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What do you think of BC and AD terms for years?

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Staff member
Premium Member
If you are not a Christian what do you think of them? How were they made? How did they know when Jesus was born (if a Jesus was born) and when Jesus died when he didn't exist?

This has confused me. I think there may have been a person named Jesus but just another prophet, not a god or a man who has done miracles.
 

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Staff member
Premium Member
Oh sorry, my mistake. I didn't catch that before I asked
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
If you are not a Christian what do you think of them?
Personally, I prefer using "BCE" and "CE" instead. It still has Christian implications (namely, that the switchover marks a change to "our era"), but it's probably better than completely re-working the most used dating system in the world.

How were they made? How did they know when Jesus was born (if a Jesus was born) and when Jesus died when he didn't exist?
AFAICT, they didn't know.

Dionysius Exiguus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Staff member
Premium Member
Interesting. Do you think they will ever make a new era called New Common Era or NCE.

Wasn't there a "new era" before announced by a dictator or something?

Sorry, my knowledge is extremely limited when it comes to history.
 

Breathe

Hostis humani generis
The use of AD and BC doesn't bother me, although I use CE and BCE myself. I know the Raelians suggest using "after Hiroshima" for dating, so 1950 would be 5aH and so on - as it's supposed to show when humans first begun the steps to being like the elohim, but this is all weird and strange to me.

Otherwise, the only other calendars I know are either rarely used, historic national ones, modern national ones, or religious ones. Short of picking a significant date in history and using that as the calendar date, I guess we'll have to grin and bare it. If not, let's use 1969--the year humanity landed on the moon, for secular use or something? :D
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Interesting. Do you think they will ever make a new era called New Common Era or NCE.
We already use date systems with different zero points... most of the time without even realizing it.

Depending on your OS, your computer probably thinks that 1601, 1900, 1904, 1970, 1980 or 2000 is "year zero".
 

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
How were they made? How did they know when Jesus was born (if a Jesus was born) and when Jesus died when he didn't exist?
Our current calendar was devised in 1582 by Pope Gregory the 8th, but it was based on a similar calendar created more than 1600 years before, by Julius Ceasar. Before Ceasar's invention of our calendar, Rome used a different calendar that counted years from the founding of Rome; so it was the year 709 AUC when he made the calendar that we recognize today.
 

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
It's nothing but an arbitrary number, so as long as it serves its purpose and allows people to accurately communicate dates to one another, it's fine with me.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
We already use date systems with different zero points... most of the time without even realizing it.

Depending on your OS, your computer probably thinks that 1601, 1900, 1904, 1970, 1980 or 2000 is "year zero".
My business computer thinks 1969 is zero. It uses a British operating system, & was a real mess when 2000 rolled around.
(I don't know what goes on in my internet surfer....it uses Windows 7.)

Btw, I like BCE & CE.
 
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Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
The calendar is what it is. What do you think about the days being named after Norse gods?
It makes more sense than naming the 7 days after the Xtian God....
Godday Godday Godnesday Godursday Godday Goderday Godday
How could we tell'm all apart? Plus, it's boring.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
The calendar is what it is. What do you think about the days being named after Norse gods?
I don't really care that much about it.

I do know that some Christian denominations re-label the days: Sunday is "First Day", Monday is "Second Day", etc. Gets rid of all that paganry.
 
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