largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. A fully independent, lay-run, 501(c)(3) ministry that receives no funding from the institutional Church, we rely entirely on the generosity of everyday people like you to keep this website going with trustworthy , fresh, and relevant content. If everyone visiting this month gave just $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. Do you find catholic.com helpful? Please make a gift today. SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR NEW MONTHLY DONATIONS! Thank you and God bless.

Was it right for Lot to offer his daughters to be raped?

Question:

I don’t think Lot offering his virgin daughters to be raped (Gen. 19) was anything to be celebrated, despite his motivation to protect his visitors, do you?

Answer:

No. Lot offered his daughters to the Sodomites in order to protect his guests. In doing so, he was choosing to commit one evil in order to avoid another; the Church clearly teaches that this is wrong: “One may never do evil so that good may result from it” (CCC 1789).

The Catholic Encyclopedia article on Lot explains: “Lot interceded in behalf of his guests in accordance with his duties as host, which are most sacred in the East, but made the mistake of placing them above his duties as a father by offering his two daughters to the wicked designs of the Sodomites.” A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture agrees: “Lot cannot be praised. He chose what he considered the less of two evils” (195).

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