Leviticus 11:9-10
“‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10 But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to regard as unclean.”
Fish without scales include sharks, lobsters, catfish, shrimp, and mollusks. Some of these have become delicacies in today’s eating establishments, others a staple of good home cooked American soul food; however, there are reasons God didn’t want the Israelites to eat them, and there are reasons why He doesn’t want us attending a church that mimics them.
Lobster, shrimp, and most mollusks are bottom feeders. They occasionally hunt, but for the most part they survive on the leftovers, scraps, waste, and decaying remains of other creatures. I think it’s plain to see why God wouldn’t want us eating a creature who has been fed and nourished by trash or dead rotting flesh. Sharks, catfish, and eels are examples of fish with fins, but no scales. Not only are they hunters, stealthy, quick, and brutal when they attack, but they lack the ability to filter toxins from the water. Instead, they ingest them into the body and disperse them throughout their internal organs and flesh. When we eat these creatures, we eat the toxins as well.
In order to properly explain this I’m going to have to give a very brief biology lesson. Fins are used by fish for directional control and stability. Scales on a fish help guard against toxins in the water infiltrating the body, and they provide a layer of armor-like protection for the fish. Scales are part of the integumentary system; that is, the system that provides protection for the internal organs of the fish (in humans the system is comprised of skin, hair, and nails).
Moving on. When searching for or attending a church, we must ensure that we find one that maintains control of its direction and stability in its teaching. We must seek a church with fins. We can’t go to a church that follows the latest trends in marketing or music just to continue to provide a show for its audience. (Colossions 2:8 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”) There is no stability in this type of environment. In this type of church the leaders are following worldly ideas and concepts rather than Jesus. This shows a lack of directional control. The direction a church should be moving is towards Jesus, not the way of the crowd.
A church should have armor for its body. This armor is found in a core of firm believers in Christ, who may appear rough and hard-headed on the exterior. These are people who can naturally filter out toxic material and provide a layer of protection before anything harmful ever gets into the body to poison the system. These scaly people, though rough by nature, are God’s protection for the body of believers. A church without scales that doesn’t filter out false doctrine and hokey practices, one that doesn’t have accountability within the body and with its leaders, is bound to become sick.
God’s desire for our Christian walk is to be led and nourished by His Son and His teachings, not the ideas and traditions of men. He certainly does not want us aimlessly drifting in the currents with no protection. In order to be spiritually nourished in the way God wants for us, we must seek out solid, Jesus-centered teaching. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it; therefore we are still called to practice the law, just under different terms. (Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”) Though we no longer receive sanctification through the law, because Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all mankind, we can still receive wisdom and a greater understanding of God’s will for our lives by practicing and following the law under the New Covenant.
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