When God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians and brought them to Canaan, He gave them new rules to live by; he developed practically a whole new society. The rules he gave were so he, a holy God, could live amongst an unholy people. Those rules were for that community at that time. God did not place these legalistic or ritualistic rules on any other society. (However, the moral laws in the OT have continued in the NT and are for all believers.)
The rules in the OT reveal to us God’s likes and dislikes about morality and how people should relate to one another. We know from the OT laws that God sees homosexuality, and many other practices, such as adultery, as immoral. Today we follow our own nation’s laws, so we do not take it upon ourselves to stone people to death. We can, however, use legal means to pass laws to regulate the conduct we want reflected in our society.
What Do You Think?
a. How would you view Christians if they regularly put homosexuals to death by stoning them? If you view them negatively for doing so, then what should your view be if they did not?
