Does God Hate Shrimp? The 15 Worst Arguments for Homosexuality

If there was ever a hot-button issue in politics and religion today, it is concerning the level of acceptance that a society or church should give to people who engage in homosexual behavior. This post, the first in a series of "Worst Argument" posts, examines some of the most common arguments that are put forth to support a common acceptance for the gay lifestyle. (I want to mention, for the purposes of this article, referring to homosexuality will generally imply homosexual activity, not the actual attraction, itself.) I know some of you have friends or family members who are homosexual, which makes this a sensitive issue, but objective truth must be defended, especially against our emotional struggles, and I hope this post helps to clarify that objective truth for some of you who have struggled with ...

The 15 Worst Arguments for Homosexuality

1. Homosexuals are born that way - First off, let me say that there is a truckload of research, some good and some bad, on both sides of this issue. For those who are interested in trying to sort through it all, there are plenty of good resources for that. As for me, it simply doesn't matter. Let's say that, hypothetically, people are genetically predisposed to same-sex attraction, does this make it okay? Does this justify homosexual acts as normal behavior? There is compelling evidence that people inherit alcoholism, so do we excuse the father who drinks away his paycheck? Many court cases have been built on the premise that a defendant was inherently psychotic, so do we excuse, as "perfectly normal", his habit of chopping people up and putting them in a freezer?
2. It occurs in nature - State your objection to homosexual behavior, and someone will inevitably mention a study that was done somewhere that found that 10% of sheep are attracted to members of the opposite sex. Personally, I'm not sure that these people have truly thought out what our society would be like if we used the animal kingdom as our measure of morality. Eating one's young is very common among our underwater friends, but God help the person who is found sprinkling salt on his three-month-old daughter.
   
3. God doesn't make mistakes - No, he does not, but Adam and Eve did, and for that reason, original sin corrupted his otherwise beautiful creation. Many are born with physical deformities (a missing leg or blindness) and mental deformities (Down Syndrome) because we, as a race, have chosen to reject God through our sin. God is order, so a rejection of him is disorder, which sometimes shows up as disorder in our being. Now understand what I am saying - nobody is handicapped because of his personal sin. Rather, we live in a world into which disorder has crept (through our invitation), and if this disorder can appear physically and mentally, why should we suppose it wouldn't be sexual, as well?
   
4. Jesus never condemns homosexual behavior - First off, how do we know that? Doesn't John tell us at the end of his gospel that Jesus did many other things which are not recorded in Scripture. And even if Jesus didn't specifically mention homosexuality, he did institute marriage as a sacrament between a man and woman, and whenever he refers to marriage, he refers to a union of man and wife. And even then, let's say Jesus had been silent, Scripture condemns homosexual behavior (and extramarital sex, which include homosexual acts) all over the place (such as Rom. 1, 1 Cor. 6, and 1 Tim. 1). And Scripture is inspired by God. And Jesus is God.
   
5. The Church should stay out of the bedroom - God invented the sexual act to allow us to participate in his miraculous act of creation. Since he invented it, he gets to make the rules. And the church is the instrument through which he makes those rules known (1 Tim. 3:15). So the church sets the rules, whether outside the bedroom or in.
   
6. The "shrimp" argument - Okay ... if I really have to answer this one, here goes: Leviticus condemns both shellfish and homosexuality as "abominations", which has given fuel to those who want to portray Christians as hypocritical bigots (see picture above). The problem? While shrimp was forbidden as a non-kosher food for the Jews, homosexual behavior is condemned throughout the Bible, including the New Testament, where the Jewish law is no longer binding. In addition, it has been consistently condemned by the Holy Spirit-guided teaching authority of the Church. If the entire Christian argument against homosexual behavior were predicated on Leviticus, there might be a point to be made. Rather, our view comes from the realization that homosexual acts are a mockery of the sacrament of marriage as established by God.
   
7. There are straight marriages in worse shape - So? This argument is like saying that tax evasion shouldn't be illegal because rapist are rarely tax evaders, yet they are guilty of a much more heinous crime. There are plenty of marriages in awful shape because they are embracing all the other threats to a healthy relationship, such as selfishness, drunkenness, adultery, and abandonment.
   
8. Shouldn't they have the same rights? - They do. First off, let's be clear that marriage is not a "right". Legally, it is a privilege. Sacramentally, it is a calling from God. Anyway, all homosexuals have the same rights that all heterosexuals do, which is to marry someone of the opposite sex, who is of legal age and condition, and who is not already married to someone else.
   
9. People should have the right to marry or be intimate with whomever they love - Really? What if a man loves a five-year-old-child? His neighbor's wife? His rotweiler? Five women? His sister? Are we denying his rights? Is it unfair that married people can express their sexuality and he cannot? Starting to become something of a slippery slope, isn't it?
   
10. People who oppose gay "rights" are homophobes - "Phobia" means fear. Sorry, wrong suffix. This is an example of desperate name-calling for people who have run out of good arguments. This is a tactic of those who haven't thought out their position well enough to form a solid argument. Shall we call them logicaphobes?
    
11. Economic and medical benefits - Fine. Is there some reason that a durable power of attorney, a good will, or a hospital waiver won't take care of this?
    
12. My son (or daughter/friend/brother/uncle ...) is gay - Then he needs your support more than ever. It's hard for us to look at objective truth when it hits so close to home. I imagine that even a person who is in favor of the death penalty would have second thoughts if it was his child in the electric chair. However, we need to recognize that, if someone close to us struggles with same-sex attraction, this is his cross to bear. We each have ours. However, 1 Cor. 10:13 tells us that God will give each person sufficient graces to overcome any temptation. Of course we shouldn't reject a person because of his struggles, but the last thing our loved one needs is for us to make it easier for him to reject God by our accepting a sinful lifestyle.
13. We shouldn't judge others - True. But we can judge behaviors as being moral or not. Would anyone hesitate for a second to "judge" the actions of our best friend, who enjoys conning 80-year-old women out of their retirement checks? What about the woman who leaves her children locked in the car in 90-degree weather while she runs into the store? Are we being judgemental if we frown upon this? When Jesus told us not to judge others, he was implying that we shouldn't guess that person's eternal fate (only God knows what his personal culpability is), but Jesus absolutely expects us to help one another avoid sin, and to do this, we must first identify what sin is.
14. How could loving someone be sin? - Many make the mistake of assuming that sin is that action which directly hurts another. Rather, the definition of sin is an offense against God or a violation of his law, whether it directly hurts another person or not. And any sin, no matter how private, tears at the body of Christ, which includes all of humanity. See the answer to question nine for another way of answering this objection.
    
15. People who oppose homosexual relationships hate gay people - No, we love them so much that we want to help them live their lives in accord with God's will so that we can spend eternity with them in Heaven. (Nor does God hate gay people. He loves all of his children, but wants them to live in accord with his laws.) The real injustice within a Christian community are those who say, "live as you will, your eternal salvation is of less importance to me than whether or not you feel accepted in your personal choices."