Keeping Christ in Xmas
I have been using my own special shorthand since Middle School. I sign emails as well as letters with just an initial rather than my name. In Seminary, the volume of note-taking became massive and I developed a theological shorthand. Xn = Christian, X = Christ, and Xty = Christianity. God = a Greek theta (which I cannot display on my blog). The list of theological abbreviations grew quite large by the time I completed two degrees.
In the original language of the New Testament, Christ starts with the letter Chi which looks like our X. Early Christians used the symbol of a fish to identify one another. Why a fish? Fish in Greek is Ichthus, which makes a nifty acronym for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” (Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter)
So, I have always written Christmas as Xmas. I tried to shorten it to MC but people kept asking me about a rapper from long ago. Therefore, Merry Xmas still prevails.
This seemingly innocent abbreviation has gotten some really bad press over the years. Folks with too much time (and so-called spirituality) have sounded off on the practice repeatedly. It has always been a bit amusing to me how and why people get so worked up over the practice. Especially given the fact that I had never been the target of such a tirade. Until now that is.
In an online text message with a social networking site that shall remain nameless, I have made an enemy for life. I have left Christ out of Xmas. I should be flogged, disbarred, and ex-communicated. I should immediately return my Seminary degrees and forfeit my ordination papers. Bad preacher. I have left Christ out of Christmas by using Xmas.
Can we be honest for just a second? I have difficulty when someone decries my uses of Xmas while maxing out their credit cards at Christmas. When they wrap their house in lights, erect a tree, sing about the season, bake cookies, have a feast, entertain the children, go on a hayride, skip work and generally have a social orgy while ignoring the birth of Jesus, I get more than a bit steamed.
While I have indeed left Christ out of Xmas linguistically, our family never omits the far more important aspect of Christmas. Christmas is not, “all about the children.” It is more than “Season’s Greetings” we should be discussing. Christmas is not about Santa, Frosty or even Rudolf. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus so that He may deliver us from sin. Increasingly, the festivities of the holidays mask and even displace the true meaning of Christmas. Families are so busy buying more than they can afford for their children, they forget to teach the essential truths of the Christmas Story.
So in our family, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We give gifts to Kingdom causes that are sacrificial and meaningful. We have reduced our own gift giving year after year so that the true meaning of Christmas would not be muffled.
Merry Xmas,
Dr.B
We Have A Winner – Again
After trying to give away an ESV Study Bible (multiple times mind you), we finally have a real, live, genuine winner!
Cathy lives in Missouri and you can find her blog at God’s Child. Her favorite Bible verse is James 4:17, “to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
Cathy was excited to learn about her good fortune and had these kind words for the blog,
I love your ability to merge the news with how it affects us as Christians. You take things that are normally hard to understand and place them in easy to understand analogies. God has given you this insight and you are willing to allow Him to use it through you.
Congratulations Cathy and be blessed in this holiday season. Write in soon to let everyone know how you enjoy the new Bible.
Welcome KKIM Listeners
It is always a pleasure to join Pastor Marvin Capehart on KKIM in Albuquerque. On Saturday’s radio program I will be sharing the basis of Christian involvement in politics. Also, I hope to get your thoughts on the financial bailout that seems out-of-control.
Be sure to vote in our poll on the right after you take a look at the graph just below. The graph compares the cost of the bailout to the total cost of several wars and expensive programs by our government. Seems strange to me that the Liberals bashing Bush for spending money in Iraq are ready to spend 10 times that much to bailout … well … everybody.
If you heard the program, leave a question or comment; I am always glad to have new members of the community exploring the intersection of personal faith and public life.
Blessings,
Dr.B
The Real Cost Of The Bailout
A number of people have asked me to document how we have spent over $4 trillion in #bailout money. Turns out, the graphic below was a snapshot of bailout money and now the total has risen to almost $7 trillion. I believe the final total may top $15 trillion. Of course, I said all this months ago but it feels somewhat good to say, “I told you so” to some folks.
1. See the figures below.
2. Bloomberg estimates that the Federal Reserve has spent $3 trillion and pledged $5.7 trillion which would make the total bailout over $12 trillion.
3. I was on a radio program with Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM) recently and he confirmed that trillions are being spent without approval of Congress.
Financial Crisis Balance Sheet
| Government Entity | Sum in Billions of Dollars |
| Federal Reserve | |
| (TAF) Term Auction Facility | 900 |
| Discount Window Lending | |
| Commercial Banks | 99.2 |
| Investment Banks | 56.7 |
| Loans to buy ABCP | 76.5 |
| AIG | 112.5 |
| Bear Stearns | 29.5 |
| (TSLF) Term Securities Lending Facility | 225 |
| Swap Lines | 613 |
| (MMIFF) Money Market Investor Funding Facility | 540 |
| Commercial Paper Funding Facility | 1800 |
| TALF | 200 |
| (TARP) Treasury Asset Relief Program | 700 |
| Other: | |
| Automakers | 25 |
| (FHA) Federal Housing Administration | 300 |
| Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac | 350 |
| TARRA – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act | 787 |
| Total | $6,814.5 |
Mere Christianity – Reading It Together
I have just joined a group of believers from across the country in reading and discussing Mere #Christianity by C.S. Lewis. The moderator of the group is Tim Challies and you can follow the discussion if you would like. My blogging friend, David, is prolific writer on these community reviews and has already started his first installment of his evaluation of the book which I encourage you to take a look at.
Reading classic Christian literature is a wonderful discipline. I hope my journey will assist you in your journey toward the Savior.
You may want to get a copy for yourself and read along. The paperback edition is not expensive and the link below will show you how to get a used copy at Amazon if your budget is especially thin.
You may know C.S. Lewis best for his series, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Richarson Tagged for Commerce Post
Speculation of Bill Richardson’s appointment as Commerce Secretary has been swirling around New Mexico for at least two weeks. Democratic officials have now confirmed that Richardson will be named to the post by Barack Obama on Wednesday.
Richardson started in the House of Representatives before joining the Clinton Administration as Secretary of Energy and U.N. Ambassador. While serving as Governor of New Mexico he became the first Hispanic candidate for President. After dropping out of the race early, the Gov. got a visit from Bill Clinton to watch football and insure his endorsement of Hillary. When Richardson endorsed Obama, relationships were understandably strained.
Turns out the Gov. was backing the winning horse.
Richardson’s leadership as Governor has been marked with economic success and practical politics even though he has been at odds with Evangelicals in the state. Building the Rail Runner, providing $400,000 in life insurance to NM military, establishing the Spaceport partnership, and growing the film industry have been major successes. Providing a driver’s license to illegal immigrants has been controversial. Richardson has continued his work on international politics. These activities have been his most favorable and well-reported accomplishments.
Claim Your Prize
Our winner for the ESV Study Bible has still not responded to their Super Duper Prize Winning Notification.
h20sidemom (at) bellsouth dot net is our winner. If this is you, please contact me here at Faith and Facts so I can get so info and send you your Bible.
Blessings, Dr.Bruce
Winner – ESV Study Bible
We have a Winner!
After some serious thought about how to perform the drawing, we resorted to the boring method of drawing numbers out of a hat. Well, … a bowl actually. We so wanted to make it interesting but our pointy brains could not devise a simple way to make the drawing fun.
My son, Greg, did the actual drawing and pulled lucky number seven. I downloaded my Feedburner subscriber list into Excel and counted to seven to find our lucky person and …
The Winner Is – ARRGGGHHHH! Someone that has not replied to their email yet so I do not even have a name; just an email address. As soon as we have the info I will let everyone know.
For the non-winners (politically correct language for losers), thanks for your participation and I hope you have been blessed by this community. Please do not stamp FAIL on your forehead. I have an idea for another give-away and will use the active subscriber list to give you another entry. This time I think the main entry will be to write a short review of Faith and Facts on your blog or social site.
Still mulling the details. How does an iPod Shuffle sound? Perhaps a gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble? Let me know if you have a suggestion for a prize.
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