I am not trying to pick a fight or start an argument.
It is either legal or it isn't. Whether it legal or not is not a matter of opinion. The law is either on the books or it isn't. A judge does not get to make up the law or to simply ignore it (theoretically speaking, of course. There are judges in this country who do this all the time but that's a whole different problem). A judge cannot be just if the laws he is adjudicating are unjust. If a judge in this country were to decide to punish someone for being homosexual, it wouldn't be long before the homosexual was set free and the judge was the one being punished.
The point is that God made it illegal so man doesn't get to say that it is legal, whatever it is.
In other words, justice is not defined by the law - any law. It is perfectly legal to murder babies in this country so long as they haven't been born yet. That doesn't make it just.
I do not believe that it is legal to murder babies.
The bible has been the basis for western civilization's jurisprudence for centuries and has served as the standard of morality for just as long. Anyone who tells you that this country was never a Christian nation is either stupid or lying.
Laws against sexual immorality are certainly not ceremonial laws if it makes a difference with determining if any nation follows or observes the Law of Moses. I have had difficulty with the term ceremonial law, but in general it is because I accept sacrifice as Biblical from Torah on.
Yes. Right.
In what way is it active?
Meaning that it has the potential to bring about a just death.
What nation enforces the Mosaic Law? Who was the last person executed for collecting food or fire wood on the Sabbath? Where are the ashes of the last bull sacrificed on the alter? Who was the last to offer a sin offering that actually counted? (I know the answer to that last one!)
When I was a child I learned about this commandment in the back yard of my parents home. There were sticks under the tree, and I was not to pick them up on the Sabbath. Even if my parents did not tell me this, I knew, and I believe God was teaching me about it.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 10:4 Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Well, the next time someone asks you why homosexuality ought to be illegal, you'll have something more substantive to say than "because the bible says so".
It is good. That's why God outlawed homosexuality and other forms of sexual perversion. It leads to misery and death all over the place in various and even counter-intuitive ways.
Okay.
What are you talking about? It is entirely legal in several states for homos to get married. And, if you're legally married in one state, that marriage is recognized in every state of the Union. You can pretend like that isn't true but you're just stupid if you do.
Doesn't make sense to me. It is against God's Law. Just because someone thinks this does not make it true.
"God would never allow it"? What does that even mean? Of course He'd "allow it". Just the same way He "allows" people to rape and murder and commit all kinds of evil every minute of every day.
Meaning no one gets away with sin.
Exodus 34:7
who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Proverbs 11:21
Assuredly, the evil man will not go unpunished,
But the descendants of the righteous will be delivered.
Jeremiah 30:11
‘For I am with you,' declares the LORD, ‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly
And will by no means leave you unpunished.'
Jer 46:28
“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the LORD,
“For I am with you.
For I will make a full end of all the nations
Where I have driven you,
Yet I will not make a full end of you;
But I will correct you properly
And by no means leave you unpunished.”
Nahum 1:3
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
In whirlwind and storm is His way,
And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Commandments found in the Torah should be observed however they read there, whatever words or terms we use to describe them, such as saying capital punishment or the death penalty or execution. If a person is executed, it is according to Torah Law and not another way, to be in keeping with Torah Law or in keeping with Torah Law in keeping with Torah.
Who was the last person convicted of adultery in this country?
I don't know.
Biblically speaking adultery is not just a crime, its a capital crime. When was the last time anyone anywhere in western civilization was executed for having committed adultery?
I don't know.
Have you completely lost your mind? What are you even talking about? Of course it's legal!
Nope.
The pornography industry makes more money annually than Major League Baseball, The NFL and The NBA combined.
Shame. Illegal activity.
The point was that people have no idea what justice even looks like. They have no idea what the laws should be or why and that includes the overwhelming majority of Christians and Jews who literally have no excuse whatsoever for their near total ignorance or what is right and was is wrong. Christians and Jews are both much more interested in being nice than they are in being just.
Grace and then mercy triumphs over judgment. I think about where mercy and judgment kiss but I don't remember if this is what the Bible says or something like it. It is not excusing evil or withholding judgment perhaps I think. But then what is mercy?
In the context of criminal justice, justice for the criminal is mercy for the society in which the crime was committed. Conversely, mercy shown to the criminal is a crime committed against the society.
Yep.
Deuteronomy 19:19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Shalom.
You have a good head on your shoulders Clete. Keep up the good work.