December 10, 2013

Equations of Christmas: What Does ‘X’ Really Mean?

I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, a White Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season’s Greetings; but most of all, I wish you a Blessed Christmas.

Being at our season of life, in those years between teenage children and endearing excitable grandchildren, my wife and I recall our various memories of Christmas past. We remember our common extended family traditions, which involved cramming scores of beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins into small houses that comfortably held only a handful, in which we enjoyed a fantastic spread of holiday treats (though most of us ate primarily from the food that our own mother had prepared, as familiarity always trumped the risk of change).

Not every memory is positive, however, as there were moments of boredom, serious sledding accidents, cattle breaking through the fence, sibling-like spats between kissing cousins jammed into such close quarters, and the trip to the ER when grandma fell off her chair. Nevertheless, I always smile when I remember the moments we shared and our common Christian tradition. We celebrated our sacred faith in the mystery of Christ’s provision of redemption.

Our society, however, is moving away from the shared sacred holiday. As we become a more diverse society, we begin to replace the Christmas carols with the holiday music. We replace the infinite incarnation with the maudlin focus on white snow and green trees. One particular holiday greeting, however, is more sacred than it first appears.

Some of my Christian friends and mentors have waxed eloquent about their rejection of the “Xmas” greeting. They argue that we have taken Christ out of Christmas and replaced Christ with “X,” an algebraic symbol for a variable unknown quantity. The history of the term Xmas, however, is not algebraic, but rather rooted in the Greek language and the letter chi (x).

Early Christians used the fish as a symbol of their faith. The Greek word for fish, icqus  (ichthys), was used as an acrostic reference to the incarnate Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior. It is said that during the life and death persecution of the early church, a Christian meeting someone new would begin to draw a fish in the sand. If the other person was a Christian, he or she would complete the drawing. If the second person was not a Christian, the ambiguity of the half-symbol would not reveal the first person as a Christian. The letter x quickly became a recognized abbreviation for Christ. Hence, it was natural to shorten the term Christmas to the term chi-mas, or Xmas.

Some in our society will argue that Christmas should become a secular holiday, separated from the Christian tradition, given the early historical celebration of the winter solstice. It is no accident, however, that Christmas is the most significant holiday in America, totally eclipsing any celebration of the summer solstice. Separating Christmas from its sacred meanings is simultaneously robbing Christmas of its lasting impact in our society and our individual lives.

Although some will use the Xmas greeting in an attempt to separate the secular from the sacred, the historical roots show that the term Xmas is an indirect reference to Christ. The use of Xmas by some might be an attempt to suggest that the speaker is trying to replace Christ with the algebraic symbol for the unknown. Nevertheless, we can solve for the value of X in Xmas. The experienced hearer will solve for X and find the value of X is equal to the infinite focus of our Christmas season.

As a growing secular society attempts to remove Jesus Christ from the equations of Christmas, take joy in the fact that despite these efforts the ultimate truth remains: The reason for the season is a gift from God – a baby’s birth nearly 2,000 years ago – the world’s Savior.

Have yourself a blessed little Christmas this year.

Dr. Gary L. Welton is assistant dean for institutional assessment, professor of psychology at Grove City College, and a contributor to The Center for Vision & Values. He is a recipient of a major research grant from the Templeton Foundation to investigate positive youth development.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.