Having debated atheists, homosexual activists, and hard-core lefties for many decades now, I find that there is nothing new under the sun coming from these guys. We just get the same old tired objections which have been answered multiple times, but they keep dragging these things up, thinking they are somehow making a new and challenging argument.
They actually think they are laying a knock-out blow when they open their mouths, but all they do is shoot themselves in the foot, showing how woefully ignorant and utterly out of touch they are with the issues at hand. You would think that they would give up with these tired and totally debunked clichés they toss around, but nope – they keep them coming.
It was an entirely vacuous and useless “comment” and just another example of the paucity of argument and reasoning found on the other side. They are unable to string together a rational argument or actually make any sense. Instead they just throw out the tired old red herrings, straw men and non sequiturs.
And it gets real scary when these guys think they are some sort of biblical experts, or some sort of authority on all things theological. It is simply embarrassing to see what these guys cough up. Consider this comment which I of course did not post on my site (it was also an anonymous comment, which is contrary to my rules):
Can we truly trust what is expressed in Holy Scriptures?
Take this for example,
The Bible suggests homosexuality is an abomination. Twenty or so lines after it suggests eating crayfish (crustaceans) is also an abomination.
Well… you just got prankd
Um, sorry, not quite bud. I can’t even say, ‘Nice try’ because you didn’t even get close to saying anything remotely sensible, rational or effective in seeking to make your case. Simply regurgitating third-hand clichés by the militant homosexual activists does nothing to make your case, and being clueless about what you are talking about is not very flattering either.
Not only has this guy got everything wrong here, but he has no idea where in the Bible these things can be found, if indeed they can be. Nor would he likely even know which Testament they might be found in – if he even knows the Bible is made up of more than one Testament!
So let me try to help him out here a bit, since he clearly is really struggling in all of this. He may have in mind some prohibitions found in the book of Leviticus. That is in the Old Testament mate, the third book in from the beginning, in case you are having trouble finding it.
Homosexuality is twice mentioned in the book: in Leviticus 18:22 and in 20:13. The only talk about ‘crayfish’ is not found 20 verses later – not even close. In a much different section (Lev. 11:10-11 to be precise) we do find a discussion about this. The prohibitions of homosexuality are part of what is known as the Holiness code – it is found in Lev. 17-26 (some include chapter 27 as well).
I have often explained these matters, including in my book Strained Relations. Let me quote from part of it here:
In Lev. 11-15 we find laws concerning the clean and unclean. In Lev. 17-26 we find what is known as the “Holiness Code”. These are the main chapters dealing with holy and unholy, pure and impure, clean and unclean…. Israel was to be a holy and clean people before the Lord. It was also to be clearly distinguished from the surrounding cultures. That in part explains the various laws about distinction, division, and separation. Holiness always implies separation, being set apart from that which is unholy, and devoted to that which is holy.
As Bruce Waltke explains, “The Israelites were commanded not to mix seeds or crops and not to mix different types of cloth in sewing. Therefore, the theme of purity was worked into the everyday life of the Israelites and safeguarded them from mixing their human seed with pagans. These purity laws inculcated the notion of holiness so that Israel would learn that they were to be a pure people, set apart for God.”
Or as John Goldingay puts it, “Israel’s holiness lies in distinctively belonging to Yhwh. Distinguishing holy and ordinary, and also pure and taboo, then contributes to its manifesting its distinctiveness over against other people. . . . Israel’s observance of these distinctions is an expression of its accepting its position as a people that God has distinguished from the rest of the world.”
And one must bear in mind the differences between the realm of the clean/unclean, and the realm of the holy/profane. Ceremonial uncleanness was particularly associated with Israel in Old Testament times, while moral holiness is forever enjoined upon all peoples. Thus while it is true that we are no longer under the ceremonial and civil laws of ancient Israel, the moral laws remain. As Allen Ross explains, “To be free from the regulations of the law is not a license to be free from obeying what the law revealed.” He continues,
“The New Testament makes this very clear: moral imperfections and impurities – that is, the sinful activities that rendered a person unclean in the Old Testament – are still sinful in the new covenant and still require repentance and confession and forgiveness in order to comply with God’s standard of holiness. It is folly – it is dishonest – to argue that because the purification regulations of Old Testament Israel were fulfilled by the death of Christ, the sins listed in Leviticus are no longer sins.”
And Ross reminds us of the differences between the ceremonial and moral when we consider the means of absolution: “Homosexuality was never merely part of the purity problem that sanctuary ritual covered; it was a major offense for which there was no ritual law – it required forgiveness because it violated the moral code.”
Thus the Old Testament dietary laws were provisional and temporary, designed for ancient Israel, while the laws on human sexuality are absolute and permanent, applying to all peoples in all places at all times. As Peter Saunders summarises in his own article on this issue: “So Christians can eat shellfish, in fact they can eat all foods, but they cannot have sex outside marriage. And that includes homosexual sex.”
So the next time you hear some guy throwing around the red furphy about not eating crayfish and the like, you know where they are coming from, and you know how to answer them. They may think they are being so very clever, but they simply reveal their ignorance and irrationality.
Let me conclude by making this sad observation: we of course expect militant homosexuals and raging atheists to throw around this sort of foolishness and demonstrate such appalling biblical ignorance. But the regrettable thing is far too many clueless Christians are in the same camp.
They should know better, but instead of carefully studying the Word of God, they just rehash brainless clichés and objections thrown around by atheists, theological revisionists, and homosexual activists. Shame on them. They need to either get with the program and do some careful Bible reading and theological study, or stop pretending they are followers of Christ.
http://pjsaunders.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/why-christians-may-eat-shellfish-but.html
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