What Is This

As everyone and their grandma knows, the world views time based on the birth of Jesus Christ--even the atheist. Every time someone writes or speaks or thinks the year, they acknowledge that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. No "scholar" denies that He came--that's why they counter His divinity with the "Historical Jesus" who is a figure of their collective imagination. When I say the year 1998, I am basically saying that this one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight years after the birth of Jesus Christ. It is 1998 A.D. A.D. stands for "Anno Domini" which is Latin for, "in the year of the Lord". Everybody acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Lord! When we look at the time period before the birth of Christ, we call it B.C. which stands for "Before Christ".

Now, what exactly is this C.E./B.C.E. business? About five years ago, I was reading my Jews for Jesus (real Christians love the Jewish people) magazine when I came across an article using C.E./B.C.E. for the dates. For instance, the author may have used 1948 C.E. instead of 1948 A.D. I found out that C.E. is supposed to take the place of A.D. C.E. stands for Common Era! See how it takes "the year of our Lord" right out of the picture with the stroke of a pen?! B.C.E., of course, stands for Before Common Era. Now...when I go to my dictionary it tells me that Common Era is the same as Christian Era--no it's not. But not even the term "Christian Era" is adequate for it does not acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ. "Christian Era" sounds like a bunch of people got together to form "Christianity" when in reality Jesus Christ came as the fulfilment of the ancient Jewish prophesies. "Christianity" is not a new religion, it is fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham.

The Common Era business is a not-so-sneaky way to tell time without acknowledging Jesus Christ at all. And silly people tell me Satan ain't real. He sure does inspire! Who would sit around thinking about stuff as basic as the way we calculate time? The beast is coming and he is attempting to erase all reference to Jesus Christ.

Anyway, I wrote to Jews for Jesus about the author's use of C.E./B.C.E. and was told that some Jewish people don't understand A.D. and B.C. I do not believe that this is true. There may be some unbelieving Jewish people that resent A.D. and B.C. because they DO KNOW what they mean. Even if a person didn't know, there is a such thing as a dictionary. The Jews for Jesus representative did say, however, that they wouldn't use the "Common Era" nomenclature anymore.

A little time after the Jews for Jesus incident, I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the captions next to the exhibits, guess what they used? I think you've got it old chap--Common Era (C.E.) and Before Common Era (B.C.E.). I've also seen this other places. Christian friend, I encourage you to continue the use of A.D. and B.C. for these are good and true designations for how we look at time. Let us not deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ by using the Common Era business--REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE WICKED SAY OR THINK.

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