{"id":5658,"date":"2023-12-25T09:48:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T17:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/?p=5658"},"modified":"2023-12-26T06:08:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T14:08:34","slug":"why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Why “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Xmas” are Christian phrases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
An Icon of Jesus. the \u201cIC\u201d on the left of Jesus represents \u201cIesous\u201d\u2013the \u201cC\u201d is a \u2018final sigma or \u201cS\u201d when it is the last letter in a word\u2013(Jesus) and the XC on the right represents \u201cChristos\u201d (Christ) [courtesy Alamy]<\/figcaption><\/figure>As Christians around the world celebrate the birth of our King, many struggle with what are thought to be compromised expressions, \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d and \u201cMerry Xmas.\u201d I can still hear my mom (God rest her soul) mumbling, \u201cThey are taking \u2018Christ\u2019 out of Christmas.\u201d No, mom, they are not!<\/p>\n

As text messages to family, friends, and colleagues are sent on this Christmas day, I want to asure you that \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d or \u201cMerry Xmas\u201d is not only acceptable but very Christian.<\/p>\n

In fact, I would contend that \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d might be the best way for Christians to greet others\u2013especially if the person is not a Christian. Why is this so?<\/p>\n

Very simple. If they are not a Christian, then the expression \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d might be offensive to them. Perhaps they are not celebrating Christmas but another holiday. If this is the case, then the expression Happy Holidays\u201d becomes one of the best ways to carry out the command to \u201clove our neighbor as ourselves\u201d because you are not imposing your holiday on them, but are instead are greeting them in a manner that respects their beliefs.<\/p>\n

Now, if the other person is a Christian, it is quite acceptable to use \u201cMerry Xmas.\u201d This is not \u201ctaking the Christ out of Christmas.\u201d On the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing \u201cChristmas.\u201d After all, \u201cX\u201d (or Chi; \u201cpronounced like \u201ckai\u201d or \u201cchee\u201d) is the first letter in the Greek name for Christ. In fact, as the icon at the top of this post illustrates, \u201cJesus Christ\u201d was often written with just the first and last letters of the word: hence, \u201cJesus\u201d becomes \u201cIC\u201d (the \u201cC\u201d is what the Greek letter \u201cS\u201d when it is the final letter of a word)\u2013see the letters to the left of Christ\u2013and \u201cChrist\u201d becomes \u201cXC\u201d\u2013see the letters to the right of Christ.<\/p>\n

So \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d or \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our goal is to keep these posts free of charge. I do not intend to ever hide them behind a paywall. I can only do this if those of you who have been blessed by them and can afford to give ($5, $10, $25, or more\/month) do so. You can give a tax-deductible contribution by following this link<\/span><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Please share this post and let others know about determinetruth.<\/p>\n

If you wish to view this blog on your smartphone through the Determinetruth app <\/b>simply download the \u201ctithe.ly<\/span><\/a> church\u201d app on your smartphone and insert \u201cdeterminetruth\u201d as the church name you wish to follow. Once it is loaded, simply click on the \u201cblog\u201d icon and it will automatically load.<\/p>\n

If you would like to have Rob speak at your church or organization in person or via Zoom, please let us know by filling out the contact info on the Contact me<\/span><\/a> tab on this site.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Christians around the world celebrate the birth of our King, many struggle with what are thought to be compromised expressions, \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d and \u201cMerry Xmas.\u201d I can still hear my mom (God rest her soul) mumbling, \u201cThey are taking \u2018Christ\u2019 out of Christmas.\u201d No, mom, they are not! As text messages to family, friends, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4320,"featured_media":5667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas" are Christian expressions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making "Happy Holidays" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to "love our neighbor as ourselves." And "Merry Xmas" is not "taking the Christ out of Christmas." on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing "Christmas."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas" are Christian expressions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making "Happy Holidays" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to "love our neighbor as ourselves." And "Merry Xmas" is not "taking the Christ out of Christmas." on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing "Christmas."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Determinetruth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rob.dalrymple.79\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-25T17:48:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-26T14:08:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1298\/2023\/12\/A.ChristIcon-1-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rob Dalrymple\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@RobDalrymple\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rob Dalrymple\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/\",\"name\":\"Why \\\"Happy Holidays\\\" and \\\"Merry Christmas\\\" are Christian expressions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-25T17:48:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-26T14:08:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/dd78b21ff764a5126f6a02bb92a64f25\"},\"description\":\"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making \\\"Happy Holidays\\\" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays\\\" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to \\\"love our neighbor as ourselves.\\\" And \\\"Merry Xmas\\\" is not \\\"taking the Christ out of Christmas.\\\" on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing \\\"Christmas.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Xmas” are Christian phrases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/\",\"name\":\"Determinetruth\",\"description\":\"Challenging the Church to be the Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/dd78b21ff764a5126f6a02bb92a64f25\",\"name\":\"Rob Dalrymple\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb5fe911cf419f88e9fe4e994de34655?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb5fe911cf419f88e9fe4e994de34655?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Rob Dalrymple\"},\"description\":\"Rob Dalrymple and his wife Toni have four fabulous children, as well as 2 grandchildren! He has been teaching and pastoring for over 32 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD (Westminster Theological Seminary) in biblical interpretation. Rob is currently serving as the Executive Director of Determinetruth ministries, which is a 501c3 parachurch ministry whose vision is to provide a platform of training for pastors, leaders, and members of local churches, especially those who have been wounded by the evangelical church. Rob hosts the weekly determinetruth podcast and writes a weekly blog: all of which can be accessed at determinetruth.com He is the author of four books: Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation These Brothers of Mine: A Biblical Theology of Land and Family Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters Revelation and the Two Witnesses. And is presently writing a commentary for the book of Revelation (Cascade Books) titled Revelation: A Love Story\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/determinetruth.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rob.dalrymple.79\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobDalrymple\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCy4xZC-rMk5i93o7plLFz3A\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/author\/rdalrymple\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why \"Happy Holidays\" and \"Merry Christmas\" are Christian expressions","description":"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making \"Happy Holidays\" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays\" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to \"love our neighbor as ourselves.\" And \"Merry Xmas\" is not \"taking the Christ out of Christmas.\" on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing \"Christmas.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why \"Happy Holidays\" and \"Merry Christmas\" are Christian expressions","og_description":"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making \"Happy Holidays\" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays\" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to \"love our neighbor as ourselves.\" And \"Merry Xmas\" is not \"taking the Christ out of Christmas.\" on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing \"Christmas.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/","og_site_name":"Determinetruth","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rob.dalrymple.79\/","article_published_time":"2023-12-25T17:48:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-26T14:08:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1298\/2023\/12\/A.ChristIcon-1-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rob Dalrymple","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@RobDalrymple","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rob Dalrymple","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/","name":"Why \"Happy Holidays\" and \"Merry Christmas\" are Christian expressions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-25T17:48:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-26T14:08:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/dd78b21ff764a5126f6a02bb92a64f25"},"description":"If you are not sure if someone is a Christian, then the expression Merry Christmas might be offensive to them. And if they are not a Christian, then perhaps they are celebrating some other holiday making \"Happy Holidays\" appropriate.\u00a0In other words, the expression, Happy Holidays\" is one of the best ways to carry out the command to \"love our neighbor as ourselves.\" And \"Merry Xmas\" is not \"taking the Christ out of Christmas.\" on the contrary, it is simply an alternative way of writing \"Christmas.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/2023\/12\/why-happy-holidays-and-merry-xmas-are-christian-expressions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Xmas” are Christian phrases"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/","name":"Determinetruth","description":"Challenging the Church to be the Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/dd78b21ff764a5126f6a02bb92a64f25","name":"Rob Dalrymple","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb5fe911cf419f88e9fe4e994de34655?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb5fe911cf419f88e9fe4e994de34655?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Rob Dalrymple"},"description":"Rob Dalrymple and his wife Toni have four fabulous children, as well as 2 grandchildren! He has been teaching and pastoring for over 32 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD (Westminster Theological Seminary) in biblical interpretation. Rob is currently serving as the Executive Director of Determinetruth ministries, which is a 501c3 parachurch ministry whose vision is to provide a platform of training for pastors, leaders, and members of local churches, especially those who have been wounded by the evangelical church. Rob hosts the weekly determinetruth podcast and writes a weekly blog: all of which can be accessed at determinetruth.com He is the author of four books: Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation These Brothers of Mine: A Biblical Theology of Land and Family Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters Revelation and the Two Witnesses. And is presently writing a commentary for the book of Revelation (Cascade Books) titled Revelation: A Love Story","sameAs":["http:\/\/determinetruth.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rob.dalrymple.79\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobDalrymple","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCy4xZC-rMk5i93o7plLFz3A"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/author\/rdalrymple\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/determinetruth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}