Christians do you get offended when you are called this?

Question

Xians.

I have heard from some christians who do not like being called Xians. My logic is that it should be a positive thing, since Xian would be pronounced the same as Zion, as in Holy Mount Xian (Zion).

Answer 1

The letter X in Xtian or Xian does not stand for taking the Christ out of it. Europeans in the 16th century started using X in place of Christ's name as shorthand for writing Christ. The Christian monks and scholars were knowledgeable of the Greek letter X, - Chi or Khi - which is the first letter in the Greek word "Christos" or "Kristos" (Greek: CristoV) The Greek and Hebrew word "Christos" comes out "Messiah" and mean the same thing: "The anointed One." For many years the X was understood by Christian clergy and as time passed, many Christians, educated and not, were not aware of the meaning.

Answer 2

The "X" in Christian, Chrismas, etc, comes from the fact that the first letter in the Greek (New Testament is written in Greek) for Christ is "X" or "chi". Back when all manuscripts were handwritten, it became common practice to replace the word Christ is the letter "X". Saved a lot of writing. So when the "X" is used in words like Xians and X-mas, it is just following a 2000 year tradition of using Chrsit's "initial" in place of his name. So no offense.

Answer 3

Just for the information of those who have said something about Xmas and "taking the Christ out of christmas", Xmas is very old, not recent, and it's not disrespectful at all.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp

I imagine that whether or not a Christian is offended by "Xtian" would depend on how it was used, and why.

Also this:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the use of the abbreviation "xian" or "xtian" for "Christian" dates back at least as far as 1634. Before that, it was more usual to take the first two letters of XPICTOC, and write "xpian" for "Christian". Priests would record Christenings using the shorthand "xpen" or "xpn"

Answer 4

Greetings,
Personally I am not offended by anything that someone wishes to call me scince I am a believer of Christ and His Father. I might be saddened or gladdened depending on the connotation of the comment but never upset or mad.

Answer 5

No offence taken here.

Xian:A city of central China southwest of Beijing. The capital (221-206 B.C.) of the Qin dynasty, it is a major commercial center and the capital of Shaanxi province. Population: 2,872,539.

Couldn't find anything religious about it.

Answer 6

I honestly don't know the definition of the word. I try not to label or be offended by labels. I am a Christian but I am not Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, or any of that. I love the Lord and am blessed to have a relationship with Him, that is all I know

Answer 7

I do not take offense in anything i maybe called i do pray for those who are being offensive tho Jesus said in the last days we would be hated for his name sake tho no one likes to be hated i still love those who may hate me and i take this as a good sign for the time of Christ is near

Answer 8

"X" is actually the Greek symbol for "Christ", so any Xian who is offended is just uninformed. But too often that's an oxymoron, I know...

Answer 9

Call me anything you want, just don't call me late for dinner. Christians get hung up on the X thing, if they did some research, they'd find out that it is quite appropriate.

Answer 10

actually the letter X in greek is ch so it would not be anywhere close to sounding like zion.