Merry Xmas! (along with a mini-rant)

Posted on December 25, 2008

Well, Christmas day is almost over and I hope everyone had a great day with their families and loved ones. I for one am Christmas partied out (still two more to go!). But I am very thankful for all my friends and family, and even more thankful for what Christmas represents: God sending his son to die for our sins. I don’t talk about my faith to much on this blog, but I do have to say that my relationship with Jesus has changed my life (even though I don’t deserve it), and I am so extremely thankful for that.

Now for my mini-rant. It really bugs me how people (read: Christians) get bent out of shape over the use of the abbreviation “Xmas” for Christmas. The common protest is “Xmas is crossing ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas!’” Or some other claim that the abbreviation “xmas” is just another way modern culture is trying to turn Christmas into a secular holiday. It’s simply not true. The truth is that the abbreviation “X” for Christ has been used for hundreds of years, and originated in church writings.

From Wikipedia:

In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.[8] Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.

Another well written article hits the nail on the head, IMHO.

This misunderstanding and fear mongering about the use of “Xmas” is not a new phenomenon. I heard the same kinds of comments in sermons many years ago. It was especially prevalent among those Christians and church leaders who wanted or needed to see the world in negative and threatening terms (see The Jonah Syndrome), or who tended to see everything in society as part of some grand conspiracy of Satan or the inexorable working out of God’s own predetermined plan, without really knowing all the facts or complexities of the situation (see Christians and Urban Legends).

I have no doubt that some people write “Xmas” because they are too busy or too lazy to write out the whole word. And no doubt some secular people, who are just as uninformed as Christians, see “Xmas” as a way to avoid writing “Christ.” And certainly there are secular and commercial motives in the fact that “XMAS” appears in ads and signs because it can be larger and more attention getting in the same amount of space (more bang for the buck). But those factors do not take away the thoroughly Christian origin of the word “Xmas.” In this instance, all of the hype and hysteria over supposedly taking Christ out of Christmas by writing “Xmas” instead of spelling out “Christmas” is both uninformed and misdirected.

I think there are some issues that we Christians should be concerned about, but this (among many others) is not one of them.

Merry Xmas! And always remember the reasoning for the seasoning!

The Lost Tomb of Jesus: A Series of Assumptions

Posted on March 13, 2007

There has been a lot of hype around the recently aired “Lost Tomb of Jesus” documentary, and many experts– including theologians, scientists, and archaeologists– have weighed in. It is actually quite humorous to me that the filmmakers have received as much heat, if not more, from the scientific community as they have from Christians. The general consensus validates my initial feelings within the first few minutes of watching the show: it was nothing but a series of assumptions. In other words, there was not sufficient science (or the science was conveniently ignored) to prove or disprove the hypothesis, and a great number of assumptions were made in favor of a predetermined conclusion. This is the exact opposite of how the scientific method works. In real science a researcher draws a hypothesis and then follows the science to any conclusion, regardless of personal belief or predisposition. Assumptions are avoided when possible, and made very conservatively only when absolutely necessary. Finally, any scientific conclusion, once drawn, must be subject  to peer-review and scrutiny. My prediction is that this film will now enter into a period of peer-review, in which it will promptly be torn to shreds. Indeed, as I said earlier, many members of the scientific, historical, and theological communities have already begun to voice their opinions, and the outcome doesn’t look good.

For more interesting reading, see another statistician’s analysis of the statistics used in the film, and Ben Witherington has several very good break-downs here, here, and here.

Letters From Leavers

Posted on February 21, 2007

A new site, www.lettersfromleavers.com, has emerged as a place for estranged pew-sitters to share their experiences with the church, and why they have left. I have read several of the letters on the site, and can say that most are extremely heartfelt, honest, and genuine. It is not a church-bashing or anti-Christian site, but instead a place where real people can share about real pain from real experiences. I too am a victim of the organized church, and have been spending the last year-and-a-half licking my wounds and restoring my relationship with God. I will probably submit a letter to Letters From Leavers in the near future. If you are a pastor, minister, theology professor, church staff member, youth worker, bible study leader, parking lot volunteer, or in any other way associated with a church, you MUST read these letters. Some of your church “leaders” will tell you that this site is blasphemous, and will “lead you astray”, but if learning to get over our self-righteousness and start to see ALL people with love and compassion, the way Jesus did, is going to “lead you astray”, then maybe it is time to become a heritic. That’s what I did, and I’m very grateful that I got out before irreversible damage was done to my relationship with God– which is more than I can say for some poor souls who have had it far worse than I.

Don’t Miss the Next

Posted on January 23, 2007

I was talking with some friends the other day about the state of the Christian church, and we were complaining (as we often do) about it’s mis-direction– particularly that many churches now are so intensely focussed on the worship experience that they’ve forsaken other important responsibilities of the Church. I’ve mentioned that as I’ve studied History I’ve found that many of today’s movements are simply regurgitations of previous eras in church history. For example, in my little circle of friends, we feel a strong calling to resist the power of tradition and instead focus on life-giving community such as that found in the early church of the new testament. We’ve grown jaded with the traditional American church paradigm and find it to be largely ineffective compared to the more spontaneous and flexible congregational movements in other parts of the world– especially in third-world countries.

I noted that there have been other movements and groups in church History that focused on community and mimicking the early Church (for example, the English Puritans who came to America for religious freedom) but somehow lost their way. Their intentions were good, and they were following the direction of God, but somehow they either allowed the corruptibility of man infect their system, or they stayed so focused on their God-given directive that they missed what He had next. God still valued the original discipline of community, worship, etc. that his followers had developed, but He was ready to lead them to the next thing– the next level.

So I asked myself and my friends this question: have we missed what God has next? And that’s the question I ask you today. Have you been so focussed on achieving a particular spiritual goal that you’ve missed the next call? Do you feel stagnant where you’re at? Dried-up and ineffective? Then step back and evaluate your situation; and ask God to reveal to you that next thing that you may have missed.

Pastor Chosen to Lead Christian Coalition Steps Down in Dispute Over Agenda

Posted on December 4, 2006

Joel C. Hunter, the president-elect of the lobbying-group Christian Coalition, has stepped down before even starting due to philosophical differences with the board.

Dr. Hunter said his departure from the Christian Coalition indicated his belief in the rise of an evangelical Christian constituency that is less interested in the passage of certain laws and focused instead on “living what Jesus would do.”

As jaded as I am of the “what would Jesus do” mantra, this rings true to me. As a Christian there are far more important things to me than Ford’s “promotion of the homosexual agenda” and the concept of “holiday trees” (although the latter is pretty annoying). I for one can say that the “evangelical Christian” lobbyist groups and political associations out there do not represent the interests of this “evangelical Christian” (for lack of a better term).

Anyway, sounds like a good guy.

Article Here

Denomination Nation

Posted on November 14, 2006

Time Magazine published an interactive map that shows the breakdown of America by county into its three major religious denominations. 77% of Americans fall into one of three religious groups: Mainline Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, and Catholics.

Click Here

On Faith

Posted on November 10, 2006

One final quote to leave you with this Friday (unless I think of something interesting tonight…):

“Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism, and common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. The life of faith brings the two into a right relation. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense.”

- Oswald Chambers

As always, discuss below if so inclined.

A Jerusalem Gay-Pride Clash Is Averted

Posted on November 10, 2006

Now this is interesting…. We’ll leave it at that.
TIME.com Article

Feel free to comment below.

© Copyright Adam Nyholt, Photographer • Powered by Nikon, Starbucks, and gummy bears.