[Cerek the Barbaric]

Dramnek,

In our previous thread, you asked why I put the word "justify" in quotation marks when I stated that some Christians use the Bible to "justify" their own prejudices.

Yorick already addressed that issue, but I want to give my own explanation.

The fact is that these Christians are NOT exhibiting the love and tolerance of their fellow man that God and Jesus REQUIRE of their followers.

The verse you quoted was from the Old Testament...and you're right....God's Law does seem very harsh sometimes. But God is consistent throughout the Bible when dealing with sin.

The wages of sin are death; Death is required by God as an atonement for sin. It always has been and always will be. HOWEVER, H does NOT require the death of the sinner himself (or herself). In the OT, animals were sacrificed to atone for sins committed.

Then Jesus Christ came down to mankind. As God in the Flesh, Jesus was the only human to EVER live a life completely free of sin. But He died the death of a sinner. WHY? So that HE could pay the price required by God for ALL of our sins...every single one of us. God DOES require a blood atonement for sin, and Jesus accepted the sins of all the world on His head, so that His Holy Blood would forever pay to price required by His Father for atonement.

This fulfilled the law of the Old Testament. There is NO sacrifice that could ever be offered by man that would come anywhere close to the sacrifice Jesus made...so God accepted His death as an atonement for the sins of every single person who was living then, has lived since then, or will live in the future.

Christians who exhibit other values are not living up to the example Jesus set and expects us to follow.

The point is that all of the laws of the Old Testament have been "amended" (as Yorick pointed out) and are no longer applicable.