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Haha, the heathen comment is a word that can get tossed around amongst Christians as a joke. I've heard it a few times, and have used it some. But I never use it in a serious manner, and would not call a unbeliever/non-Christian (typically) a heathen due to it in general being seen as a insulting word. For that reason, I don't use it because it can be taken in a insulting way by others.
On topic of the thread though, I am someone who knew the history typically of Christmas and that it wasn't specifically the birth of Christ. I am pretty much for keeping Christ in Christmas, as it is Christmas. If you're another religion then you're welcome to call the season by what you wish, be it Hannukkah or whatever. I personally see Christmas, as that is what it is called.
From what I recall (I'd have to look it up again to be sure, so take this with a grain of salt), the term "heathen" was used to describe people who didn't convert to Christianity. The religion spread through Europe first through cities. Then as now, people in the more rural areas tended to be more conservative, and thus more resistant to change and conversion -- they held strongly to their traditional beliefs, which happened to be non-Christian.
"Heathen" comes from "heath" and "heather" -- plants that abounded in the non- or less-forested wilder areas of Europe, especially in the British Isles. Many of the people who were resistant to converting to Christianity lived out in the "heath lands" and were referred to as "heathens" in a sort of "country-folk" kind of way. When much of the "city-folk" population had converted to Christianity, the term "heathen" was also applied to those "country-folk" who weren't moving with the times, which, back then, meant converting to Christianity.
Haha, the heathen comment is a word that can get tossed around amongst Christians as a joke. I've heard it a few times, and have used it some. But I never use it in a serious manner, and would not call a unbeliever/non-Christian (typically) a heathen due to it in general being seen as a insulting word. For that reason, I don't use it because it can be taken in a insulting way by others.
On topic of the thread though, I am someone who knew the history typically of Christmas and that it wasn't specifically the birth of Christ. I am pretty much for keeping Christ in Christmas, as it is Christmas. If you're another religion then you're welcome to call the season by what you wish, be it Hannukkah or whatever. I personally see Christmas, as that is what it is called.
From what I recall (I'd have to look it up again to be sure, so take this with a grain of salt), the term "heathen" was used to describe people who didn't convert to Christianity. The religion spread through Europe first through cities. Then as now, people in the more rural areas tended to be more conservative, and thus more resistant to change and conversion -- they held strongly to their traditional beliefs, which happened to be non-Christian.
"Heathen" comes from "heath" and "heather" -- plants that abounded in the non- or less-forested wilder areas of Europe, especially in the British Isles. Many of the people who were resistant to converting to Christianity lived out in the "heath lands" and were referred to as "heathens" in a sort of "country-folk" kind of way. When much of the "city-folk" population had converted to Christianity, the term "heathen" was also applied to those "country-folk" who weren't moving with the times, which, back then, meant converting to Christianity.
