Thank you. That does ease my mind.
I understand that; I think it's a valid approach to Christian morality; I acknowledge that it has been the majority opinion through the years of Christian history; I recognize (and support, even!) the right for Christian communities to determine acceptable moral standards for adherents of those communities. As you said, "the people of Christ are still obligated out of an inward love to deny lusts and the moral aspects of the Law..."However, it was God's covenant with Israel to have a nation of people who would love God and be a moral nation based on the same trust that Abraham had with his God. As such, the law is not done away with. When Christ fulfilled the Law, the people of Christ are still obligated out of an inward love to deny lusts and the moral aspects of the Law such as refraining from ****sexual acts. So if you claim to be a Christian, you cannot claim as a person filled with same-sex attraction that God sanctions the acts as pure and wholesome for conditions that are clearly not present in the Law as set by God to Moses. So far, I seem to get a sense that ActRaiser agrees with this ***essment, though I think his idea of loosing or gaining reward is a borderline excuse for some to continue living in licentiousness. Opps, I sinned again... I'll just loose a reward--almost similiar to some cafeteria Catholics who say, its no problem, I'll just go to the priest and have my sins absolved... without ever really repenting of their sins or recanting their support of such immoral evil acts as abortion, euthenasia, etc..
My question specifically had to do not with "the people of Christ", but with everybody else. That's why I was referring to modern law and government.
Can't you make a distinction between modern law and spiritual law? Between the "theocracy of the heart" that you believe applies to Christians and the secular rule of law established in modern liberal democracies? Between sinful behavior (as defined by the community) being condemned within the Church itself, and enacting civil/criminal punishments on those outside the moral-religious authority of the Church community?
There's an argument to be had about the civil rights afforded to gay and lesbian people in wider society - which is where I'll be diverted every time you start talking about criminal penalties, e.g., the death penalty, outside the very limited and specific discussion of the role of Mosaic Law.
The argument about the role (if any) ****sexual people are to play in the Church is a completely separate argument. That's the argument I'd like to have - though I understand and respect that some expressions of the Church universal may well never reach agreement on this - but it's going to get sidetracked and derailed if we can't even come to a baseline of agreement wherein gay people are allowed to exist.