I dont understand why people would be offended by the use of X-mas vs. Christman personally. Using X doesnt take Christ out of the holiday, it just takes it out of the name of the holiday. If Christians (im not one by the way) can so easily forget what the point is of the holiday they are celebrating, they have bigger problems on their hands. ------------------ Remember.... You are not really drunk until you must hold on to the grass to keep from falling off the earth.
Look, I never said I was pissed. I just said I found it odd, ESPECIALLY because it was just a classified ad for a garage sale. I don't know how many you've done, by the way, but my wife and I do several per year because of overflow in inventory, etc. and the Chron, BY FAR brings in the most people. The Greensheet and Leader aren't even close and the Houston Press doesn't do garage sale ads. I don't feel sleighted by their choice, I was merely bring up the point that it seems odd to me. For instance, would they ask one of their big advertisers (a car dealer, for example) to change his/her ad to Christmas if they wanted X-Mas instead? How does that serve the holiday? And, despite your assertion that it is a religious holiday, it is simply a national holiday to many of us. Some of us don't celebrate it because of the birth of Christ - in fact, many of us don't. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of Americans do not consider the church or Jesus or Christianity to be a primary part of their Christmas celebration. My ultra-right wing side of the family goes to church on Christmas day and we pray before dinner but that's it. Christmas Eve, Day and any other parties and/or celebrations we have don't include the reading of Bible verses or the singing of hymns or the discussing of Jesus. It is about getting together with family, telling bad jokes, catching up, eating and opening gifts. I would say that even with them, only about 1/10th of Christmas time is spent on Jesus. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of homes are exactly the same way. As for what stores have to do with Christmas, you obviously haven't been watching much tv, reading the paper or listening to the radio for the past 50 years after November 15th. Despite my dislike (and yours) for the commercialization of a holiday, it is more commercialized than ever and the impact of that is much greater at this time of year than the impact of the church whether you or I like it or not. ------------------ Mmmmmmm. Sacrelicious. [This message has been edited by Jeff (edited December 01, 2000).]
Good for them for establishing a policy. The purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. I personally think it is insulting to any faith to minimalize their beliefs, especially during their most holy times. As long as their policy is consistent across various beliefs and faiths, I applaud them. Off the top of my head I cannot think of an analogy with a different religion (e.g. I know of no shorthand for Ramadan, Yom Kippur, Kwanzi (sp?), etc.) ------------------
Of course, bobrek, they would not have the same policy for any other religious abbreviation. Besides, Christmas was not designed to celebrate the birth of Christ (as theologians of the time and now had his birth much earlier in the year). Christmas is the Winter Solstice and was celebrated for some time by pagans. The Church, then moved his b-day to Dec. 25 as a kind of recruitment (see, we celebrate the same day). Without early converts, Christianity would have been in trouble. So...it being commercial now is not too much different. Kids do not get excited because of Jesus, but because of Santa. It is Kwanza, by the way. Jeff, It is just a scam to charge you for more letters! ------------------ EZLN
Bobrek makes a lot of sense. X-mas could offend their Christian readers and would do so without cause. The policy is probably a good one from their perspective. ------------------ humble, but hungry.
Xmas is a very old abbreviation for Christmas. The first letter in the Greek word for Christ is "chi," which bears a stiking resemblance to the letter "x." Besides, Christmas was hijacked from Roman worshippers of the sun god Mithras, as was the general outline of the Christ myth. It's a bogus holiday to anyone but ancient Romans.
I think we may be missing the point. NOTICE: C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S= 9 LETTERS X-M-A-S = 4 LETTERS. The Chronicle is a business. To place ads you pay by the letter. It's capatalism not christianity.Sorry. ------------------ C-son
Christians wear those WWJD bracelets. that's the same thing. besides an X is just a titled cross if there's any doubt whether the Chron is a conservative company, this proves it.
Christmas is Christmas. To my fellow christians, what matters is how you celebrate it. Christmas is about the birth of Christ. As we all know, Christ is love and love is good. We celebrate the beginning of love with our families. That is what is important to me, and to you as well. The tree, the turkey, the gifts, decorations, etc., all of these things are nice, and we can use these sorts of things to express our joy and to share our love. But never forget that Christ appreciates being recognized, but finds it greater for us to remember and rejoice the true beginning of love together as family and friends. For those interested, why Christmas and not X-mas,well... the same reason it's not S-mas, or D-mas, or A-mas, or Ho-Ho-Ho. It's Christmas, a religious, holy day. A day about Christ, but more importantly what Christ represents. Love. To the non-christians: If this day is about a national holiday to get off work (or work harder, make more money.) or to have a break from the routine or to get gifts or a designated day to get with relatives you could care less about being with or whatever... and the only thing is you being with family and expressing love, then that is CHRISTMAS! ------------------ Sometimes you gotta do the next best thing!
ROXRAN: Nice post. I totally agree that Christmas is all about love. Thanks for putting it back in perspective. Probably a bad idea to be arguing about Christmas anyway! By the way, I'll take the food, the gifts and even the worship, but is all that family a bit much for anyone else this time of year? I love 'em but something about putting them all in one place (or 3 in my case because of divorces, in-laws, etc) at one time seems a tad overwhelming - especially considering all the "cut your hair" and "why don't you eat meat" comments I've had to deal with for 12 years (well, the hair part anyway). George Burns said it best: "It is wonderful to have a loving, close-knit family...in another city." ------------------ Mmmmmmm. Sacrelicious.
You know. . . I think I will call the Chronical and let them know that it offends me when people abbreviate MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY! So no one can put MLK Day in their ads Reducing it to mere initials may not let people truly understand what a great individual he was. . . a child would ask another . .what is mlk day and the other would say . . a day off from school. It is taking the meaning out of the day It is to HONOR THE MAN! So his name should be Spelled out Rocket River Not saying MLK and Christ are equals but . . . ------------------
For some reason, this thread brings to mind something Melanie Lawson (she used to be a channel 13 anchor person, since I no longer live in Houston, I don't know if she is still there or not) once said as she signed off the news on Ash Wednesday: "And to all of the Catholics out there, Happy Ash Wednesday" ------------------
To all of those who support the Chronicle's decision to not allow the abbreviation, would you support their right to not allow any religious references at all, if they so choosed? ------------------ "He was under more balls than a midget hooker."-Bobby Hill visit www.swirve.com and, http://www.geocities.com/clutch34_2000 for great Rocket insight by some of your fellow BBS posters!
Here's the irony to end all ironies: In an effort to avoid causing my ad to go from 4 lines to 5 (they promised me four lines only on the phone), the abbreviated Christmas as "x-mas" anyway! I sure hope the woman who helped me didn't get in trouble for making the promise and forcing the change. Who knows, though. Maybe she was mistaken and found out later. I'll probably never know. So much for this thread. ------------------ Mmmmmmm. Sacrelicious.
THe following may interest you concerning the origin of the 25th of December as the celebration of Christ's birth: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm ------------------
Unbelievable. X-mas is one of the most common abbreviations in the world, and people get offended by it. Its pretty sad, that people are so insecure about their own beliefs, that they could get offended by something like this. Pitiful. ------------------ 2000-2001 Rockets Game Formulas: End of 1st quarter: "They're playing so well!" 2nd: "What a great game!" 3rd: "Theres no way they can lose now!" 4th: "What the ******* **** happened?!!" Revote! Revote! Revote!...... Rocket's Championship 2001!!
So if I am offended by something that is dear to my heart, dear to the people I love and care about, you consider me "pitiful"? One thing I have learned in my life is that you should respect folk's religious beliefs even though you may not agree with them. Most people have put a great deal of thought and effort and sacrifice into their beliefs. By the way, the "MF" word is a commonly used word. Is it "pitiful" if I am offended by it? ------------------
