Is using "X-mas" as a shorthand for "Christmas" taking
Christ out the holiday? Many people have answered yes to this question and are quite worried.
In fact, I discovered a Facebook page entirely devoted to this very concern: Its
CHRISTmas.. Not Xmas... Why would u take Christ out of His holiday!?!?!
Now, I
am in no place to speak to anyone’s intentions. It is possible that we have
people running around and randomly replacing "Christ" with the letter "X," though
this seems like a strange and somewhat underused letter in the English alphabet
to select. Nevertheless, though such dastardly motives are possible, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for
this common designation dating back to the middle ages. "X" is actually a shorthand
for Christ. Let me explain: the Greek letter Chi looks very much like our English letter X. And, the Greek word
for Christ is Χριστός. Notice
that the first letter in this word is a Chi. It looks like an X, does
it not? Mystery solved, Merry X-mas.
Are you still not convinced? Very well, below I have provided a copy of a letter originally penned in 1804 by the English Baptist theologian Andrew Fuller. Notice how he spells Christmas:
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