Keeping Christ in Christmas

[SHANK]

I, for one, never fell for the "X-Mas" vs "Christmas" trend. It's becoming more and more prevalent I'm afraid and I, personally, hate to see it. My first impression is that the person is anti-Christ. Why else would somebody take Christ's name out of His own birthday and substitue it with an "X"?
A greater insult to God, I can hardly imagine.

Now, I know that's not necessarily true.

My wife has some boxes of holiday decorations in the garage and I noticed that they were marked "X-mas decorations". Knowing that she's a believer, I questioned her on it. She said she merely did it as a time saver. I told her my interpretation and she suddenly looked at it in a different light and felt ashamed.

My intent wasn't to shame or embarrass her, only to quiz her on the contrast of being a Christian and at the same time substituting Christ's name with an "X".

It got me to thinking. How many people are inadvertently insulting God by omitting his Son's name from his birthday for the sake of convenience vs the ones who are actually against Christ? How can you tell the difference?

[spiritofthewild_06]

Your post got me thinking so I did a little research on it and this is what I came up with:
The word "Christmas" is a contraction of two words "Christ's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ) mass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28liturgy%29)" and is derived from the Middle English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English) Christemasse and Old English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language) Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. In early Greek versions of the New Testament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament), the letter Χ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_%28letter%29) (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός). Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet) letter X (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X), was used as an abbreviation for Christ. Thus, Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas

So really its not excluding Christ name, but rather abbreviating it.

[twohats]

Yep, There would be no Christmass with out CHRIST. Without CHRIST it would be just another day. That x-mass thing realy bothers me to.

[Thunderhead]

I agree 1000% Shank. To tell you the truth, I really have no use for society/most people anymore. Been that way for along time.

The old ways have been forgotten, .....substituted with the quick, easy,way. Times savers they calll it.

I call it lazy and uncaring. This applies to alot of things.

[SHANK]

Thanks Spiritofthewild06. Learned something new today.

I'd still like to see the "X" go away and suspect most people who use it are doing it out of disrepect, convenience or ignorance and not based on ancient alphabets or historic references.

Imagine your anger and the feeling of disrespect if someone refused to use your son's/daughter's/wife's name and instead, replaced it with an "X"? I know what I'd be feeling.

Let's make it a mission to enlighten, in a helpful way, those folks who may not realize the gravity of their choice.

[fdunford]

I saw a 'Keep Christ In Christmas" yard sign last week. I'd love to know where I could get one for myself.

Also, I love to show the absurdity of people using "X-Mas" by using my own term "Christ-X" (feel free to use it if you like it).

Keep the faith...

[boehr]

Your post got me thinking so I did a little research on it and this is what I came up with:
The word "Christmas" is a contraction of two words "Christ's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ) mass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_%28liturgy%29)" and is derived from the Middle English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English) Christemasse and Old English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_language) Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. In early Greek versions of the New Testament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament), the letter Χ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_%28letter%29) (chi), is the first letter of Christ (Χριστός). Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet) letter X (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X), was used as an abbreviation for Christ. Thus, Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas

So really its not excluding Christ name, but rather abbreviating it.
It use to bother me a little too but as spirt posted....I watched a TV program, I believe it was the History Channel, a few years back and it stated basically the same as spirt's post although of course it was a lot longer and more detailed. It made me feel much better about Christmas verses Xmas and I don't mind it anymore. In reality, kind of, we didn't replace "X" for Christ, we replace Christ for "X".

As far as the commerical part of Christmas, that bothers me and always has, the most. I refuse to place anything for a tree topper other than an angel or star and I always must have a nativity scene with the Christmas tree.

[flyfishinchristian]

As far as the commerical part of Christmas, that bothers me and always has, the most. I refuse to place anything for a tree topper other than an angel or star and I always must have a nativity scene with the Christmas tree.

I definitely agree with you here. I choose not to use "X" as a abbreviation for Christ, and sometimes in emails and so forth I type Christmas like CHRISTmas just for emphasis.

However, I think it is even more important to ensure people see Christ during the Christmas season by putting up nativity scenes in your yard and house, possibly hanging signs and lights stating "Jesus is the Reason for the Season," and so on. Also, I always try to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays."

I was also impressed that WNIC has even been playing songs like "Mary Did You Know" along with the non-stop barrage of various versions of "Sleigh Ride" and "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree."

[DaveW731]

It got me to thinking. How many people are inadvertently insulting God by omitting his Son's name from his birthday for the sake of convenience vs the ones who are actually against Christ? How can you tell the difference?

Honestly, I am not sure how insulted God feels about this. Without knowing the heart of the person using the "X", I am not sure if it is possible to answer the question, or if it would be my role to even make that judgement if I could answer it. Nor am I sure how profitable it is to attempt to determine someone else's heart. Might it be better to use this as an opportunity to discuss with an "X-user" how they view Christmas? If it IS a situation of either animosity towards Christ or of a general lack of awareness of the meaning of the holiday, there may be an opportunity to share with them your own experience of God working in your life and your desire for them to experience the same blessings that you have had......

[xdetroitx]

If you really want to get technical, Christmas was originally a pagen holiday. Constantine in 323 B.C. made a christian holiday out of it and put Christ in it. Originally it was a form of baal worship dating back to babylon and egypt. Most scholars put the birth of Christ in either September or October. Research a bit and you would be amazed at where all our holidays come from. It was never celebrated or mentioned by any of the early church fathers. In short it was a celebration of the birth of the new sun. The sun is at it's farthest point from the earth on Dec.22 and starts it's return on the 25th therefore they celebrated the birth of the new sun. Constantine "converted" to christianity in order to keep his throne since there was a large christian base in Rome that was becoming unhappy. But, once he "converted" and made christianity the new religion of Rome (roman catholic church origin) he was afraid the pagens would revolt. So he said they would still celebrate the pagen holidays, he would just give them christian themes.

[Shupac]

At the risk of taking this thread toward the direction of religious debate...

I don't understand why some Christians are insistent on associating the secular holiday folderdol that goes on...the shopping (especially the overspending), the forced cheeriness of office parties, the extravagant decorations...with the birth of Christ. Certainly gifts, dinners, etc. (at least some of them) are part of my Christmas celebration, but I don't think that most people do those things to celebrate the Incarnation. If someone isn't a believing Christian, I don't see the point in demanding that they say "Merry Christmas." Since most major retailers aren't Christian institutions, there's no particular reason their promotions ought to refer to Christmas. If they do to appeal to Christians, that's a concern driven by the profit motive, not the holy spirit. I don't see anything especially admirable in it.

Just my .02. A blessed Advent to everyone.

[Shupac]

Honestly, I am not sure how insulted God feels about this. Without knowing the heart of the person using the "X", I am not sure if it is possible to answer the question, or if it would be my role to even make that judgement if I could answer it. Nor am I sure how profitable it is to attempt to determine someone else's heart. Might it be better to use this as an opportunity to discuss with an "X-user" how they view Christmas? If it IS a situation of either animosity towards Christ or of a general lack of awareness of the meaning of the holiday, there may be an opportunity to share with them your own experience of God working in your life and your desire for them to experience the same blessings that you have had......

Amen.

[Backwoods-Savage]

Regardless of how others look at or "celebrate" Christmas, I know how both my wife and I feel about Christmas and that is what counts most. Let the fools get all stressed out and we'll quietly celebrate the birth of Christ.

[Ranger Ray]

If you really want to get technical, Christmas was originally a pagen holiday. Constantine in 323 B.C. made a christian holiday out of it and put Christ in it. Originally it was a form of baal worship dating back to babylon and egypt. Most scholars put the birth of Christ in either September or October. Research a bit and you would be amazed at where all our holidays come from. It was never celebrated or mentioned by any of the early church fathers. In short it was a celebration of the birth of the new sun. The sun is at it's farthest point from the earth on Dec.22 and starts it's return on the 25th therefore they celebrated the birth of the new sun. Constantine "converted" to christianity in order to keep his throne since there was a large christian base in Rome that was becoming unhappy. But, once he "converted" and made christianity the new religion of Rome (roman catholic church origin) he was afraid the pagens would revolt. So he said they would still celebrate the pagen holidays, he would just give them christian themes.
Correct you are.

[Ferg]

And debate it we shant -

Merry Christmas to all -

ferg....