fragmentsofdreams said:
Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21 all forbid cooking goat kids in the milk of their mothers. There are three OT prohibitions of this act and no examples of this act being looked upon favorably in the Bible.
Does this mean that it is immoral to cook a goat kid in the milk of their mothers? Not necessarily. One needs to first determine what preciesely is being described here, why it was prohibited, and how what and why are relevant to the modern situation. One tradtion of interpretation says this was in response to a pagan fertility rite. If this is the case, it is okay to do this because there is no longer any fertility rite around for followers of God to distinguish themselves from. Another tradition of interpretation believes it stems from the belief that it is inhumane to cook an animal in the milk that recently nursed it. This would cause us to consider what is humane treatment of animals, and we could arrive to the conclusion that cooking a kid in goat's milk is immoral.
The point is that one cannot universally condemn homosexuality by just listing all of the times where same-sex sexual activity is shown in a negative like. One needs to look at exactly what practices are being described, why they are being dissaproved of, and how this affects Christians, especially Christians with same-sex attractions, living in the United States (or UK or Australia, etc.) in the 21st Century.
I know, I know. And again I sympathize. But like I said, there's a lot more to it than the dounoucements. There is the context of the several denouncements, the context of the one accepted definition of marriage, the context of the continuing teaching against all forms of fornication, and so forth.
Just as an aside, the example you give points out another point I have made before but which remains unanswered. If I were to take this issue seriously about the goat, I would have to say that really, it doesn't matter which of the two reasons for forbidding Jews to do it would have been. If it was because it was associated with idolatry, then it is wrong. If it is about a concept of cruelty that God is trying to get across, it is still wrong. The commandment itself, however, is not "do not boil a kid in its mothers milk in sacrifice to Baal," but simply, "do not boil a kid in its mother's milk."
All Christians have their crosses to bear. I am more than willing to try to help a brother or sister in Christ who struggles with this temptation, but I don't see it as helping to encourage them to just go with it. My experience, and even the experiences of other Christians I have known who have fallen into really bad habits during the Christian life, is that in the end God has His ways of teaching you the error of your ways, and I just wish someone had told me some of the things I'm trying to express now.
Romance is not "love" in the sense that we love one another as Christians. Romance is something that can grown between people, or be killed due to lack of concern. But romantic love is not guranteed to everyone, no matter their sexual orientations. It's sad, but it's true. Life is more than looking to experience that one all encompassing high. I think the wisest outlook I hear is when people point out that contentment isn't about getting what you want, it is about accepting what you have. The search for romantic love is as devestating to heterosexuals as it can be to someone who is searching for it so hard that they turn to homosexuality in their drive to have that experience.
I think you are inadvertantly leading people into a place that is only going to hurt them more. I am concerned with Christians and their walk, not society and how non-Christians get through their lives while rejecting Him, or Christians who decide to try to take a shortcut because they feel they know something secret that the rest of us aren't in on. I see all these various attempts to find something you find obscure and make a point about interpretaion are just another sign that there is no real argument to be had here on the basic facts of the debate. Perhaps most depressingly, I think that the idea that there is not anything uniquely bad about homosexuality is what gives people an innapropriate degree of sympathy for the people who they feel are trapped in a life where their experience of love is being denied. Being unable to find sexual attraction for the opposite sex isn't even really directly related to romance. The likelihood I take from the Bible is that the rate of failure of 'curing' homosexuality is that it is only ever practiced to begin with by people who are uniquely far from God already, and therefore will not benefit from any 'treatment' since deep inside they simply do not have the faith necessary to work through all the issues. For the handfull of Christians who fall into that lifestyle, they need the help of their brothers and sisters in unflinchingly calling it sin, while being willing to be close to them and not be cruel, and help them back to where they need to be.
I find almost all of them as sincere and heartfelt in their spiritual zeal as any other Christian, but it seems to me the Bible is explicity clear that homosexuality in any form is a sin. 
Can christianity embrace and accept gays and lesbians? I am not sure what my opinion is myself? 
