Endless Shrimp
Okay, so Red Lobster does occasionally advertise “Endless Shrimp,” and, yes, it is tasty—especially the coconut-flavored ones with their tangy sauce. Now this savory fact was not mentioned just to whet anyone’s appetite (although it might)—but because shrimp is being used as a prawn (whoops, make that a pawn) by homosexuals to justify their sin. Sure, you’ve seen the argument in letters to the editor, but this one comes from the sports page!
The date of this blurb was May 10, 2013. The column is called “Mail Bonding,” and it contained three items—two about Tim Tebow, one of which suggests that attorney John Morgan might possibly be smoking too much weed for doing an ad imploring the Jacksonville Jaguars to sign him, and the third one which has no apparent relationship to sports. Since it is so brief, it is repeated below in its entirety (C6).
On why some Christians pick and choose which Bible verses they take seriously. “Why do they condemn gays to eternal damnation, but ignore the Biblical ban against eating shellfish? According to the Old Testament, eating at Red Lobster is as much a sin as same-sex marriage.”
As Carnac the Magnificent (Johnny Carson) might have replied, “You are wrong, sea food breath.” Every thought expressed in the above sentiment is incorrect, but it does illustrate the point that those who know very little about the Bible should not try to teach others what it says.
A number of instances could be provided where so-called Christians actually do pick and choose what they wish to obey, but this is not one of them, as will be shown momentarily. Whoever made these remarks inadvertently did state a valid principle (although his example of it is false), which is that God did not reveal His Word and His statutes with a view that we select the ones we like while ignoring the others. Just as some go through a smorgasbord, taking only what they like, some approach the Bible in the same way. “Hey! I’ll have a big helping of, ‘Love one another,’ but I don’t believe I’d care for any of that stuff on the Evangelism counter.” To commit oneself to Jesus is to commit oneself to all His commandments (John 14:15).
While consistency is expected of Christians, whoever wrote this brief diatribe has no understanding of the differences between the Old and the New Testament, even though he is aware that both exist. He asks why Christians condemn homosexuals to eternal condemnation. We do not. God did the condemning. It was he who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for that grievous sin (Gen. 18:20). Christians had nothing to do with it, but we are warned that those cities “are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).
Homosexuality is described as a vile affection and against nature (Rom. 1:26), but God did not command Christians to put homosexuals to death. Christianity is not a theocracy as Israel was under the old covenant. God’s moral laws were also His civil laws. If a person was caught working on the Sabbath day, the punishment was death by stoning (Num. 15:32-36). Christians are not authorized to put anyone to death for that practice today. In fact, keeping the Sabbath day is not even part of our covenant.
Also put to death by Israel was a man who blasphemed (Lev. 24:11-16). In all, there were about 30 offenses that a person could be put to death for. But Christians do not live in that kind of society, and we are not under those Old Testament laws. Any one of these could be cited as Christians picking and choosing what to obey, but in each instance it would be erroneous because as Christians, no one alive today was ever under the Law of Moses. God has never required us to obey those laws that were bound upon Israel in the land that God gave them.
We live under an entirely different covenant—one in which the civil government has the right to enforce the laws it passes, but Christians do not have any authority to do so. Is murder a crime? Yes. Does the state have the right to put murderers to death? Yes (Rom. 13:1-7). Do Christians have the right to put murderers to death? No! God has not made the execution of criminals part of the Christian’s responsibility. That first law that God gave to Israel is no longer in effect. It was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross of Christ (Col. 2:14). God has not authorized anyone but a country’s civil government to execute criminals since the first century.
Is it wrong to eat shellfish today? No, those laws were given only to Israel, and (as shown above) they are no longer in effect. God pronounced all foods as clean (Acts 10:11-16). Only the prohibition against the eating of blood or things strangled was retained from the Old Law (Acts 15:24-29). One cannot take a law from a different covenant that Christians have never been under and call us inconsistent for not keeping it. Now if Christians were killing homosexuals, as Jews were required to do under the law (Lev. 20:13), then it would be appropriate to say that we are inconsistent in eating shellfish. Anyone who goes back to the law for any part of it is required to do all of it (Gal. 5:3).
Eating “endless shrimp” at Red Lobster is authorized under the New Testament. Being a homosexual is not—much less two homosexuals “marrying.” Such is not marriage as God defined it (Gen. 2:18-24) and is a ludicrous concept. But thinking like that shown in the sports “item” shows how desperate people are to establish their sin. In their ignorance they even attempt to use God’s Holy Scriptures to justify unholy behavior.