Calling Others Idiots
In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus Christ sovereignly decrees that the destination of those who call others idiots is eternal punishment in hell. Please note, all you Calvinists out there, that this is a sovereign decree and as such you have no option whatsoever but to take it very serious. This is how the Amplified Bible translates it:
“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court. But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)
The adherents to the so-called doctrines of grace (which is really Calvinism in disguise) would immediately tell you that Jesus did not refer to any Tom (this is coincidentally also my name), Dick and Harry, but to your brothers and sisters in Christ, i.e. the elect. Therefore the verse should really read as follows:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his elect brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his elect brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool [“moros”, idiot] shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22).
Henceforth, Calvinists are free to call the non-elect, unbelievers and the reprobate who’d allegedly been chosen to go to hell before the foundation of the world, idiots without having to fear an eternity in hell themselves (see here). The only problem is that they don’t know who the elect are which makes them one hundred percent fit for Jesus’ judgement in Matthew 5 because they may be calling a potential elect person an idiot. If that doesn’t put the fear of God in those who call others idiots, then I don’t know what will.
Who are the ones who dare to call others idiots without the slightest compunction and fear of God and his righteous judgments? Listen up, the ones who call others idiots are also those who teach Christians to hate unbelievers, the reprobate, the non-elect, non-Calvinists and the what nots. You see, it works like this: It becomes second nature to call others idiots when you hate other people. It’s as easy as that.
Hi,
First off I would just like to thank you for your hard work and dedication in fighting for the truth. I am what you would call a new born Christian and only recently gave my heart completely to the Lord. I never post comments as I am still learning a lot from God’s word and am always afraid that in my ignorance I look like an “idiot” when posting comments 🙂
With that in mind I have a question about the text you quoted.
When reading from the KJV the passage reads as follows:
5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Now when I have a look at the meaning of “Raca” the strong’s definition looks like this:
AV – Raca 1; 1
1) empty, i.e. a senseless, empty headed man
2) a term of reproach used among the Jews in the time of Christ
Your translation refers to “fool” as “empty headed idiot”, but when I go to strong’s definition the word “fool” is defined as:
AV – foolish 7, fool 5, foolishness 1; 13
1) foolish
2) impious, godless
My question is this: When you generally call someone an idiot, you are referring to someone being empty headed? I might be wrong, but generally you look at someone doing something stupid and refer to them as an idiot, because their actions reflect them being empty headed (not thinking it through). This to me refers more to the word “Raca” than the word “fool”.
The term “fool” here feels more like it is aimed at calling someone godless, because only God knows the hearts of men and knows for sure if someone is saved or not.
If you would please shed some light on this it would be great!
Thank you for posting this article and I am looking forward to reading your response on this 🙂
Blessings,
Doppies
Doppies
We can do one of two things. Believe every word Jesus said in Matthew 5:22 or change it’s meaning to our own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Nonetheless, a true believer will never venture to change the meaning of any of Jesus Christ’s words, even when he does not immediately understand them. So, the best thing to do, is to give Jesus the benefit of the doubt and believe every word He said.
Now, let us again look carefully at what He said. The Pharisees, who were always and forever justifying themselves by claiming that they had always kept the law, including the one that says “Thou shalt not kill” were guilty of murdering others by calling them unlearned fools. Jesus told them that the command did not only refer to someone who plunges a knife into someone’s heart and kills him; it also applies to someone who harbors hatred in his heart. The very same principle applies to a man who merely looks at a woman with lust in his heart because that alone makes him guilty of adultery. He may never have literally committed the act of adultery but is already guilty thereof because his heart harbors the act of adultery.
Jesus takes the principle of harboring hatred in your heart a step further and explains that those who call others “Raca” (Aramiac for empty headed fool) and “you fool” demonstrate sinfulness of the heart (which boils down to a lack of love for others). If you really love others in the same way Jesus loves them, you will never call other people empty-headed fools or idiots (morons). Jesus does not distinguish between “raca” and “you fool.” Both are equally dangerous because those who call others “raca” (you empty-headed fool) are on the slippery road downward to eventually call others “you fool.” and are therefore in danger of the fires of hell. A high-minded attitude of being superior, better and exclusively chosen of God above others, is very dangerous. And that’s precisely the reason why Calvinists (the so-called elect) call others idiots, morons, antichrists, and evil, because they see themselves as being superior to the non-elect because they have allegedly been chosen of God unto salvation before the foundation of the world.
May I ask how you were saved?
Hi Thomas,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question. Seems I got too stuck on the technical meaning of the words as directly translated and got side tracked of what the message is all about.
Think I might need to give a bit of background to make this post make sense. I was brought up in a Christian home but never really took religion seriously. When I was still in school I thought I was saved, but nothing really changed in my life and as time went by I completely lost my way. Needless to say I got involved in all kinds of awful stuff and wrote it off as a “phase” of my life that would probably pass. Luckily it did quiet down, but did not pass completely and as I got older I kept on having a feeling that something seriously important is missing in my life. Today I know it was the Holy Spirit pulling me toward making a decision.
One day sitting at the office after hours (waiting for traffic to clear before I left) browsing the web I got side tracked and wandered onto a website about prophecy and the signs of the end of the age. I was quite intrigued and started doing my own research. This obviously led me straight to God’s word where I started for the first time in my life to actually read (and understand to some extent) what the Bible said. Lo and behold I could not put The Book down. I scoured the web for any information I could find (especially regarding salvation) to make sure that my understanding was in line with what the scriptures said. I felt like a drowning man at one stage after realising the enormity of the problem. This whole process continued on for about a week and after a while I could almost physically feel the huge gap between me and my Saviour and knew from the bottom of my heart that there was no way for me to do anything to overcome it. I got to the point that I went on my knees and I begged and I pleaded the Lord Jesus to come into my life and save this lost drowning sinner.
Luckily we have a very longsuffering, patient and loving God. He sees me as I really am. A hopeless sinner and loves me so much that he died for me! How wonderful! The rest as they say is history (by history I mean about 6 months lol). Now I try my best (with the Holy Spirit doing all the heavy lifting) to grow and mature by praying constantly and reading the scriptures daily. I truly feel like a new man. I still struggle with sin daily (which is a constant reminder of how much I need my Saviour) and I try my best to repent. I have noticed however that me trying does not really make that big a difference and the only way I can beat my sin and truly repent is with the help of the Holy Spirit working in life. Praying has become a major part of my day and I can’t really imagine how I got by without the lifeline to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I came across this website right after I was saved and it has truly been a blessing. Luckily that happened just as I became aware of Calvanism and the whole TULIP story. Even at the very start it bothered me immensely on how they interpreted some of the scriptures. At some point I thought that I was wrong and that all these guys that have been studying the Bible for so long had to be right. I know better now and am still amazed at how the Holy Spirit guides a person to find the truth if the truth is what he really yearns to discover. What also amazes me is the amount of deception going on all around us. As my eyes start opening up it’s almost as if a whole new world has opened up for me. As I sit here I truly cannot wait for our Lord Jesus to come and take us away from all this. I am saddened by how this world has turned out and am (to quote my generation) “over it”.
Thanks for listening.
Blessings,
Doppies
Doppies
Your story made my cry! Unbelievable. I am so happy for you 🙂 It’s times like this *when I want to do the dance of joy* <-- whatever that is haha. Its amazing what you have learnt over 6 months eh? The Holy Spirit has filled you and opened your eyes and your biblical knowledge will keep on growing and growing and growing as you continue to seek the truth, you just wont be able to get enough. You become like a giant sponge as you suck up all this biblical info 🙂
Thanks Deborah,
Glad that my long wall of text did not bore you to sleep 🙂
Please keep up the good work. I come visit each day to have a look at what you guys are up to and it truly is one of the very few and (I am almost afraid to say it) last places I feel I can come too to find proper biblical understanding.
I’ll definitely be more attentive to the word “idiot” now as well. Even watching a clip where a guy tries to jump over a swimming pool and stuffs up the landing and probably his ability to procreate! LOL
Thanks again 🙂
Doppies
If you got any questions just zap them under the General Comments Section if you can’t find an article on what you want FIRST.
Yip there are very few placed left, (I dare say last because I am sure there is someone else out there – heeellllooooooo)
Yes we have to be attentive to the things we do and say, thankfully Jesus forgives us when we sin, but the idea is to change our ways and not to do these things again with the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Thanks Doppies.
I am very happy to hear what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you when you called on his Name for your salvation. My prayer is “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; . .” (Col 1:10-11). Keep your eyes fixed on Him.
Tom
Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
I too am so happy to hear what Jesus Christ has done for you Doppies. How wonderful to have a new brother in Christ. While we do not know each other here below heaven, one day we will meet as we gather before our longsuffering God. Deborah and Thomas would be the ones to ask questions. They are extremely knowledgable in the Word of God and they have a heart full of love for our Savior.
Sharon
Thank you for your words. My husband often calls me an idiot and I am tired of it. If I disagree about something he says I am an idiot.
Example He recently told me to send a 24 year old girl a text on his phone to see how she liked a church meeting, but I said it’s after midnight, he responded saying that she likes it receiving texts from us late at night. BUT I never text her late and don’t text her often.
Or if he compliments a woman at church for something he puts me down at home for, like her being elegant, lady like, refined and me at home says I am a trucker’s wife, pig, he says I am jealouse. I don’t like it so he calls me an idiot.
He’s supposed to be born-again but his actions at home towards me are not the same at church. He would never talk to me at church in front of people the way he does at home. It’s discouraging.
anonymous Christian.
Pray for your husband and his salvation.