Why do xians use heathen as a bad term do they not know what it means?

Question

one who lives amoung the heathers

Answer 1

The word "Heathen" refers to someone who lives out in the fields or "heaths". Back in the old days, the people who lived in the city were the easiest to convert from Paganism to Christianity because all the Inquisitors lived and worked right there in the city. But the people out in the heaths were harder to reach and convert. That's where the term "heathen" became known as "one who still follows the old religion".

Blessed Be.

Answer 2

During bible times the Jews beleived there were two types of people the Jew and the gentile. Gentile meant anyone who was not Jewish.

to the Jew a gentile was a foul creature and is why when you read the bible a lot of times the word gentile is used as a bad term.

God declared he was the one true God and not to have others, so the term pagan and heathen meant those who worshiped other gods and if you read the bible these terms are used in deroguratory ways, so Christans are just using the bible example of these words. To say to your child they are acting like a Heathen is very much and insult to the child.

Even in the letter to the Corinthians Paul was aware of the bad reputation of the Corinthian people. Ther term he is acting like a Corinthain was a bad thing to those who lived outside Corinth. The Corinthian Christians had much bad reputations to overcome.

I do not take it personally when Christians use these terms as if they were bad, because they do not know any better.*

Answer 3

As with many words in the English language...it has many meanings depending on the context you use:

Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile woman," (translating the Greek in Mark 7:26). This translation probably influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of its similarity to the Greek ethne, "gentile". It has even been suggested that Gothic haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.

Maybe you should expand your understanding of the word as well.

Answer 4

Because anything other than Christian is evil to them.

I love it when I (a Wiccan) get called "pagan" as if it were an insult. It's a real shame that Christians don't at least make an effort to learn about other faiths. Perhaps their god has told them that to even attempt to expand their thinking is a "sin." What a convenient way to justify intellectual laziness.

Answer 5

Lovely.

Answer 6

The europian christians called the native americans, heathens, though they were much more civilized than the christian whitey.