Biblical Mudslinging And Namecalling

BIBLICAL MUDSLINGING AND NAME CALLING

During the days of Jesus' ministry, doing His work wasn't always a picnic; as a matter of fact, there were times it was downright nasty! They would say terrible things toward Jesus, and He, of course, was perfectly able to return fire! Our politicians nowadays do plenty of mudslinging and name calling towards their opponents, and the same thing was going on between cetain people and Jesus. Let's see what we can come up with...
  Fox - "And He said unto them, 'Go ye, and tell that fox, "Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected."'" Luke 13:32 (KJV) - Jesus directed this name at Herod Antipas because Herod was known for cunning deceit.

The eternally damning mudsling - "But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.'" "And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. 12:24, 32 (KJV) - After seeing Jesus perform a healing miracle, the Pharisees thought it of little consequence to accuse the Holy Spirit's work through Jesus of being the work of the devil (through Jesus.)  An eternally terminal mistake! Jesus answered back to the Pharisees who had made the mistake of saying what they did in Matt. 12:24 that their mouths had just uttered an eternally damning thing! The circumstances for this blasphemy cannot be duplicated today, but in their day, the circumstances were so!

Wicked and adulterous generation - "'A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.' And He left them, and departed." Matt. 16:4 (KJV) - This name calling Jesus directed toward the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were just that; wicked and adulterous. Adulterous, depending on which Pharisee/Sadducee, may have been concerning an extramarital affair, but more likely their adulteration of the true intent of the scriptures with their interpretations.

Dogs - "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." Matt. 7:6 (KJV) - "But He answered and said, 'It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.'" Matt. 15:26 (KJV) When someone was called a "dog", they were being called unholy, and this reference was typically given to Gentiles because they were unbelievers. In this second example, Jesus yet gave the woman what she wanted, despite being a non-Jew, because of her great faith.

Blind leaders of the blind/blind guides - "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matt. 15:14 (KJV) - This reference was to both the Pharisees and those who followed/believed them. The Pharisees were offended because they knew He meant them as the blind leaders, and the ditch is hell.

Blasphemer - "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." 1 Tim. 1:13 (KJV) - In his humility, Paul confessed that he was this type of person, one who speaks irreverently or impiously of God. This is one of the few times you will find someone slinging mud onto their own reputation, although for Paul, this was his pre-born - again reputation.

Publicans - " And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples." Matt. 9:10 (KJV) - Publicans had the same reputation in those days as habitual sinners because when they collected taxes for the Romans, they were reknowned for extortion and malpractice while doing their jobs. They were the "untouchables" of Jesus' days on earth.

Heathen - "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste." Lev. 26:33 (KJV) - This particular reference was part of a multi-faceted curse for the Israelites if they broke His commandments. In this case, it was a prophecy of His people's exile to Assyria and Babylonia. Heathens are people who do not believe in the true God of creation.

Heretic(k) - "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." Titus 3:10-11 (KJV) - This is an interesting term, because if you think about it, each time a new denomination is formed, the smaller denomination would be considered by the larger denomination to be heretics. Marcion was labeled a heretic for cutting away from the book of Romans from 14:23 to the end. It's something of a serious mudsling, because a heresiarch is considered, as suggested by Paul, to be subverted, one who willfully sins, and self-condemned in not accepting widely accepted Christian dogma.

Hypocrites - "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." Matt. 6:16 (KJV) - Christ often called the Pharisees hypocrites, and they were. In this case, they did not wash or trim their hair, and were even reported to have put ashes on their heads. They went out of their way to appear holy, while Jesus held their behavior as so much lip service to God, as their hearts were far from Him.

Pharisees - "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matt. 3:7 (KJV) - From Christ's and His disciples' view, this was a mudsling associated with damning hypocrisy, but to the view of the common Jews and the other Jewish sects, They held the most influence. These were the worst persecutors of Jesus, thus John saw them as a "generation of vipers"!

Sadducees - "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matt. 3:7 (KJV) - The Sadducees were largely from the priesthood and upper classes, contrasting from the Pharisees with doctrine such as denying a bodily resurrection, the oral traditions (of the Pharisees), angels, and future punishment and reward. Christ condemned them as severely as the Pharisees. Both sects were into extreme legalism, but opposed each other regarding rabbinic tradition, which the Sadducees rejected in regards to authority. They also were opposites regarding politics, which the Pharisees had little interest in.

After this last of name calling and mudsling that is of negative substance, we now will turn to namecalling of positive substance, three of which are names given to God in the New Testament.

Lost sheep - "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, 'Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" Matt. 10:5-6 (KJV) - The lost sheep in this case were the Jewish people who did not yet believe in Jesus, or know Him as their Messiah. After their rejection of the King and Savior, the lost sheep came to include the Gentiles.

Rabbi/Rabboni - "Jesus saith unto her, 'Mary.' She turned herself, and saith unto Him, 'Rabboni'; which is to say, Master." John 20:16 (KJV) Master and Teacher are interchangeable, although Master in His case was more appropriate an interpretation.

My brethren - "But He answered and said unto him that told Him, 'Who is my mother? And who are my brethren?' And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, 'Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.'" Matt. 12:48-50 (KJV) - Prior to Christ saying this, brethren were family members by blood. Here Christ explains eloquently that we who believe and demonstrate so by doing the will of the Father are all family in the Spirit of Christ!

Prophets - "And Moses said unto him, 'Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!'" Num. 11:29 (KJV) - Prophets were people who spoke by divine inspiration. Here Moses is referring to Eldad and Medad.

Apostles - "And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught." Mark 6:30 (KJV) - Apostles were hand-picked men whom Jesus was accompanied by during His ministry. Paul would later be included as an apostle because Jesus handpicked him while he was traveling to Damascus.

Disciples - Isaiah first used the word "disciples" - "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." Isa. 8:16 (KJV) - I purposely chose this verse of Scripture to show that disciples chose to follow whomever they would follow. Indeed, Jesus had many, many disciples, and even now, we call ourselves "Christians", which means we follow Christ (as much as humanly possible, although not nearly perfectly!) The apostles were also disciples, but as you have read illustrated before you, few disciples were apostles!

Son of man - "And he said unto me, 'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against Me: they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day.'" Ezek. 2:3 (KJV); "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." Matt. 9:6 (KJV) - While this first was a title given to Ezekiel from God, Jesus demonstrated that this was His favorite title for Himself, since He used it more than 80 times throughout the bible towards Himself. Daniel first used the title toward Christ in Dan. 7:13 - 14. Christ used it to emphasize His suffering and death, His lowliness and humanity, and His coming rule as King over all His believers.

The Comforter - "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:15-17 (KJV) Jesus refers here to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, and gives Him yet another name, the Spirit of truth. Blessed are all in whom the Holy Spirit resides!

So here you have a list of biblical mudslings that went on in biblical days, and they were rather different than the mudslinging that goes on between politicians of our days, although mudslinging is always dirt in the eyes of those whom it is directed at! Namecalling, on the other hand, depends on what you are inferring with the nomenclature; you can mean the name for good or evil! In any case, let us give one another only good names, and stifle the mudslinging as much as humanly possible!