Should we or should we not say, "Merry Xmas"?

Some time in the past, I heard a pastor mentioned in a Bible study that it is wrong to spell it Xmas. His reason being was it's removing Christ from the word, which is, well, not right. True enough. Why would you remove "Christ" from Christmas and replace it with X when He is the main reason why there is such an occasion in the first place? Over the years since, I hold this argument to be true. Because, plain and simple, it makes so much sense.

Arguments about this topic come out every year as the season is felt. Recently, there have been factual explanations as to the validity of the use of "X" to allow the use of "xmas" without conservative Christians reacting negatively -- "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός (Christos), translated as "Christ"." -- It's some sort of a symbol or something based on the Christian origin of the word. X has become a symbol for Christ, and studies show that it's not just a modern day usage. It dates way back in the ancient times.

I am not gonna go further into details of the historical facts of when, who, or what started it. Although, the main explanation for abbreviating Christ's name is for the purpose of transcripts. But, here's one question I have in mind, "because we found a factual (and not to mention, Christian origin) explanation to use X to say xmas means it's ok to?"

Here's the thing...Not everyone knows Greek. Not everyone is educated. And we don't need to inform everyone about the facts related to its ancient usage if we can simply just write Christ as is. Why do we need to make use of symbols in the first place? Are we some sort of fraternity or cult? Don't we want people to know who we are serving that we have to use symbols, which are known only by scholars?

What many people know about X is it's a symbol of any of the following: unknown, cross, wrong. At least, these are what people know. In fact, children, when they see X, they automatically see it as WRONG (mistake). As in in test papers. "In cartoons, Xs are drawn instead of eyes to indicate the death of a character. X is commonly used as a generic mark. There's even a term GenX." These are what many people know about the letter and not the X Greek origin fact we are now being presented with to validate xmas. And because of this, majority, especially the underprivileged will read Xmas as EX-mas and have no opinion about it whatsoever. Then, they just accept it as that.

I mean, it's not that we can all educate people to know certain things. And informing everyone of the fact may or may not help, at all. We say, "it's just how it's spelt. The real essence comes when we have it in heart." But, if spelling "Christ" in full to make sure that we are not talking of "unknown" someone (as the reality tells us that too many people are aware not of the Greek fact but of what we know what x is and how it's actually used in everyday situations)...we are talking of our Savior. We wanna make sure that Christmas is pronounced as Christ-mas than ex-mas. At least for the sakes of the majority who do not know history.

Am not being a fanatic of some sort by saying this. Am only thinking of those who are simple-minded. We, Christians, want to promote Christ. And if we are to do it, then, why use a term that is not well understood by many if we can simply spell it out, anyway? Besides, we don't use Greek in our everyday language. Why to say Merry Christmas we have to use X (as if we're Greeks) and replace "Christ" with X (and ends up pronounced as such) only because we have the knowledge of what we're talking about without considering, well...the kids, the homeless, the uneducated ones who can't even read or write, or even those who can but the best they know is that x is nothing but EX. "Who cares?" So they say, "yun na yun"!

X being Chi is Greek. We are English speaking nation. Is't really hard to spell the name of our Lord and Savior the way EVERYONE can read and understand it as it is? ...and not like a fill in the missing word because whatever we say, X remains to mean unknown (our everyday language)...used as substitute ... just-fill-in-with-any-word-you-wish something. That's why we declare the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To let people know who HE is and what HE has done for mankind. If we are to replace His name with X, which has several equals, what's the use that Christ is named that?

Personally, I'd rather use "Christ". I won't mind typing/writing long just to make sure I am referring to only HIM and not just anyone. I mean, come on! This is Who we call our Lord and Savior and we can't even spell HIS name in full! Or rather, we don't want the hassle of typing 6 letters so we type 1. Convenient! Worse, we cause other people to just follow whatever practice started long time ago. We're not even certain when it started and if it's even truly acknowledged or accepted. Yes, there may be accounts to its usage by early Christians but how far do we know?

I don't know with you, but if people are to give me a birthday bash and they're gonna print a banner that says, "Happy Birthday JCN", am not sure if I am going to really appreciate it. Like how many JCNs do we have in the family? How many JCNs do we have in my clan? I want people to say my full name. How wonderful it is if I see my full name there on the banner! That assures me that it's me they're really greeting and not some unknown whoever. I don't like JCN. How much more if someone refers to me as X?!

Personally, I see this issue the same as emphasizing Santa Claus rather than baby Jesus and substituting "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas".

Now going back to the main topic, "should we or should we not" is NOT the question. The question is "why?"