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 ignoranimus.
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 a 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.
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