by BHW
It has been suggested that Xmas is a lazy abbreviation that leaves Christ out of Christmas, and emphasises the commercial, even pagan, side of the festival. But think again. Xmas was first used as an abbreviation as long ago as the 16th century, so the OED tells us. The X was not a way of crossing Christ out of Christmas, but was actually the Greek letter Chi, written like an X, and is the first letter of the word Christ in Greek, transliterated as Ch in English, often used on its own to denote Him since ancient times.
If we want to see Christ eliminated from Christmas, I hear that in one country there is a push to ban the public use of the word Christmas altogether. You are supposed to say "happy holidays". That will catch on, for sure.
Christ (and messiah in the OT) means the 'anointed one', the one chosen to come to Earth to be Man with us, and God for us. You cannot take him out of Christmas - it just can't be done!
Happy Christmas everyone.
Comentários