what's the deal with all these rules anyway?

So if through Jesus Christ we are left with only two Commandments, and if through Jesus Christ the law of death was removed so that we are saved by grace through faith, then what is the deal with all these rules? There has to be a reason why Deuteronomy and Leviticus have been made a part of the canon (official Bible). There has to be a reason why Paul, hater of the law, creates rules for the churches in crisis to which he writes. What is the deal with all these rules?

Now this is the commandment--the statutes and the ordinances--that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children's children, may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.

From Deuteronomy 6 (Proper 26b) we get two answers to this age-old question about rules. First, the rules exist so that all might fear the LORD. Much has been written regarding the right understanding of "fear the LORD", suffice it to say that a fear of the LORD is a right understanding of the one who is entirely other. God is so different from us, all loving, all knowing, Trinity, etc. that to understand God is to misunderstand God. So, we are left with only an understanding of the ambiguity of God, and ambiguity makes humans uncomfortable. To fear the LORD is to allow for the uncomfortableness of God in our lives. The rules result in fear of the LORD in that they point us to what is important to God - ultimately the second reason for rules - "so that our days might be long."

God loves his Creation. God loves the earth, the stars, plants, and animals. God loves humans too. God did not intend for humans to taste death, we did that to ourselves. So, with that in mind, God gave us rules to prolong as long as possible the inevitablity of death. At the second coming, with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, rules will no longer be necessary, for we will once again be restored to a life without death, but for now, in order that we might live long in the land, long in God's Creation, we are given the rules.

Still, I struggle with the rules, espeically with how they were redeemed through Jesus Christ, and how some were specific to Churches in crisis. My church, the Episcopal Church, is dealing with these struggles in spades. What does God say about homosexuality? What does God say about the ordination of women? What does Jesus mean by love your neighbor as yourself? All of these questions lead us to interpretation. And since the enlightenment we trusted our interpretation to reveal the Truth of God's Word. Today, we aren't so sure we can find that Truth, but maybe, if we're lucky we might find a piece of it. Is my piece of truth a rule which are all to follow? Or, rather is it the first half of a sentance of God? See, I've talked myself back into a corner again.

What is the deal with all these rules anyway?