There is a web site called GodHatesShrimp.com that proposes an interesting argument about homosexuality in the Bible. The Old Testament Law forbids the Israelites to eat of a few types of seafood, including shrimp. At the same time, the practice of homosexuality is condemned. Both are called abominations before God. The people of GodHatesShrimp.com are pointing out the fact that Christians everywhere eat shrimp, but condemn homosexuality. They call this hypocritical. Is it?
First of all, the Bible does not actually say that God "hates shrimp." The title of the web site is referring to and making fun of a hateful anti-homosexual slogan that has been made infamous by the Westboro Baptist Church. Their slogan is not in the Bible either. God does not hate homosexuals, nor does He hate shrimp. It is true that God hates sin (Proverbs 6:16–19), and it is true that the Bible calls the practice of homosexuality a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10), and it is true that certain foods were forbidden the Israelites in the Old Testament for the purpose of separation from surrounding pagan nations (Leviticus 11). But, the Bible does not say that God hates particular groups of people or classes of crustacean.
There were some laws (including the injunction to avoid shrimp) which were made for purposes other than ethics. God wanted the nation of Israel to abstain from certain foods, and in short, to obey Him when He told them to do something. But later, the Old Testament Law was subsumed under a new paradigm, the Grace of God. A believer who is under Grace is no longer under Law (Romans 6:14), and the Law no longer applies because Christ has fulfilled it once for all (Hebrews 10:10–14). Shrimp are now okay to eat because we are no longer in the Israelite legal system, and new rules apply (Mark 2:21–22). In fact, God made it clear to Peter that all foods were to be considered clean (Acts 10:9–16). The believer is no longer under the Old Testament Law, but instead we are under the Law of Christ (Matthew 22:37–39; Galatians 6:2).
The practice of homosexuality is condemned as sinful throughout the Bible. Even in the New Testament, it is clearly something that God considers immoral (Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9). Paul warns his listeners not to be deceived by the thought that those who practice sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery and / or homosexuality will inherit God's kingdom. These actions are called "unrighteous." Believers in Christ still sin, but it is something they struggle against rather than something they praise and make a regular habit of. Paul goes on to say, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Under the New Testament paradigm—God's grace—all sins can be forgiven and covered by faith in Jesus. Jesus' blood is sufficient to cover any and all sins that people commit. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6–8).
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