Shellfish a question.

HeyDeliah · May 7, 2007

Hello this is my first post as I am brand new to the forum. I hope I'm putting this in the right place. And I did a search and found nothing, but if there is already a place where this is answered point me in the right direction.

Anyway my question is about
Leviticus 11:9-12

9These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.

10And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

11They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

12Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

Anyway I have been born and raised Christian but had never come across this verse. Its pretty common practice in my family to shellfish. Even the church that I attend when they host bbqs usually have some shrimp kabobs mixed in with the chicken and beef. My question is there anywhere in the Bible is repealed? Is it a sin to eat mussels and clams? Generally why is okay to eat shellfish now but it wasnt then? (Clam are my favorite food, so Im hoping to find a new testament repeal of this!)

Any help would be welcome.

ContentInHim · May 7, 2007

Hi - welcome to CF.

Well, as to whether it's a sin or not, most would say no. But I was convicted last year to begin to eat the way God said to and have given up spiced shrimp and crabcakes. Clams and mussels are out, as are oysters. Also, no catfish or shark or eels ( ).

The shellfish have no way to eliminate the poisons which they ingest. They are bottom feeders in the ocean and lakes and streams. God created them as the cleanup crew. As to why that crab meat is soooo sweet, I have no idea!

A Brother In Christ · May 7, 2007

gAL 2:21

1 TIM 4:3-5
ROMANS 14:20-23
1COR 8:12

Elrond · May 8, 2007

I'm partial to 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 which spells it out pretty clearly.

I don't believe that eating such foods, even in the Old Testament, was referred to as "sinful". They were defiling to the person, making them ceremonially unclean, but not sinful. And persons guilty of these offenses could be cleansed by ceremonial washing. The penalties for uncleanness, though, could range from prohibition from the priesthood to banishment from the camp.
While this ceremonial system served a purpose for the people of God, the sacrifice of Christ has removed the need for these ceremonial regulations.

And while it wasn't a sin back then, it becomes a sin today if it casts a stumbling block before a weaker brother or sister in Christ.

Elrond

micbmac · May 8, 2007

I do not believe it is a sin to eat shellfish. That being said, i am a vegetarian. God told us not to eat these scavengers for a reason. It is not good food for you. Your body is your temple and you need to take care of it to the best of your ability.

winslow · May 9, 2007

Elrond said:
And persons guilty of these offenses could be cleansed by ceremonial washing.

Elrond

There was no ritual washing for someone that consumed unclean meat. The ceremonial washing was for touching dead animals or people. It was ok to touch an unclean animal (they were used as beasts of burden) as long as it was alive.

Unclean animals are unclean by nature, a ritual washing could not cleanse them. Other animals are by nature clean but become ceremonial unclean (as in death). It is not possible to ceremonial cleanse an animal that is by it's very nature unclean.

Messianic Jewboy · May 9, 2007

If Jesus is G-d and G-d doesn't change.... why would He change?

Marc

A Brother In Christ · May 9, 2007

God did not change in character

changed his directions for us how to live

icxn · May 9, 2007

HeyDeliah said:
Hello this is my first post as I am brand new to the forum. I hope I'm putting this in the right place. And I did a search and found nothing, but if there is already a place where this is answered point me in the right direction.

Anyway my question is about
Leviticus 11:9-12

9These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.

10And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

11They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

12Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

Anyway I have been born and raised Christian but had never come across this verse. Its pretty common practice in my family to shellfish. Even the church that I attend when they host bbqs usually have some shrimp kabobs mixed in with the chicken and beef. My question is there anywhere in the Bible is repealed? Is it a sin to eat mussels and clams? Generally why is okay to eat shellfish now but it wasnt then? (Clam are my favorite food, so Im hoping to find a new testament repeal of this!)

Any help would be welcome.

Hey Deliah, it is not about shellfish that God is concerned just like He is not concerned about oxen (1 Cor. 9:9) but with us in that we do not indulge in the mud of sinful pleasures just like shellfish live in the bottom of the sea and feed on dead fish as someone said. On the other hand, if we have fins, that is, the wings of grace [or faith, or prayer] and scales which are the virtues [or weapons of the spirit according to St. Paul], and like a scaled fish you swim through the sea of evil passions without sinking in the mud of sinful pleasures then you will be fulfilling this commandment in Spirit and in Truth as scripture says.

A Brother In Christ · May 9, 2007

1 tim 4:3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be recieved with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 for every creature of God is good, and nothing refused, if it be recieved in thanksgiving.

français · May 9, 2007

torah is made up of three kinds of laws.. Civil, Moral, and Ceremonial.

we, as Christians, still use Moral.. but we don't use civil, which i believe this law falls under. therefore, it is perfectly fine to eat shellfish

winslow · May 9, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
1 tim 4:3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be recieved with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 for every creature of God is good, and nothing refused, if it be recieved in thanksgiving.

The word translated meats in that passage means food, not neccessarily flesh foods. Taking it in context Paul is telling Timothy that all foods that God created (unclean animals were not considered food) were good despite a Gnostic practice of forbidding certain foods (and marriage).

winslow · May 11, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
gAL 2:21

1 TIM 4:3-5
ROMANS 14:20-23
1COR 8:12

gAL 2:21: the prohibition on unclean animals is a health issue, not a justification issue. Eating or abstaining has nothing to do with our justfication

1 TIM 4:3-5: Already commented on theses verses in a previous post

ROMANS 14:20-23: To get the context of what Paul is talking about here you must read from the beginning of the chapter. Paul is talking about dissention that arose between mature believers and newly converted believers that wouldn't eat kosher meats because of the way it was regarded in their previous beliefs, they regarded them as common. Note verse 14:
Rom 14:14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing by itself is common; except to the one deeming anything to be common, it is common.

The word translated common here is koinos, which means ceremonially unclean. It is not talking about unclean animals. The word for unclean is akathartos. The distinction is more clearly seen in Acts:
Act 10:14 But Peter said, Not at all, Lord, because I never did eat anything common or unclean. Again the word translated as common here is koinos, and the word unclean is akathartos.

1COR 8:12: The issue here is foods that were offered to idols, again new believers were abstaining from clean foods because they viewed them as defiled because they had been offered to idols, it has nothing to do with unclean animals as food.

djconklin · May 12, 2007

kjf512 said:
torah is made up of three kinds of laws.. Civil, Moral, and Ceremonial.

we, as Christians, still use Moral.. but we don't use civil, which i believe this law falls under. therefore, it is perfectly fine to eat shellfish

The health laws are not part of the civil laws.
---
Thanks for your posts Winslow!

BTW, if you get the chance go to a feed mill and look for the large cans of Drano. On the back you can read the instructions on how to flush out a pig.

Also, given how poorly our sewage plants work I would eat any of the bootom-feeders like shrimp, clams, oysters, lobsters, etc..

A Brother In Christ · May 12, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
1 tim 4:3 forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be recieved with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 for every creature of God is good, and nothing refused, if it be recieved in thanksgiving.

winslow said:
The word translated meats in that passage means food, not neccessarily flesh foods. Taking it in context Paul is telling Timothy that all foods that God created (unclean animals were not considered food) were good despite a Gnostic practice of forbidding certain foods (and marriage).

Is this like the word wine is really juice ?

winslow · May 13, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
Is this like the word wine is really juice ?

It's like if you look up the word translated as meats in a concordance you will see it is broma, which means food.

If you would like to do a study on wine in the bible, there are excellent sources out there. Not the topic of this thread though.

A Brother In Christ · May 13, 2007

so does food or meat change in the oringinal ?

winslow · May 13, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
so does food or meat change in the oringinal ?

Not sure what you mean by this but my point is that meat as used by the translators of the bible doesn't carry the same meaning of meat as it is used today. This is true of both the old and new testaments. If you look at Genesis:

Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

The original diet given to man was a vegetarian diet, but the word for food here is translated as meat (KJV). Meat was originally another term for food, not necessarily flesh food.

The words translated as meat in the new testament also carry the meaning of food in general not animal meat in particular. The word for literal flesh in greek is sarx, which the original writers could have used if they wanted to convey the meaning of animal flesh. If you are determined to include flesh into the meaning of the words then you need to also determine which animals were considered by the authors (as directed by God)as food. Nowhere in the bible are unclean meats considered as food.

A Brother In Christ · May 13, 2007

so is meat in the greek mean meat or fruit

winslow · May 14, 2007

A Brother In Christ said:
so is meat in the greek mean meat or fruit

meat(broma, trophe) is a general term for food, if they wanted to specify fruit the word they would use is karpos. If they wanted to specify flesh food they would use the word sarx.

We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

Shellfish a question.

New Member

ContentInHim

Guest

Senior Veteran

Junior Member

Veteran

Regular Member

Senior Veteran

Senior Veteran

Bραδύγλωσσος αἰπόλος μαθητεύων κνίζειν συκάμινα

Senior Veteran

Atheist/CA-Bloc Québécois/US-Democrat

Regular Member

Regular Member

Moderate SDA

Senior Veteran

Regular Member

Senior Veteran

Regular Member

Senior Veteran

Regular Member

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency