It's worth discussing. My point was that the Law was given to shape Israelite society, not to provide a set of instructions by which anyone in any place or time can construct God's ideal society. God was revealing Himself to Israel, who were to live by a different code than the Canaanites, so this is a code for Israel.

As for the verses you mention, upon reading them again I agree with you. The Canaanites engaged in incest, adultery, temple sex, bestiality, homosexuality, and child sacrifice (Lev. 18.20-30).The Canaanites engaged in incest, adultery, temple sex, bestiality, homosexuality, and child sacrifice (Lev. 18.20-30). These sexual perversions (such as those just listed for the Israelites) polluted both the people and the land.

I stand corrected.

> What God said in Leviticus 18 & 20 doesn't pertain to the nations around them; it pertained to the covenant people, Israel.

I'm not sure that's true. Notice what it says in Leviticus 18:24-25 right after giving that long list of sexual sins. It says, "Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants." If God didn't hold other nations by the same standards he spelled out in Leviticus 18, it doesn't make sense that he would punish them by driving them out for practicing those things.

I like this.

It makes me uncomfortable, but needs of the many and all.

Not necessarily agreeing either.

I have no objection to civil unions. When you read Leviticus, it was written to God's chosen people. What God said in Leviticus 18 & 20 doesn't pertain to the nations around them; it pertained to the covenant people, Israel. When Paul wrote in Romans 1 and elsewhere, he was writing to Christians, not to the Greeks or the Romans. Christians were under the covenant of Christ's blood; pagans are not.

I'm surprised the pope has [i]anything[/i] to say about civil matters. It's not his jurisdiction. I am not one who believes gays should be discriminated against in the workplace or in civil matters. I also believe that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is against God's created order, and while we love all people, we do not approve of all behavior. I don't approve of gay weddings in the Church, but if people who aren't God's people act like they're not God's people, that's to be expected. The Church has no jurisdiction over what goes on outside the Church (1 Cor. 5.12), and God's laws for His covenant people don't pertain to those who are not His covenant people.

Someone was bound to make this post, so I might as well cash it on the karma lol

But seriously, this is a rather serious departure from tradition. Now then, given that I'm Protestant, I'm not too worried about, for example, my church all of a sudden becoming all rainbowy, nevertheless, this is just another worrisome shift.

And, to be clear, the Pope specifically said civil homosexual unions are alright, I don't think this means that Catholic Church is going to start having gay weddings anytime soon.