Why do scientists use BC and AD for years though most don't beleive in things dealin with Jesus Christ?

Question

I have read several articles and other things that talk about the past, present, and future in terms of years. If the vast majority of scientists don't believe that God created the universe why would they believe in Jesus?

If BC means before christ and AD means after death why use them if their beliefs lead elseware? I understand that these acronyms have been used for a long time. With that being said it would be hard to change the worlds view on this.

So who first thought of using BC/AD as a way to define years? Could this person have been religious and among the community it took hold? I am religious and so I am just curious.

Why wouldn't time just begin and continue. It starts and then it stops on a year, and from then on is called AD. So After death, Wow! Someone must have been important to consider all years from the point of his death to AD. The points before that are also noticed as the came before he did.

Anyone want to expand or speak your peace?

Hmm I havn't seen the BCE and CE thing. Can someone provide a website for this?

If this is true has it taken a hold on the mainstream population?

Answer 1

They use B.C.E. (before common era, which is sometimes shortened to B.C.), C.E. ( common era), or A.D. (which stands for Anno Domini, not After Death.) Anno Domini is a latin term that means " In the year of the Lord," and is used to name the years from a certain point, so as to measure time. ( A lot of people interpret Anno Domini as the birth of Christ, not his death).

Answer 2

Whether they use BC/AD, or BCE/CE, scientists have to use the same calendar everyone else does. Belief in God has nothing to do with it. Also, there seems to be this widespread belief that being a scientist means you're an automatic atheist. Most scientists profess some sort of religion, and many may be devout. What most scientists do however, is try to fit the Bible into the observed facts of the world and the universe, and don't take the Bible as the literal truth. Einstein, to use one of the most famous scientists, was a fairly religious Jew his entire life, and never thought that his discoveries in anyway negated the existence of God. One of Einstein's biggest objections to Quantum Mechanics was his claim that "God does not play dice with the universe". Note that Jews certainly believe in God, and many believe Jesus existed, but as a rabbi or teacher, not as the Messiah or the son of God. They also use BCE/CE since they will not call the time they are living "the year of our Lord". Some countries, most notably China, do this as well. The arbitrary division of BC/AD was developed by a monk in 6th century Rome (we can pretty safely assume he was religious), and since Christianity was long the dominant force in Europe and then the world, their calendar has become the standard. Later, in 1582, pope Gregory XIII decreed the current form of the calendar, known as the Gregorian system, with its fairly accurate system of leap years. The Gregorian calendar also removed 10 days from the year to push Easter back into early spring. The new calendar was eventually adopted all over the world, but some countries took hundreds of years to do it. If you check out the birthdates of many of the key figures of the American Revolution (Washington, Jefferson), next to their birthdates you'll sometimes see the notation "o.s", meaning "old style". Britain, and America, did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, so dates prior to that have to be noted as to which calendar on they're being reckoned.

Answer 3

it has recently been changed to a less biased reference point. BCE. They use this out of convenience as that is all we had for a long time. More interstingly China uses the year 2006 but thier history is 4000 years old and few are Christians. They have assimilated into the dominate world view that now is 2006. I'm here now and was just talking about this. It seems that thier traditional counting of years only goes to 60 and then repeats itself. I often have misunderstandings but that seemed to be the case.

This was started by medieval types who were highly religious.

Answer 4

Well, it comes down to the fact that the Gregorian calendar (named for the Pope who invented it) is how dates have been recorded for over four hundred years and is still the system used by most of the Western world (and much of the Easter world, too!). That being said, many scientists, instead of using BC ("Before Christ") and AD ("Anno Domini"--year of the Lord) for their dates, use BCE ("Before the Common Era") and CE ("Common Era") to indicate dates using the Gregorian calendar without making direct reference to Jesus.

Answer 5

Interesting question. From the research I did, I found that in the "year" 476 was the Fall of last Roman Emperor; Roman monk Dionysius and he established the Before Christ/Anno Domini calendar.

Someone had to come up with a way to track time so why not that guy?

Science itself is such a slow process. Just think, less than 200 years ago, if you were ill or acted strange, you were bled.

Look how far science has come.

Answer 6

They don't anymore. They now use B.C.E. and C.E. for Before Current Era and Current Era respectively.

From what I understand, they had been trying to get that change for the past 20+ years. All new college books and I assume high school books have this change.

The only reason for the change that I can think of is to remove Christ from the equation. I figure they will soon try to change the calendar to have year 0 start with Darwin's Birth.

Answer 7

First of all, AD doesn't mean "after death," it means "anno domini," which is Latin for "Year of our Lord." And when they are used, it's just because that's the way most people understand modern dating. Second, most scientists and historians don't use BC and AD. They use BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era).

Answer 8

From what I understand, this system was set up to match the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar was a believer in Christ. Since we use his calendar, might as well use his abbreviations. Of course there is a movement to change the designations so they are secular and not religious.
Personally, they are historical and I believe they should not be changed. They are valuable teaching tools about our history and can open up many inquiries as to why things are the way they are.

Answer 9

Most people don't? I think you need to research that a little more, no offense!
B.C. stands for Before Christ, A.D. stands for Anno Domini (Year of Our Lord, it's Latin). The calendar and most historical documents, etc. of the Medieval ages were written and developed by Catholics, who naturally used those frames. And yes, the coming of Christ was so important as to pertain to everything else that ever happened.

Answer 10

well scientist use alot of latin which is what those abreviations stand for
Anno Domini (Latin: "In the Year of the Lord"), abbreviated as AD or A.D., defines an epoch based on the traditionally-reckoned year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Similarly, Before Christ, abbreviated as BC or B.C., is used in the English language to denote years before the start of this epoch.

Answer 11

Wow! You caught the hipocrates! What a burn! What amazing feats of logic you have performed here! I wouldn't be surprised that after this incredible observation, if all scientists just abandoned their fields of study and start preaching the bible!

But I don't think you should stop your outstanding work at just one rhetorical question.....Now you need to move on and bust every athiest that says "Bless You" when someone sneezes! Go for it, you're winning hearts and minds!