Who Are The Xians? What Is Xmas?

It's all about context and the meaning behind the usage of the word.My mom has "pet names" for each of her sons; do you really think we didn't take those same names and use them to make fun of each other? Do you think the effect of my mom calling her sons by these names and the brothers calling each other by these names was different?You seem to think it's the content of the word that really matters, when really... the context usually makes the referent clear. You could pretty much use any word to refer to someone, Bongo. The word really turns into a marker of attitude.Kobe Bryant gave himself the nickname "Mamba". Bill Simmons, a sports writer for ESPN.com, thought it was so ridiculous, he now will ONLY call Kobe Bryant by the name Mamba. Simmons uses Mamba in many ways, such as "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Mamba" or the sort. Do you think Kobe would really appreciate Simmon's use of "Mamba", even when Simmons uses it to refer to Kobe Bryant?This is just insane. Y'all talk about words and meaning like they're things you look up in a dictionary. THEY'RE NOT. They're social constructs. A dictionary is a sometimes useful tool for learning about what social constructs have existed and may exist. They don't reperesent how language is used or from where meaning derives.Right, Bongo?

Yes, they are social constructs.But, the people I know that use the term Xtian and Xmas the most are Christians, They use Xtian to refer to themselves. Just because some evangalistic Christians suddenly deciede it is demeaning doesn't mean that the Christians that use those terms mean to be demeaning to themselves.

Exactly, Bun. That's why the word itself is irrelevant.If Christians were called "Bians" or "Mians", would buzsaw be so upset? I doubt it. It's his own projection of an English "x" and its connotations that he objects to. He thinks the "x" means "delete" regardless of what the intention was.If he's going to get upset by what he thinks somebody is saying, he can get upset at anything. We might just as well call him a @#$% because he's going to think we're calling him that anyway.

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You need to go back and reread me, my friend. Nowhere did I say that it has to mean 'delete' regardless of intent. I said it can represent anything, including the Greek chi but does not necessarily mean any specific thing. It is an English X and can mean anything that either the user or the reader perceives it to mean. I fully agree with Ben. It does not necessarily have to represent the ancient Greek Chi.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

That's interesting, given that in my extensive weekly involvement in scores of churches for 60 years I've never heard or read where any of the literally thousands of Christians I've been around referring to themselves or other Christians by those terms until I got my PC and here it is rarely used by practicing devouts, being used mostly by folks unsupportive of Christianity.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

You still don't seem to understand. It doesn't represent the greek letter "chi" in "Xian", it is the greek letter "chi" in "Xian." It's specifically not the letter "ecks", and it's certainly not the letter "ecks" standing in for the letter "chi."It's the greek letter pronounced as "chi." Not an "ecks" standing in for "chi."

Ok Crashfrog, please specify where in this thread it has been proven that the X in Xian and Xianity has to be the Greek letter 'chi.'

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Thanks Faith. My counterparts in this thread should note that not all here agree that buz is simply being a crank here. They should be put on notice that a siginificant number of the folks out there do regard it's usage unfavorably as demeaning to Christ and Christianity, regardless of whether it may have been used remotely in eons past in some fashion or another.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Speak for yourself, Arach, me friend.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

So answer this question Buz...why don't you simply educate those who don't know the origin of the X?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Seriously, I was not using it as a negative. Try J word denotes/represents Japanese; n word denotes/represents blacks; and as denoting/representing Christ. Savvy?

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Why should I promote what I and multitudes of other Christians regard as a negative, regardless of how it is or ever was used. Just call Jesus the Christ, spelling it out fully and followers of Jesus the Christ Christians, spelling it out fully just as Jesus and his apostles, the originators of Christianity did in the holy text of the religion as other religions do and expect of others referring to them?

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Because, not doing so is simply yet another example of Willfull Ignorance and also promoting Willfull Ignorance.It really is as simple as that.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Thanks to all, regardless of your position. We all learned something in this thread. Take care.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Buz, you really can't be that ignorant. Jesus never spelled out Christian. And the Jews intentionally never spelled out Gd's name.It's the history of your religion. Do you really think that it is right to intentionally keep Christians in ignorance of their own heritage just because a few Christians are ignorant of the origin and usage of the term?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion