Christmas VS Xmas

I was researching about Xmas to understand why secularist may use the word. Was it solely to mark out the word Christ? It actually seems like they are ignorantly using X in exchange for Christ but in history and the Greek language X is the first letter used in Christ.

What do you think? Should we inform them they are still celebrating Christmas?


Where did Xmas come from?
But, the history of the word Xmas is actually more respectable—and fascinating—than you might suspect. First of all, the abbreviation predates (by centuries) its use in gaudy advertisements. It was first used in the mid-1500s. X represents the Greek letter chi, the initial letter in the word Χριστός (Chrīstos). And what does Χριστός mean? “(Jesus) Christ.” X has been an acceptable representation of the word Christ for hundreds of years. (And why would people need to abbreviate Christ? Well, the word is very widely written.)

Other abbreviations for Christ include Xt and Xp, the P here representing the Greek letter rho, source of our letter R. A stylized version of the Greek chi (X) and rho (P) is ☧, a symbol of Christ called a Christogram.

In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word Christian.

Where does the –mas in Christmas come from?
The –mas in Xmas comes from the Old English word for mass, as in a church service, especially one in the Roman Catholic Church including a celebration of the Eucharist. That word, mæsse, is believed to have been derived from Church Latin missa, ultimately from Latin mittere which means “to send (away).” It was perhaps derived from the concluding formula in the Latin mass, Ite, missa est, meaning “Go, it is the dismissal!” That is, the service is over.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/xmas-christogram/

I've always considered it an acceptable way to write Xmas with no intention of it to mean I'm "x-ing" Christ out, rather just another way of writing it. And Also, having more recently learned that the first letter in the Hebrew alefbet is written with "X" , and its recognition as a signature of Gd, no one can make me feel 'guilty' for using it.

I find when people write xmas it makes me think of eczema when saying it.
Also people never write xian for Christian so I just find it offputting spelling wise. I will write thx instead of thanks (because of the way it sounds) but tend to write ta instead. Though some x words are pronounced like a z eg Xerox and Xena. So its very confusing.

Useful for playing scrabble though.

It is pagan yule no matter how it is written. Don't go with the ways of the heathen, be separate. Jeremiah 10, "christmas trees" are nothing new.

I love getting an X in Scrabble. 8 Points. Easy to get rid of. I look for the triple letter scores and try to go both ways. Strange enough, there is no X in eczema.

Merry Xmas.

You mean we took something that was meant to glorify satan, and turned it into something that glorifies God?

I'm for anything that cheats satan out of his false glory!

That is a common phrase thrown around in Christianity but totally unbiblical. We aren't called to take paganism and rebrand it as something Christian. That is where we went wrong, seeker sensitive follows this same ideology.

We are told to be separate, not be like the heathens and not conform to their ways.

I find it amazing that we have in the Bible 7 feasts and Christians would never ever celebrate those biblical feasts, lest they be "under the law" but they don't find it problematic to celebrate Christmas, Halloween, Easter, no problem.

though if you spell it Christmas, you may get more points cos the C is worth 3 and the H is worth 4 plus all the other letters worth 1 each, though having the word in your rack would be rare because it is over seven letters, unless someone spells CHRIST first and you just add MAS to it.

CHRISTMAS would be a hard word to fit in Scrabble because it is like you have said, each rack only holds 7 letters. Yeah, you could add MAS and spell CHRISTMAS but then you would not get a 7 letter word bonus. HOWEVER (7 letters), you could add CHRISTM (7 letters) to an existing AS.

Well, now I have a new way of writing Christian. But it should be Xian, right?

There is no need to make an issue out of this since it is of significance only to believers. But the whole world celebrates Xmas.

An X looks like a cross, criss-crossed lines (again the word cross).

As the OP stated, Christ is this in Greek NT manuscripts:

Χριστός

The letters are Chi, Rho, Iota, Sigma, Tau, Omicron, Sigma.

Also, they are these numbers of Greek alphabet:

Chi 22, Rho 17, Iota 9, Sigma 18, Tau 19, Omicron 15, Sigma 18.

Sigma (σ, ς):There are two forms for the letter Sigma. When written at the end of a word, it is written like this: ς. If it occurs anywhere else, it is written like this: σ.

Christ is the first letter of the first 5 words:

Chi, Rho, Iota, Sigma, Tau

The question goes much deeper than how we write the word Christmas. It is a question of whether Christ looks at our actions or our motives. Some people use the X without thinking of exing out Christ.

We also need to ask ourselves if we can ex out Christ in this word with no awareness at some level that it has meaning in the kingdom of heaven. To do this we would need to be so focused on the world's rules we are blind to the spirit of Christ.

You haven't paid attention to the thread. The X is Christ. It isn't removing Christ.

Anything the world edits with an X means it exes that word out, it is not a symbol of Christ. Even when we are not a part of the world, we live in the world.

In English but not in Greek.

It is a symbol of Christ and has been for centuries.

Christ written in Greek:


Χριστός

Jesus X

But then who was Malcom X?

Incidentally, the Greek word for merry is εὐφραίνω (euphrainō).
But I don't write my Christmas greetings in Greek, so I don't need a Greek X for Christmas.

I'd rather distance myself from the Chi Xi Sigma χ ξ ς (Mark of The Beast) of Revelation 13.

I don't think that he was an Xian.