A question for anyone...

Is the word "heathen" offensive to you as a Christian?

It's used in the Bible over 140 times, and Jesus personally used the term twice in the NT. Heathen is defined in the looser sense as: an unconverted member of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible.

Some guy on another board reported me to the moderators for disrespecting him by calling him (purely innocently) a heathen.

I was told to use the more politically correct term: unbeliever.

If Jesus would have called the Canaanite woman a dog in America today, I wonder how people would react? What if Jesus were to use the term heathen? What if Paul were to use the term sodomite?

How politically correct do you have to get with the Gospel before it isn't the Gospel anymore?

tpique,

When in doubt consult the Word. It has a lot to say about the words we use with each other. The question may not be one of semantics but of grace, wisdom, gentleness, and love, in which even if my words were those of angels if there is no love then my point just loses effectiveness like a tinkling bell.

Here is the authority of the Word. Hope it helps.

Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Eph.4:29

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt 12:36

Let your speech [be] alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.Col. 4:6

I agree 100% , but where does one draw the line? Political correctness has invaded the body of Christ along with everything else! We use the term "gay" for example, whereas the term "sodomite" seems more fitting. The word gay used to signify happiness, I can think there was little happiness enjoyed by the residents of Sodom And Gommorah as the angel of the LORD rained down hot sulphar upom them !!!

paul said it best when he said..."speak the truth in love"
when it's not spoken with love it is no longer the truth...and loses it's effectiveness.
the changing culture to a lessr degree could be taken in consideration....what i mean is the word may have a different application today then it did when it was first written in scripture.
example...the bible say's in the parable of the seed & the Sower that "by and by" offences came then in another Gospel the same passage say's "immediatly" we wouldn't use the word by and by today to say immediatley only because it would not mean the same as we intended to the unbeliever...thus it would not be effective even though it holds true to scripture.
when witnessing the gospel we don't say words like thou...thee ..etc..etc..
speak the truth "in love"

tpique1 wrote:
Some guy on another board reported me to the moderators for disrespecting him by calling him (purely innocently) a heathen.

I was told to use the more politically correct term: unbeliever.

Having said that, no point complaining if you get the persecution that you invite;-).

If Jesus would have called the Canaanite woman a dog in America today, I wonder how people would react? What if Jesus were to use the term heathen? What if Paul were to use the term sodomite?

Funny you say this, John Legg often refers to homosexuals as "sodomites" during street evangelism, and when someone askes him to tell them what one is, he says (and I hope this doesn't offend), "Someone who either gives or receives anal sex." It's amazing how heterosexual men who say "to each his own" when they hear about homosexuality, cringe when they hear a "spade be called a spade", rather than someone beat around the bush.

But again, "...a time for every purpose under heaven."

very well put.....wish i could've said it like that
God bless

The word "heathen" itself doesn't offend me, but if I were to be called a heathen I think my pride would honestly be initially offended, but in my bed that night it would provide opportunity to really introspect and reflect on my actions, as to whether or not I was truly being the abassador I believe myself to be.

I often say that the worst thing for a believer to ever hear from someone else is, "Oh, you're a Christian? I didn't know that." In my eyes, being called a heathen would be a more direct way of saying the same.

when talks are more public, you will get more people offended.

Jesus also had to speak in parables, not all things are given out in the open.

and sometimes we just have to take the rebuke with a grain of salt (whatever that means ...)

thanks a bunch!! everyone for responding. Like I said it was purely innocent AT FIRST, based on a conversation we were having about homosexual rights. (It wasn't on Sermonindex by the way...alright it was on Hannity.com. I couldn't help it! There was an opportunity to witness, so I did, anyway...)

How it came up is the "offended" was condemning another poster of not being able to "prove" the Bible was true and that, and here's the clincher, the BURDEN OF PROOF WAS ON THE BIBLE BELIEVER TO PROVE THE VALIDITY OF THE BIBLE!!

WHAT???

I then told the guy being attacked, "Freethinker, Don't let him pull this on you. It's called the "burden of proof" argument. It says that because you are a believer the burden of proof is on you to prove the Bible. It's a cop-out answer that you'll often get from heathen trying to win an argument."

I didn't even DIRECTLY call the guy a heathen, I used it in a general sense of a person's philosophy.

The next 80 posts!! were spent trying to put out this little fire and diverted the ENTIRE discussion to the word heathen!

I was shocked!

The guy was obviously liberally slanted or something, and the Mods just said to use the less offensive word: unbeliever?

I then asked the Mod, well what about the word hell? Can I use that? If someone rejected Christ they would perish, is that excluded from my useage too?

I then gave the Leonard Ravenhill quote:
“If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.”

I agree 110% with many of you about the truth in love, and it's probably better just to change the word, but Jesus didn't exactly cower from language just because it would offend people. Otherwise, like Ravenhill said, He never would have been crucified!

I DO believe the more important matter of course is the salvation or the witness of the Truth, but political correctness is going to be a huge determiner in whether we even say Jesus is the ONLY way! How do you speak the truth in love to get around that one?

I dare not ask!