I would like to address the original post here, because I believe the poster has some valid questions about an emotionally difficult issue. I would like to start by saying that I understand what he feels when he contemplates the end result of many of the laws in the Old Testament. I am an attorney and spent several years representing death row inmates and saw the end of the death penalty process more times than I would like to think about. As a result, this is something I have spent significant time thinking on and praying about. Here are some of the conclusions I believe God has led me to through that process.
1) We have to come to terms with the fact that regardless of whether God has directly commanded it, or whether it comes as a result of "natural" processess, we will all die physically. Hebrews 9:27(NASB) says that "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." This appointment with death is a result of the sin we all have in our lives. As human beings, we have to come to terms with the fact that sooner or later we will die physically. A corollary of this is that God is ultimately in charge of the timing of that death, regardless of how our lives end. If we concede that God has the power and authority over our deaths, then His commands in the Old Testament are not inconsistent with laws given to human beings in general that direct that we "shall not kill." Authority over death is God's to exercise and His to give.
2) God's perspective is enternal, not temporal. His focus is spiritual reconciliation with humanity - the people he created and who rejected Him. Because He loves us, even after that rejection, He has not imposed the death penalty we all deserve immediately. Instead, He has given us the opportunity to be brought back into harmony with Him. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." II Peter 3:9. I can't tell you what God's will is in most circumstances, and wouldn't dream of trying, but in one limited one I can. He wants you to accept Christ so that eternally, your soul lives. Ultimately physical death in this context is irrelevant. However, without Christ, and this is why this issue becomes so emotional, there is no hope past physical death. As a result, our world, which most often rejects Him, is understandably fixated on the termination of physical existence.
3) This doesn't mean that killing without God's explicit authority is justified. Quite the opposite - killing under those circumstances violates one of the fundamental principles that God gave us for living, and at the same time directly impinges on His authority over the lives of His creation.
4) Regardless of God's specific commands to Israel concering its specific government, Christians today are not authorized to judge in terms of physical life and death. Christ, in coming to earth and making the ultimate sacrifice for sin (by being executed, interestingly) freed us from the requirements of the law, and instead created an avenue by which we could show the justice and mercy called for by God even in the Old Testament (See Micah 6:8 ). When standing before Pilate, Jesus explicitly said "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." John 18:36(NASB) The point is that the mission He left His followers was not the imposition of earthly justice, but instead fulfillment of His purpose of reconciliation. We are called to tell others about Him, and when they find Him through faith, help them follow the same path. And that is all we are called to.
5) Life has tremendous value, but the ultimate value of our lives is determined not by their length, or by how they are ended, but by whether we are reconciled to God, and whether our lives past that point serve Him. I watched a man (who had become a good friend to me while he was in prison) demonstrate this as well as anyone I have ever known. He had killed, he had met Christ while on death row, and he had devoted his life there to serving the call Christ had put in his life. The last thing he did before he died was to tell those who were executing him about Jesus. Even though he was executed, that was an incredibly valuable life.
6) Finally, and I'm sorry this has been long, but this is a difficult subject, while God is a God of love, He is also a God of judgment. We as Christians are not to judge, but God is. Ultimately, and I have to take issue with a prior poster somewhat on this, no one will die and go to hell specifically because they are homosexual, or because they murder, or because they tell lies, or because they verbally attack their neighbors, or whatever - pick your sin of choice and insert it here. They will die separated from God because they do not accept the mercy He showed through Jesus. Often, however, people permit their sin of choice to become more important to them than being reconciled with God, because ultimately that reconciliation requires a recognition that sin is sin. Jesus described this problem when he said "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26.
I hope this helps your search for answers, and I would be happy to talk about the issue with you further if you wish.
- J