Since it's the Holiday Season, and more importantly for Christians, the Christmas Season, I don't mean to be gripey, especially now, in what is supposed to be one of the most Joyous times of the year, but...I'm draggggging out the old soapbox already. (tsk tsk tsk, Pegody) This is not a lecture for You...bear with me; it's an idea. Although the shopping madness and mayhem has begun, which has not much to do with Him, but at least in the past, has been called the Christmas Season. (I'm guilty, too, of over-shopping, if it be guilt that's wanted.) It just seems that lately, so much has been done to take Him out of His own Birthday Celebration time of year. Even tho some may dispute that Jesus wasn't born this time of year, to me it dosn't matter. Just the fact that we celebrate it anytime at all is what counts.
What has always puzzled me, tho, has been this business of replacing the name of our Lord with the letter "X". I've even heard sermons saying we shouldnt' be alarmed, because the "X" stands for the Cross. Somehow it still never sat right with me. If it represents the Cross, then why is it sitting on it's side? It just seems so disrespectful to mistreat the name of the Lord that way. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but this year, I think I'm going to ask...whomever...if instead of an "X", if they feel the word is too long for their signs or patience in length of time to write the word, "Christ", please replace the letter "X" with a "t". Just turn the "X" upright, trim off a couple of the sides a little, and voila: 
I think I could live with this.
I think I could live with this. ( Parisian Font)
In ancient Christian art χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name.[3] In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos, as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists arrived in North America and 60 years before the King James Version of the Bible was completed. At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of "Christian" and "Christianity"; and nowadays still are sometimes so used, but much less than "Xmas". The proper names containing the name "Christ" other than aforementioned are rarely abbreviated in this way (e.g. Hayden Xensen for the actor name "Hayden Christensen"). This apparent usage of "X" to spell the syllable "kris" (rather than the sounds "ks") has extended to "xtal" for "crystal", and on florists' signs "xant" for "chrysanthemum"[4] (though these words are not etymologically related to "Christ"; "crystal" comes from a Greek word meaning "ice", and "chrysanthemum" from Greek words meaning "golden flower", while "Christ" comes from a Greek word meaning "anointed"
ReplyDeleteDear anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the extremely informative comment. We really appreciate it and it makes us feel a little better about the whole "X"ing deal. However; we still feel strongly that it is too often used, in today's society, purely for convenience and doesn't show the proper respect for our Lord and Savior for Who's Birthday we celebrate this Season.
Again, we greatly appreciate your eloquent comment and are honored that you took the time to shed light on the issue for us. Merry CHRISTMAS!!