If I called you a Nimrod, how would you feel? If you are like most people you would probably feel insulted. The popular definition for a nimrod is an inept person, an oaf, a maroon, an ignoramus. The original name Nimrod really meant to be a skillful mighty hunter. Its origin is found in Genesis 10:8-9:
“Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."
How did the mighty hunter become an inept oaf? Well, it’s all Bugs Bunny’s fault.
Ok, maybe not all his fault. You see in the popular cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Bugs often times will refer to Elmer Fudd as a “little Nimrod”, a sarcastic reference to the mighty hunter of the Old Testament. The writers might have gotten the joke but the general public didn’t. They assumed, in their ignorance, the word was an insult and began to use it as such and the new meaning took over.
This doesn't just happen in cartoons, there are numerous examples of people taking Biblical words and concepts and flipping their meaning till the point that more people accept the new definition rather than the Bible one. Words like pastor, grace, and baptism have been corrupted from the biblical meaning to a popular one. Pastors are not the Biblical group of overseers but a single preacher (Acts 20:28). Grace is made into a license to sin (Jude 1:4). Baptism has gone from a complete immersive burial in water to pouring or just sprinkling (Colossians 3:12).
Words have meaning. If we change that meaning we might as well change the word. Don't fool yourself into thinking you are biblical if you still use a Bible word yet have a different definition than the Bible has. If we truly want to biblical we must hunt thru the Scripture to see if the things we are taught are really the things that are in Scriptures (Acts 17:11).
When it comes to what the Bible says, we need to be a Nimrod, not a nimrod.
Comments
Post a Comment