The symbol for Christ was fortuitously cross shaped? Why is nature intelligently designed, but religion fortunate accidents? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
The “X” is actually the Greek letter “chi” which is the first letter of Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos), i.e. Christ. Cite. For this reason, “chi” or “X” is often used to abbreviate the name Christ, which leads directly to Xmas.
Regarding your second question, there are numerous examples of how nature is NOT intelligently designed. See here for some examples specific to the human body.
I use “xmas” as a way of taking christ out of christmas. I celebrate the secular holiday, not the religious one.
Link to the Staff Report: Why is Christmas abbreviated Xmas?
Since X stands for Christ, that’s not what you’re doing—at least, that’s not what other people are doing when they abbreviate it as “Xmas,” but then they get accused of doing so by people who don’t know any better.
Too bad that “X” has 1000 years of tradition as being an abbreviation for Christ then.
Tell that to the people producing christ-christ-christ movies!
My son’s name is Christopher. When he was a kid I told him that since Christ had to be put back into Christmas, that he had been chosen to donate the first part of his name, and that he would henceforth be known as “Xtopher”. He wasn’t quite sure how to take that. It’s been a running joke for nearly 40 years now.
It’s been a running joke for 40 years and you haven’t noticed that to make sense it would be Xopher not Xtopher?
Buzzkill. Do you say krist-mas or kris-mas?
There have to be a lot of jokes about Christ has risen, and the Second Coming, etc…
Mildly related to X-walk and XING, which are pronounced cross-walk and crossing.
“ex-muss”
Merry Crossmas!
C. S. Lewis frequently writes “Xtian”, at least in his letters. People who were taught to write with dip pens abbreviated a lot.
The article I read said that the original “X” for Christ derived from scribes using the Chi-Rho(looks kind of like an X over an elongated P) as an abbreviation for Christ, and one dark ages one dropping the rho part, and just leaving the chi in an effort to abbreviate further and save writing.
Funny how Christ as a way of showing up even when one does not want him.
I’ll just add that the formulation “Xmas” itself has been found in documents as early as the mid-16th century. No cites immediately to hand beyond Wikipedia but I’ve read it elsewhere as well.
Christ as creepy stalker-how disturbing.
Joke’s on you. Xmas is a thoroughly Christian abbreviation, and you haven’t gotten rid of the mass.
Actually, I think the Protestant cry to “keep Christ in Christmas” is hilariously ironic, since they themselves took the “mass” out of it 500 years ago.