I know Christians usually don’t like the use of Xmas. They feel like Jesus is being x’d out of the holiday.
For the record, the use of Xmas was an attempt to abbreviate Christmas that I find interesting.
X represents the Greek letter chi; it’s the first letter in Christ. Jesus isn’t being x’d out of Christmas with Xmas, he’s being chi’d in!
You’ve probably seen that Greek letter chi on bumper stickers. It’s normally inside a fish symbol, and it looks like this:
ΙΧΘΥΣ
Iota, chi, theta, upsilon, sigma: It spells ichthus, which is the Greek word for fish. It stands for Iesous, Christos, Theou, Uios, Soter—Jesus, Christ, of God, Son, Savior.
When you see it, it’s not pronounced iks-oh-yay; it’s pronounced ik´-thoos, soft th, long oo.
And if you don’t mind the Χ in ΙΧΘΥΣ, then you don’t have to mind it in Χmas, either!
There are a lot of opinions and rumors about Constantine, the Council of Nicea, and the events of the fourth century that changed Christianity to Christendom. Not only will you get the incredible story, with all its twists, plots, and intrigues, but you will find out how history is done and never wonder what is true again.
Xciting news. Xcept, xtremely religious, self-righteous folks always feel threatened by changes in their cages. How would one go about threatening a tribal war god? If that's even possible. Is it possible? Do people really believe that the Ark of the Covenant can be harmed by puny humans? Who can defy the God of the tribes of Israel? Who can defy and oppose the God who raises the dead?