Ok, lets discuss this quote:
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 (NIV): If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death.
Did Jesus change this law? If not, is it still in effect? Would you do this? Do you think it's moral?
Why would this law not be in effect any longer, but the quote:
KJV: (King James Version): "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."
You cannot pick and choose selective things to believe in. To be true to what you are presenting, you have to believe that EVERYTHING is correct.
By the way, that word "abomination" sounds so horrible doesn't it?
A list of six "abominations" are also given in Proverbs 6: 16 - 19:
These six things doth the LORD hate:
yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies,
and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Well it sounds like pretty well everybody is guilty of abomination at one time or another.
Since you brought up Sodom and Gomorrah before...
Genesis 19:8 (NIV): Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.
Well isn't that wonderful family values. So if I had two daughters and a couple of strangers came by to stay over, I would be justified if I threw my own flesh and blood out to a mob to be GANG-RAPED to protect the visitors? you find this moral? You think that's something we should be espousing?
There are many examples of things that no sane person would consider to be "moral" in this day and age. You are left with a contradiction here. If Jesus DIDN'T mention it, then by your implication, it's unchanged. Not to mention he was once quoted as saying he did not come to do away with the old law and in fact every bit of it still applied.
Well if everyone lived according to every moral rule of the Bible, we would not only have anarchy, but no world left. The wars alone would be unending. But in any event, that's just a personal observation. I'm more interested in how you can reconcile the examples above.
See there is no way to debate homosexuality involving religion without challenging the religion. The whole thrust of someone believing the Bible is that their source material is truth. So if they cannot PROVE it's true, and more importantly even refute someone else's position with something rational and evidential, then why should they be listened to? Why should government, society, indeed especially individuals like young teens identifying as gay listen? It's not enough to say "I believe". I can believe I have a pixie that I talk to that no one else can see. I can tell people that according to this pixie the world is truly flat. Does this mean my belief is just as valid as someone else's even when they can demonstrate through photographs, mathematics and other disciplines that the world is actually round?
What is belief? What is the limits of the expression of it in relationship to other people's rights?
These are the most important questions here because they deal with the reality of what we are debating.