When I was growing up, I heard many people saying that shortening “Christmas” to “Xmas” was wrong because it took the Christ out of Christmas. Of course, I never ever referred to it as “Xmas” after that.
Now that I am older and and have taken Koine Greek for two years, I am able to say with satisfaction that Xmas does not take the Christ out of Christmas
In Greek the symbal for the “ch” sound is “chi,” which happens to look like an “x.” The Greek word for Christ is “Xristos,” which sounds like “Christos.” So technically the shortened “Xmas” does not take the Christ out of Christmas.
I read that a couple years ago. It’s really interesting how as much as people try to take Christ out of things, they end up failing miserably a lot.
I still don’t think we should necessarily use it a lot, though, because there are a lot of people that still think it is wrong. The Bible warns us not to be a stumbling block to others (Romans 14:13) and some people could get upset over something like that. So I don’t say it, not because it’s wrong, but because most people don’t know that it’s not.
I guess it comes down to an issue of Christian liberty
I agree wholeheartedly, Caleb. The funny thing is that I would probably never even consider saying it because it doesn’t shorten the word a bit. On the other hand, I have been tempted to write it, but I never do because I don’t want to offend anyone.
I think you hit the nail square on the head about it being a Christian liberty issue. Thanks for sharing your view.