Posted on 12/03/2004 7:54:47 AM PST by rpellegrini
Who invented "X"mas? Why not C'mas, instead? My guess is that it was some twisted lefty from the heyday of communism in America. Someone who thought it important to X out Christ, not simply abbreviate.
Amen Brother.
If "x" can mean "all the rest," is that why the main airport in Los Angeles is called LAX: Los Angeles and the rest of the cities in L.A. county?
Actually, the Greek letter Rho looks like the English letter P, not R.
I run Windows XP (Christ Professional)
Microsoft products are given codenames during development. The current trend is to name them after mountains (the next version of Windows is Longhorn, while the codename for Windows XP was Whistler) but once upon a time they were codenamed after cities, so Windows 95 was Chicago. The Windows NT codebase, which was integrated into Windows XP, was codenamed Cairo... which is where the name Windows XP comes from. XP, Chi-Rho, Cairo. Get it?
According to whom? Not me, not that my thought counts for anything. As far as I am concerned it absolutely removes Christ from Christmas.
Just because everyone knows what xmas stands for, doesn't make it right or apporpriate. Like people pronouncing often (the t is silent) as of-TIN in a vain attempt to sound more intelligent.
Xians!
I don't use it, either, but I don't believe those who do have bad intentions.
The few early airports before WWII had two letter abbreviations. When they went to three letter abbreviations LA added the X just because whoever did it evidently liked the sound. If it had some deeper meaning he never bothered to let anyone know.
It can be if you want it to be.
On the other hand, any day you want to choose to celebrate the birth of our savior is a good day to do so. Pray to God in thanks for the gift of our salvation, and celebrate. Glorify Christ and make a joyful noise.
If you do it on the same day as other belivers, so much the better. The date isn't important, what is in your heart and your purpose is important.
And yes, the son of God was probably not born on December 25th, but so what?
"Santa Claus" day is a pagan holiday, so don't celebrate it if you don't want.
But words — much as I don't love the fact in some cases (i.e. "impact," used as a verb; ick) — do evolve. Atheists say "goodbye," a contraction of "God be with you," and mean nothing of the etymological sense. Christians say "Thursday," meaning no reverence to the false god Thor. And on and on.
In this case, would you really argue that I am incorrect? That more than 1 in 1000 who use "Xmas" really mean it is a reverent nod to the Greek term Christos? And that the simultaneous yearly swelling of Christless Christmas traditions, and prohibitions of the mention of His name (or even the bare saying of the word "Christmas") is unrelated?
Here's the definition from the English - Ancient Greek Dictionary. Christ = Xristos -
The greek letters would not translate in the HTML posting environment. However it is Chr - Ro - Sigma - Tau - Omega - Sigma to wit Kristos (with an X!)
Actually, not till the reign of Theodosius the Great, who died in 395.
I'll take that bait.
No flaw in the logic itself. It does, however, bear NO connection to the question at hand, in other words, the proverbial red herrring, something thrown out to make us think about something else, instead of the question in front of us.
What the X in Xmas means to the individuals who use it has not been the point of discussion. The discussion has been about the origins of its usage, and it would appear that Christians for quite a long time have used this shorthand.
We'll note that you don't approve, though.
There is a bit of irony in your comments, already pointed out by another, of you using an abbreviation for Christ in your FR handle.
Not sure where Neptune came from.
The thing that looks like an "X" is not an "X." It is the Greek letter, Chi (equivalent to our "Ch"), the first letter in Christos, "Christ."
Go into most any historic, traditional Christian church (e.g., Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Greek or Russian Orthodox), and you will probably find that "X" on the altar or pulpit or somewhere. You'll find it in one of the most ancient and universal symbols of the Christian faith, namely, the Chi Rho, which looks like an overlaid "XP" but actually is an overlaid "CH-R," the first two letters in Christos:
BTW, the other half of "Xmas" usually is ignored, but it too has religious significance. It refers to the "Christ Mass," the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament celebrated on the Festival (i.e., the Feast, referring to the Lord's Supper) of the Nativity of Our Lord.
Finally, even the seemingly innocuous word, "holiday," is religious. "Holiday" = "Holy Day," a day set apart for special religious devotion.
The secularists just cannot do away with the pervasive religious heritage of Western Civilization. They remind me of the Communists trying to expunge every mention of unwanted names from their society.
get thee to a dictionary, hence.
The 't' in 'often' is indicated in the pronunciation key, along with the silent 't'. But sometimes people quote dictionaries in a vain attempt to sound more intelligent
Or "GI" — "G" for graphe (Greek for Scripture), and "I" for Iesous (Greek for Jesus.
It wasn't a good point. It was a silly, sophist dodge.
Dan
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