This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world...

[Hopeful]

Let me know what you find. If I am wrong I would like to be corrected.

I found this on Wiki'...
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) notations used by Dionysius Exiguus. The two notation systems are numerically equivalent: "2022 CE" and "AD 2022" each describe the current year; "400 BCE" and "400 BC" are the same year.[1][2]

The expression traces back to 1615, when it first appeared in a book by Johannes Kepler as the Latin: annus aerae nostrae vulgaris (year of our common era),[3][4] and to 1635 in English as "Vulgar Era".[a] The term "Common Era" can be found in English as early as 1708,[5] and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish religious scholars. Since the later 20th century, CE and BCE are popular in academic and scientific publications as religiously neutral terms.[6][7] They are used by others who wish to be sensitive to non-Christians by not explicitly referring to Jesus as "Christ" nor as Dominus ("Lord") through use of the other abbreviations.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

I found this on Wiki'...
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) notations used by Dionysius Exiguus. The two notation systems are numerically equivalent: "2022 CE" and "AD 2022" each describe the current year; "400 BCE" and "400 BC" are the same year.[1][2]

The expression traces back to 1615, when it first appeared in a book by Johannes Kepler as the Latin: annus aerae nostrae vulgaris (year of our common era),[3][4] and to 1635 in English as "Vulgar Era".[a] The term "Common Era" can be found in English as early as 1708,[5] and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish religious scholars. Since the later 20th century, CE and BCE are popular in academic and scientific publications as religiously neutral terms.[6][7] They are used by others who wish to be sensitive to non-Christians by not explicitly referring to Jesus as "Christ" nor as Dominus ("Lord") through use of the other abbreviations.

So I wasn’t that far off. The undeniable fact is that the years are measured beginning with the time of Christ or the number of years afterwards. These are the years of our Lord and they can refuse to acknowledge that in words but He remains the pivotal point in human history the world over, like it or not. The whole world is forced to count the years since Christ even if they use terms that are absurd (we are living in an era in which we are in common.)

A slight deviation from the OP.

 

[Hopeful]

So I wasn’t that far off. The undeniable fact is that the years are measured beginning with the time of Christ or the number of years afterwards. These are the years of our Lord and they can refuse to acknowledge that in words but He remains the pivotal point in human history the world over, like it or not. The whole world is forced to count the years since Christ even if they use terms that are absurd (we are living in an era in which we are in common.)

A slight deviation from the OP.

Everything the "world" does is an effort to eclipse the knowledge of Christ.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Everything the "world" does is an effort to eclipse the knowledge of Christ.

“They conceal the truth in unrighteousness.”

 

[T. E. Smith]

This is an excellent question and I have no idea. I can tell you that the move to change the recognized term "AD" which means year of our Lord into CE Common Era came from the Jews. They did not like the reference to the Lord. Ce makes no sense whatsoever.

I wasn't aware it came from the minds of the unbelieving Jews.
I always though it came form the atheists.

That was what I had heard. Now maybe I am wrong although one group is not mutually exclusive from the other.

Some Christians love to blame two groups of people in particular for all the things they see as "wrong" in the world: "Unbelieving" Jews, and atheists. When I first heard the term CE some years ago, I did not ask my parents what it meant, I looked it up online.

I did that because by this point I had learned that my parents would tell me false things that fit their theological narrative. So, I then asked them what it meant. They also told me it came from the "Jews who reject Christ", and I was able to refute them. Neither of them had any idea that Kepler used it, nor the relation between "common" and "vulgar."

The idea that CE and BCE is an anti-Christian conspiracy, however, has no basis in reality.

 

[Hopeful]

Some Christians love to blame two groups of people in particular for all the things they see as "wrong" in the world: "Unbelieving" Jews, and atheists. When I first heard the term CE some years ago, I did not ask my parents what it meant, I looked it up online.

I did that because by this point I had learned that my parents would tell me false things that fit their theological narrative. So, I then asked them what it meant. They also told me it came from the "Jews who reject Christ", and I was able to refute them. Neither of them had any idea that Kepler used it, nor the relation between "common" and "vulgar."

The idea that CE and BCE is an anti-Christian conspiracy, however, has no basis in reality.

Was Kepler a real Christian?

 

[T. E. Smith]

Was Kepler a real Christian?

Yes, Kepler was a Lutheran. Not only that, he incorporated theistic arguments into his works. So clearly he was no unbelieving Jew or atheist.

Different Christians have different levels of intolerant standards of what makes a "real Christian." But I hope we can all agree that Lutherans are Christians.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Some Christians love to blame two groups of people in particular for all the things they see as "wrong" in the world: "Unbelieving" Jews, and atheists. When I first heard the term CE some years ago, I did not ask my parents what it meant, I looked it up online.

I did that because by this point I had learned that my parents would tell me false things that fit their theological narrative. So, I then asked them what it meant. They also told me it came from the "Jews who reject Christ", and I was able to refute them. Neither of them had any idea that Kepler used it, nor the relation between "common" and "vulgar."

The idea that CE and BCE is an anti-Christian conspiracy, however, has no basis in reality.

You are in your teens. I am much older and can tell you both in academics and otherwise, AD and BC were used and CE not. This was for decades. Even Wiki says the Jews pushed in into common use. The change in its being in common use was a decision by those who did not like AD. It was not used when I was educated. So your youth means you do not know what was commonly used whereas those decades older do. We were there.

 

[T. E. Smith]

You are in your teens. I am much older and can tell you both in academics and otherwise, AD and BC were used and CE not. This was for decades. Even Wiki says the Jews pushed in into common use. The change in its being in common use was a decision by those who did not like AD. It was not used when I was educated. So your youth means you do not know what was commonly used whereas those decades older do. We were there.

Oh yeah? You were there when it was first used, by Kepler? In English it was first used in 1708, were you there then? The Jews began regularly using it as early as 1825 - were you there then?

"It was not used when I was educated." Yes it obviously was (unless you're several centuries old), just not in the education facility and/or textbooks that you used.

It's not so much that they "don't like" AD, but rather that BC/AD are religious terms, whereas BCE and CE are not. They are religiously neutral. They pay more respect to those who are not Christian. In a pluristic age, CE is most appropriate.

And by the way, I can read older publications, and I have. I've read 20th century academic papers that regularly used the term. Just because I wasn't alive when those papers were written does not mean I can't read them. No, it was commonly used.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Oh yeah? You were there when it was first used, by Kepler? In English it was first used in 1708, were you there then? The Jews began regularly using it as early as 1825 - were you there then?

"It was not used when I was educated." Yes it obviously was (unless you're several centuries old), just not in the education facility and/or textbooks that you used.

It's not so much that they "don't like" AD, but rather that BC/AD are religious terms, whereas BCE and CE are not. They are religiously neutral. They pay more respect to those who are not Christian. In a pluristic age, CE is most appropriate.

And by the way, I can read older publications, and I have. I've read 20th century academic papers that regularly used the term. Just because I wasn't alive when those papers were written does not mean I can't read them. No, it was commonly used.

It was not taught in schools on any level. And it’s a really nonsensical term as the years after our Lord don’t have any more commonality than before. AD says something. CE says nothing.

 

[T. E. Smith]

It was not taught in schools on any level. And it’s a really nonsensical term as the years after our Lord don’t have any more commonality than before. AD says something. CE says nothing.

Correct that it was not taught in grade level schools, though in college textbooks it is. "CE says nothing." Do you understand what the term means? It doesn't seem like you do.

So let me explain. Kepler used CE or "vulgar era" to distinguish between the "regnal year" and the dating system used by the common people. ("Vulgar", of course, just meant "of ordinary people", and had no derogatory meaning.) So yes it does mean something. In modern culture we don't really have regnal years, but when CE was first used, they did.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Correct that it was not taught in grade level schools, though in college textbooks it is. "CE says nothing." Do you understand what the term means? It doesn't seem like you do.

So let me explain. Kepler used CE or "vulgar era" to distinguish between the "regnal year" and the dating system used by the common people. ("Vulgar", of course, just meant "of ordinary people", and had no derogatory meaning.) So yes it does mean something. In modern culture we don't really have regnal years, but when CE was first used, they did.

I’m very sure if you the man on the street they don’t know that meaning. Hence it doesn’t give any information as the has no more in common in 100AD than 100 BC.

Different subject, but in science when you “observe” something, it doesn’t mean, by definition, that someone merely TOLD you something. Observing is verifiable by anyone looking. A subject merely telling you is not. By being there and listening to their subjective feelings, you cannot verify their verbal account. You can only say they “felt” a certain way. Doesn’t mean what they felt is valid.

 

[T. E. Smith]

I’m very sure if you the man on the street they don’t know that meaning. Hence it doesn’t give any information as the has no more in common in 100AD than 100 BC.

Most people are ignorant of most things. As a character in a novel once said to another character, "I suspect that what you don't know would fill several books."

But you're being inconsistent, because if you ask a person what AD means, they typically can't tell you either. Some of them will say "I don't know", but most Christians will say "after death", which is wrong. So by your logic, we should abolish the term AD as well.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

Most people are ignorant of most things. As a character in a novel once said to another character, "I suspect that what you don't know would fill several books."

But you're being inconsistent, because if you ask a person what AD means, they typically can't tell you either. Some of them will say "I don't know", but most Christians will say "after death", which is wrong. So by your logic, we should abolish the term AD as well.

It was a weak point I made but it is true that AD was the common term until recently. And it’s not a secret CE was adopted to get Christ out of the reference to time, that is, the pivotal point when the world started counting years. There is nothing about these years that is common nor do people have more in common.

 

[T. E. Smith]

And it’s not a secret CE was adopted to get Christ out of the reference to time, that is, the pivotal point when the world started counting years.

True, but not out of anti-Christ sentiment, but rather out of a desire to be more inclusive. Also, dates were obviously kept long before Christ's birth, and long after without reference to him.

You say there is nothing common - yes there is. The BC/AD or BCE/CE calendar is now one that everyone has in common, whereas in the past, different civilizations had their own dates, which could even be based on nothing but the rulers of their countries. That was what Kepler was getting at.

Furthermore, the world has become a lot more interconnected in the CE age than in the BCE age.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

True, but not out of anti-Christ sentiment, but rather out of a desire to be more inclusive. Also, dates were obviously kept long before Christ's birth, and long after without reference to him.

You say there is nothing common - yes there is. The BC/AD or BCE/CE calendar is now one that everyone has in common, whereas in the past, different civilizations had their own dates, which could even be based on nothing but the rulers of their countries. That was what Kepler was getting at.

Furthermore, the world has become a lot more interconnected in the CE age than in the BCE age.

I’m weary of this.

 

[Mister E]

True, but not out of anti-Christ sentiment, but rather out of a desire to be more inclusive. Also, dates were obviously kept long before Christ's birth, and long after without reference to him.

You say there is nothing common - yes there is. The BC/AD or BCE/CE calendar is now one that everyone has in common, whereas in the past, different civilizations had their own dates, which could even be based on nothing but the rulers of their countries. That was what Kepler was getting at.

Furthermore, the world has become a lot more interconnected in the CE age than in the BCE age.

According to the Jewish Calendar, it 5782. Are you aware of a different calendar with different years noted prior to the BCE implementation? The Mayans used a system that repeats every 18,980 days (~52 years) and included 5182 year cycles of time. It noted astronomical cycles that occur only every 25,920 years.

There’s also Chinese, Hindu, Persian, Ethiopian.... and so on. These were not common, but individual records, but he who rules makes the rules.

 

[Dorothy Mae]

And then the end will come.

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 (NASB)

Some say the "end" hasn't come because this gospel hasn't been preached in the whole world. Paul writes otherwise:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Romans 1:8 (NASB)

but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; Romans 16:26 (NASB)

the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world Colossians 1:5-6 (NASB)

the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven Colossians 1:23 (NASB)

I wonder how Paul, called by Christ Himself, could've been so wrong.

Of course, Paul was right, and the end of that era came.

 

[Mister E]

Yep.

And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:51-53 (NASB)

The living were raised "to newness of life" through the gospel. Are you suggesting to be saved isn't to be raised from the dead???

It's amazing how many people ignore or simply dismiss this record.

 

[Mister E]

Similarly, many talk about "the second coming" in future terms without thinking it through.

Jesus was born in a barn-- that was his first coming.
Then he was killed and his body was laid in a tomb.
Then he arose from that tomb and appeared to many. He came back. --His second coming.