Is time based off of Jesus? Does BC stand for Before Christ?

Question

If time is based off of Jesus, why do the people who don't believe in Him still continue to do so? Wouldn't they come up with their own calendar? Would this really be the year 2007 to an atheist? Who decided to base time in that way anyway if Jesus was just a regular dude?

Answer 1

Many nations and peoples have their own calendars. Muslims for example count their time according to the Hegira or the time when our Prophet was forced to leave his city of birth due to intense persecution and abuse to the point of murdering Muslims.

Jewish people have their own calendar. So do Hindus, Chinese and Japanese.

Less than two hundred years ago, when the British managed to temporarily hold lands in various parts of the World, they introduced their calendar. As they were involved in many parts of the World, they managed to bring different people following different calendars together.

My parents and grandparents know their birthdays only according to the Muslim calendar. To this day all Muslim marriages announce the Muslim date in the wedding invitation. So do Jews, Hindus and others who continue to keep their calendars alive and well in their community activity. Most holidays in all the faiths are calculated based o their own calendars.

People who do not know these details think everyone follows the Common Calendar, which people do not in all things that are important to them. However, many people who understand the English language, also understand the English calendar. It has nothing to do with Christ. If it did, people would not have been following other calendars until the British touched their lives.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

There are other calendars. The original Julian calendar (from Julius Caesar) was created in 45 BC It has since become the Gregorian calendar (Pope Gregory XIII) and many countries adopted it out of a desire for uniformity.

Many Middle Easter countries still use a lunar calendar, the Hebrew and Chinese calendars are still in use. Not everyone goes by the calendar you are familiar with.

And BCE (before common era) is becoming far more common than BC (before Christ) because two thirds of the people in the world do not believe in Christ.

Answer 3

That is an enormous lot of trouble. Besides, even though I don't think he's the son of god, I still think he's a nice guy. And in all likelyhood he was born 4 years BC... somehow the fact that the start of the calendar is not actually his birth does make it a little easier to accept. I mean, even for the christians it's kind of akward.

But yeah, in the French Revolution they actually introduced a new calendar. Didn't last though... just like decimal time. And that's a bit of a shame actually, not because of the fact that their calendar was not christian-themed (it can be Harry Potter-themed for all I care), but because their division of the year actually made sense. Their months were made up of three weeks of ten days. No confusing mess of weeks and months that are not in sync!

Answer 4

The passing of years is inded based on the time of Jesus. That is due less to any real proof of Jesus being the Jewish Christ (Messiah) than it does with the fact that Christianity was the state religion for so many years. It's an arbitrary point in time.

Many use BCE rather than BC in order to avoid the religious intonations when marking a year. This seems silly to me. It's just a different name for the same starting point...a rose by any other name is still a rose.

Answer 5

Yes. The current calendar was established in a Christian place and era, and there's no point in changing it now. However, there is a movement to switch to CE and BCE (common era) so that the same calendar can be used across the planet without being rejected by non-Christians.

Answer 6

Yes BC stands for before christ... and AD stands for anno domini (sp???). A lot of nonchristians are starting to use BCE, before common era, and CE, common era. There's no use in getting all nitpicky and making your own calendar, though. It'd be rather stupid to scream and rage that it's really the year 3 billion 700 million whatever...

Answer 7

I don't know who came up with it but who ever did it stuck. You can't just change time and the calendar common use your head. If all the atheists went by a different calendar this world would be done. What about months and days they are named after Greek gods no body believes in them so why do we use them. Or even the planets.

Answer 8

Actually, most social scientists and historians use BCE now, instead of BC. BCE means "Before the Common Era", though the dating remains the same.

I beleive the French did change the calendar during the French Revolution, to remove religious symbolism. You know how that turned out.

I hope you'll realize that social engineering (like all leftie programs) need violence to force them on the population. Yes, that includes Gore's global warming program. Start taking cars away from people, and you'll see real violence in the streets.

Answer 9

Most humans use some chronology other than that known as the Christian or Common Era. As for B.C. and A.D., they are passé, and we now use B.C.E. for “Before Common Era” and C.E. for “Common Era.” B.P., meaning “Before Present,” is becoming popular in some scientific writings; thus, one might read of a campsite which came into use approximately 13,500 B.P. (which would translate to 11,500 B.C.E.).


The Christian era, now almost exclusive throughout the Western world for civil chronology, was established in 525 by the Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus. He fixed the birth of Christ in the 753th year of Rome, and started counting over again, retroactively from that year. Those who suggest that his chronology is off by a few years are using the Christian Gospel accounts to get their information. Since the various Gospels contradict one another (as well as secular history), it’s not surprising that by 1910, almost a dozen different years had been proposed for the year of Christ’s birth! Certainly that number has grown since then.

Answer 10

political dominance of Christianity.
Very expensive and confusing to change calendars. It's not the only one though.
I think we currently have the Jewish year 5768
the current Islamic year is 1428 AH ((in the year of the Hijra)

and anyway, it isn't correct given that the calendar got corrected a couple of times in the last 2000 years. The Gregorian calendar (the current version) was not accepted in all countries simultaneously, so referring to AD does not give you even the definite year or date. For example George Washington was born on 11 February , his birthday is now celebrated on 22 February.

If Jesus existed as a historic person he must have been born before zero AD by the way. King Herod died 4 BC.