Karl, I'm Jewish. The Bible was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai, which he wrote down, word for word, even the parts after his death (that was his final prophesy, a gift from God, and proof of the truth of the Bible, for those who wish to see it). Along with the Bible, Moses was taught the interpretation of the Bible, which was written down in the Talmud. What I have explained about how the death penalty is handed out, that's not written in the Bible. The Bible gives the what, but rarely the how. The Talmud was handed down by Moses to Joshua, "who handed down it to the Elders, who handed it down to the Prophets, who handed it down to the Great Assembly."
There is no such thing as a Biblical sin to not take seriously. If it's not OK to sleep with one's sister, or one's mother, or one's step mother, or one's aunt, or one's daughter, and I think most people will agree about that, then why is it suddenly OK for men to sleep with men, or to sleep with animals, when all of these prohibitions are given in the same place! I won't tell anyone they have to believe in the Bible, but don't start telling me it's OK to ignore the parts I find inconvenient.
As for homosexuality being wrong, I never said it wasn't. In fact, I thought I made my opinion the wrongness of the act of homosexuality clear in my first post. Life is about purification of the soul. How can the soul be purified if it has no challenge in life? How can we move on, become better, without challenge? Not everyone requires the same challenges. Homosexuality is very personal challenge that a man has to fight (my opinion here). He has his challenge, and I have my challenges. I fight my challenges as best I can, and I hope one day to overcome all of them. And yes, I look up to people who do overcome their challenges, and admire them, but at the same time, I don't look down and judge those who do not. It is not my place to judge others, and I hope others do not judge me.
You have every right to believe God did not hand us a rule book. I have every right to accept that he did. I also believe He gave us a user's manual that explains His rule book, allowing all of his rules to make sense to us. It seems to me that people who criticize the Bible don't know about the user's manual, or don't wish to acknowledge it's existence, thereby justifying their claims. When half the information is left out, how can anyone make an educated decision? God is not a politician, nor is He a magician. The answers are there for those who wish to see them.
All of the above is my opinion, feel free to disagree.
