I'm not sure where the story got started that Xmas was taking Christ out of Christmas in an effort to make the holiday acceptable to non-believers or to cater to a more secular society, but that is not the case. It may have been a simple case of a child asking a parent, "Daddy, what's Xmas? Are they taking Christ out of Christmas?" An unknowing parent might respond, "Yes, it appears that they have taken Christ out of Christmas." In any case, the popular misconception of the "X" being a deletion of Christ is false. The "X" is a representation of Christ. It is not the letter ex (X) from the Roman alphabet. It is the letter chi (X) from the Greek alphabet and has often been used to represent Christ (Χριστός-Christos).
Remember the ichthus, the fish symbol for Chritianity? IXOYE Iota, Chi, Theta, Upsilon, Sigma. The acronym Iesous Christos, Theo Uios, Soter--Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior. Here, too, the "X" is for Christ.
The chi rho is a symbol using the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ, chi (X) and rho (P), and is recognized as a Christian symbol representing Christ.
As an abreviation, Xmas should be spoken as Christmas, not ex-mas. If you read Mr. Wilson, you would not say em ar Wilson. You would say mister Wilson. Perhaps it is time for us to embrace and explain the true meaning of Xmas.
To all of my readers, Xians and non-Xians alike, I truly wish you and yours a Merry Xmas season.
John
4 comments:
"I know what you're thinking. How could John use Xmas instead of Christmas?"
I wasn't thinking that at all; I was aware of the Christian roots of the phrase.
I've even read the entire New Testament.
We heathens know more than you think. :)
the vanishing blog
"We heathens know more than you think." :)
That is often the case. Kind of a sad commentary on Christians. Faith is one thing, blind faith can be dangerous.
Allow me to make a small grammatical correction on your comments on "Ichthus." The "theta" is for "Theos" nominative, but here it is "Theou," genetive of possession. It combines with "Huios" (it is aspirated, so it begins with "h") to form "God's Son." Also, some commentators say the "Chi-Rho" has an "iota" so this abbreviation forms the first three letters of XPIstos.
Hey John... "Kind of a sad commentary on Christians"... amazing how some non-Christians think they can just casually lump all Christians together... Funny... And notice i said "some non-Christians"... how stupid would i be to think i could make a statement about ALL non-Christians?... talkin 'bout a "sad commentary"?... can u dig it?
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