Lev 11:10-12 But anything that doesn't have fins or scales—whether from the seas or the rivers—any of the swarming creatures and living creatures in the waters are detestable for you. (11) They are to be detestable for you. You are not to eat of their meat and you are to detest their carcasses. (12) Anything that doesn't have fins or scales in the waters is a detestable thing for you."

Many people who should know (physicians, etc.) believe the dietary restrictions of the Torah serve the same purpose as the rest of the laws - to create a better, healthier, more harmonious society. The dietary restrictions, in particular, are regulations that actually address certain health risks - as if the Torah were an early version of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It has long been recognized that the meat of shellfish— shrimp, crabs, lobsters, etc.— is especially dangerous. Many illnesses, including instant paralysis, devastate some people every day as a result of eating shellfish.

The largest cholera outbreak in the United States occurred in Louisiana from August through October 1986. (The symptoms of cholera are explosive diarrhea, leading to rapid dehydration, unconsciousness, hypotension and death.) What did the stricken people eat? The incriminating meals were found to include rice noodles with shrimp, pork, vegetables, mussel soup, pig blood coagulated with vinegar, and salty brine shrimp with mixed vegetables.

Shellfish can be placed in a body of water that is contaminated with cholera bacteria, and they will purify the water. Shrimp, oysters, crab, scallops and mussels are particularly efficient at this. They filter large volumes of water every day. Sewage laden with chemicals, toxins and harmful bacteria, parasites and viruses become concentrated in those shellfish. The cause of cholera outbreaks in several areas has been traced to contaminated shrimp, crab, oysters and clams.

Reading all this, you might not be surprised to learn that the state Legislature of California proposed a law requiring the food industry to label shellfish with a message warning: 'This food may be dangerous to your health.' Why? In a single year, 50 deaths and many hospitalizations were found to have been caused by eating shellfish.

(Rex Russell, M.D., What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, 1999, pp. 78-79)

So, according to Dr. Russell, the dietary prohibitions of the Torah might very well have been issued to protect the nation of Israel from unhealthy, potentially deadly foodstuffs. But, once the prohibitions make it into the Torah, they’re no longer just unhealthy… they’re detestable abominations.

Abalone, clam, conch, crab, crayfish, lobster, mussel, oyster, scallop, and shrimp - all detestable and abominations to God; just like the abomination when “a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman”. Both the prohibited foods and homosexuality are detestable to God but while Bible-believing, conservative Christians detest the abomination of homosexuality and forbid homosexuals from marrying each other, they delight in the abominable foods, treating them as delicacies and indulging in the abomination regularly.

And, just in case you’ve heard the whole “Peter and the sheet” story means that Christians are free to eat formerly “unclean” foods, you’ve heard wrong. The story is in the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles with the good stuff starting in verse 9. You should read the story for yourself but I’ll summarize it here.

‹›