![\"labarum\"](\"http:\/\/claessen.com\/blog\/pics\/labarum.jpg\" "\\"labarum\\"")
I meant to make this my Xmas post, but hey, I’m a procrastinator.\u00c2\u00a0 Bite me!<\/p>\nI meant to make this my Xmas post, but hey, I’m a procrastinator.\u00c2\u00a0 Bite me!<\/p>\n
Anyway, I recently read\u00c2\u00a0the CNN commentary “You can’t take Christ out of Christmas” by a certain Roland S. Martin. You can read it here:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2007\/US\/12\/20\/roland.martin\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n Somewhere in the article Mr. Martin tells us:<\/p>\n And I’m sorry, forget X-M-A-S. Malcolm X? Yes. X replacing Christ? No.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I immediately decided to write a post about this in order to clarify this misconception to ignorant people like Mr. Martin. Share knowledge and educate .. you know.<\/p>\n But before I get to XMAS and the origin of the word, I must confess that I was somewhat surprised that an obvious deeply religious man like Mr. Martin can be so ignorant concerning ages old habits and traditions of his own religion. After reading such a grand blooper, I wondered who IS this Mr. Martin? Forunately, the footnotes in his article shed some some light on this question:<\/p>\n Roland S. Martin is a nationally award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. Martin is studying to receive his master’s degree in Christian communications at Louisiana Baptist University, and he is the author of “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I admit, I had no clue what “Christian Communications” meant. So I looked it up: you can get an idea here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.gotquestions.org\/Christian-communication.html<\/a><\/p>\n I guess the command “Be kind to one another – Ephesians 4:32” sums it all up nicely. And in that respect, I fear that Mr. Martin, in calling people “idiots” and their different views “ridiculous” and “pathetic”, still has a looooong way to go in his studies.<\/p>\n I can’t resist quoting a few more gems from this article. Says Mr. Martin:<\/p>\n What the heck are “Seasons Greetings”? Can someone tell me what season we are greeting folks about?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then a bit later\u00c2\u00a0he answers his\u00c2\u00a0own question\u00c2\u00a0by the befuddling:<\/p>\n we should continue to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thereby a) acknowledging that he DOES know what season we’re greeting and b) acknowledging his ignorance concerning the REAL reason for the seasons (the Earth’s axis being tilted to its orbital plane).<\/p>\n Here’s another curious remark:<\/p>\n Don’t get me wrong; I’m very respectful of other religions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A\u00c2\u00a0rather\u00c2\u00a0non-Christian attitude!\u00c2\u00a0The Bible is less respectful of other religions (Deuteronomy 13:6-10). And I won’t even mention the Inquisition.<\/p>\n And when Mr. Martin said:<\/p>\n we shouldn’t dismiss Muslims when the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is held during December. In fact, Americans are so ignorant of other faiths..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Speaking of “ignorant of other faiths”: I wonder if\u00c2\u00a0Mr. Martin\u00c2\u00a0is aware of the fact that the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is not necessarily always in December. But what IS clear, is that Mr. Martin is ignorant of certain aspects of even his OWN faith, which brings us back to his nonsensical remark about the word Xmas.<\/p>\n I won’t touch on the mystifying reference to Malcolm X (which is, to adopt Mr. Martin’s Christian Communications writing style, “so ridiculous that it’s pathetic”). I only would like to explain that the X in Xmas, contrary to what Mr. Martin seems to believe, does NOT stand for ‘crossing out Christ from Christmas’. To abbreviate ‘Christ’ by the letter X is a centuries old CHRISTIAN tradition and is based on the Greek spelling of “Christ”. This ages old symbol\u00c2\u00a0for Christ(usually depicted as a combination of an X and P) is known as Labarum.\u00c2\u00a0In modern typesetting, the P is now often dropped and just the X remains. But it is STILL a thoroughly Christian (Xian!) symbol and tradition.<\/p>\n It’s ironic that Mr. Martin is now discarding part of his own Christian heritage, solely based on a religious ignorance that he so easily\u00c2\u00a0accuses other Americans of.<\/p>\n Mr. Martin… here are some simple research tips for you:<\/p>\n http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Xmas<\/a>:<\/p>\n In ancient Christian art, X and XP are abbreviations for Christ’s name. In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos ..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n http:\/\/www.christmaspast.info\/forums\/Main01\/messages\/647932485.html<\/a><\/p>\n The scribes who copied New Testament manuscripts had no intention of taking Christ out of the New Testament. They used the abbreviation simply to save time and space. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n