B.C. and A.D. Versus B.C.E. and
C.E.
The first part of this message is from Catholic Dispatch.
Their URL is at the end of their article.
Just Say No to "Anno Domini" ?
What would you think if a Catholic were to all of sudden insist upon creating
new names for any of the days of the week, or inventing new names for some of
the months? After all, isn't Friday named after the mythological god "Frigg",
and Wednesday after "Woden"? Or how about the month of January named after
"Janus", the god of gates and doorways? The list could go on. How absurd it
would be for a Catholic to say that they cannot use these names in conscience
because they do not believe in false gods! The terms have become the
conventional norm, and therefore their use by Catholics has never been construed
to imply belief. This situation is merely hypothetical to prove a point. The
Catholic Church has always allowed their use.
This is mentioned because we have a similar circumstance arising today which
involves certain groups of non-Christians, and it involves "history dating".
Quite familiar for all of us to see is the fact that:
"Julius Caesar was
assassinated in 44 B.C."
"Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.
Imagine someone going out of their way to add something to the end of
these statements; someone writing that "Columbus discovered America in 1492
C.E." or that "Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.E."
It is not just
your imagination.
Today there is a move on within the press and public
schools to, once and for all, replace the age-old, familiar designations of B.C.
and A.D.. As we all should know, B.C. is the abbreviation for "Before
Christ", and A.D. is the Latin abbreviation for "Anno Domini" which is literally
translated as "in the year of the Lord". The changes made are C.E. (Common Era)
and B.C.E (Before the Common Era). It doesn't surprise Catholics to see such an
anti-Christian campaign, but who is behind this, when did it start, and what can
we say to their excuses?
The first thing to be noted is that the people who defend such a change use the
pretext that it is done "because they DO NOT BELIEVE that Jesus is the Lord", or
that "they do not want to OFFEND those who do not believe Jesus is the Lord."
Such a pretext is strikingly odd for a few reasons:
1) If they were so
conscientious about giving the false impression that they believe Jesus is the
Lord, why do they not likewise worry about the impression that is given when
they use the names of the DAYS and MONTHS which represent pagan gods? Why do
they not push also for these changes?
2) Secondly, since it is customary
to omit the A.D. after a date in this era (e.g., simply 1864) then why should it
not be sufficient to LEAVE IT this way since what they object to is already NOT
THERE? Why go to lengths to type in C.E.?
3) Also, since it is customary
to omit the A.D., the pretext that they do not want to "offend" is ruined by the
fact that to place a C.E. in a place where there was NOTHING only actively
offends those who believe it should be A.D. Do they really care about
"offending"?
4) Lastly, such a designation as B.C.E. and C.E., (even
were one to invent B.X.Y. and X.Y.), does not change the fact that this FOCAL
POINT OF HISTORY is still THE BIRTH OF CHRIST with the SAME numbering scheme. So
to change the "era" to "common" becomes rather silly.
Common to whom? It is
basically only "common" to Christians of Western Civilization, who reverence
that historical birth, and such Christians do not want such a change. It is by
no means common to Jews, Moslems and Orientals who have a complete different
numbering system.
What this issue boils down to is this:
Those who make that extra effort
to write C.E. rather than leaving it customarily blank, are obviously making a
statement of protest against Christ and what is left of Christian Society.
What is the origin of this abbreviation, and who is primarily responsible
for its use? Looking at a 1930s Webster's Dictionary in the APPENDIX OF
ABBREVIATIONS, we find "C.E." listed as: "Civil Engineer; Christian Endeavor;
Church of England". Considering how often (if ever!) we have seen the
abbreviation C.E. used for "Christian Endeavor", we can safely conclude that
such an abbreviation for "Common Era" then, is either a new invention or, at the
most, existed among a very, very small minority at that time. Research on the
Internet for a clue as to what group invented such a term, reveals that the
abbreviations B.C.E. & C.E. were created by the Jews.
The most revealing evidence can be found on a strictly Jewish web site designed
by an Observant Jew. The web site contains everything of the basics of Judaism.
One of the pages entitled, "Glossary of Jewish Terminology" states that,
"Following is a partial list of Hebrew and Yiddish terms used on this web site".
Among this list of HEBREW and YIDDISH terms can be found the abbreviations C.E.
and B.C.E. even though they are abbreviations of English words! It is listed
there as:
C.E.- Common (or Christian) Era. Used instead of A.D., because
A.D.
means "the Year of our L-rd," and we do not believe that Christ is our
L-rd.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, this pretext of "disbelief" does not explain
its use when it is already customary to omit the A.D. It most certainly goes
deeper than that. The internet research for "C.E." came upon a web page on
medieval history mentioning "800-1200 C.E." authored by a Paul Eliasberg, a
non-religious Jew from northern Europe. To Mr. Eliasberg was commented, "Using
C.E. rather than the usual_nothing_ seems... to be a sort of outright protest to
using A.D." Mr. Eliasberg responded, "It is. In a way I'm not just non-Christian
but more anti-Christianity."
Another place on the Internet was found:
"As a boy in Jewish Sunday
School I was taught to use B.C.E. and C.E. instead of B.C. and A.D."
And we
find a statement by a man named Ken Jacobs:
"the BCE/CE convention began
(AFAIK) with Maimonides, who proposed BCE/ACE (meaning no more or less than:
before/after the start of the Christian Era) as a means of avoiding the
utterance of `Anno Domini.'"
This is all understandable since this reflects the ancient Jewish tradition
which forbade even the mention of the name of "Jesus" in a Jewish household.
This is largely based on their religious books called the Talmud, considered to
be a "sequel" to the Hebrew Bible, which were the basis of Jewish religious
life. Such books are comprised of volumes and volumes of "rambling commentary"
by Jewish Teachers who had no religious function whatsoever (since the Jewish
Aaronic priesthood became extinct). Such were written in the 3rd, 4th and 5th
centuries primarily as a response and opposition to Christianity.
Being that the "Jewish" subject is such a sensitive issue today, it would be
well to quote a few Jewish sources below. Considering all of the "Jewish
awareness" we have today in society, one may wonder why the content of the
Talmud is not common knowledge by now:
"The Talmud was regarded almost as
the supreme authority by the majority of Jews...Even the Bible was relegated to
a secondary place."
- Jewish Encyclopedia
"The absolute superiority of the Talmud over the Bible of Moses must be
recognized by all." - Archives Israelites
It is quite in accord with
Jewish teaching to invent such a dating scheme because the Talmudic scholar
Laible admits that during the period of the Talmudists hatred of Jesus became
"the most national trait of Judaism", and that "the hatred and scorn of the Jews
was always directed in the first place against the person of Jesus". In such
writings, rather than use Jesus' name, they refer to Him as "dog", "sorcerer",
"fool", "profane person", "liar", "impostor", etc.
"We must not forget that
in the seventeenth century, scholars...had brought forth from oblivion old
volumes of Hebrew polemic, written in refutation of the Trinity and Incarnation
and attacking all dogmas and forms of Christianity with a bitterness entirely
Judaic, and with all the subtlety of those peerless casuists who created the
Talmud." - Bernard Lazare, "Anti-Semitism". 1903 A.D.
The purpose here is to give a strong and authoritative reason why the Jews would
create BCE/CE and try to push it upon society. Of course, this does not imply
that every Jew has such a thing in mind, nor that every Hebrew-blooded person
is an anti-Christian. Basically, such a change is welcomed generally by any
anti-Christian, but obviously has its origin in Jewish religious tradition.
Such a change to C.E. can only be effectively made within society were it to be
promoted in the school system. In the confines of the student academic world we
find the subtle conditioning of students to make them think that this change has
already been made and is now a 'matter of fact'. Here we see this in a student
exercise found on a proprietary educational site on the Internet:
"Performance Assessments-Social Studies." "Write a recommendation
for going
back to B.C. and A.D., keeping new forms of B.C.E. and C.E.,
or using another
pair of abbreviations."
It is strongly suggested that this tract be spread to others through e-mail and
posted to computer forums. All are encouraged to put themselves in the habit of
writing dates with an A.D. even if it means fighting the initial feeling of
"nerdishness". It is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, and the subject is too
important not to do something positive to counteract the de-Christianization of
our country, and our world.
If anyone presents the false argument of "Separation of Church and State", give
them the quote by the Supreme Court in 1892 A.D.:
"Our laws and our
institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the
Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this
sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically
Christian."
(c) 1997 The Catholic Dispatch cdia@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~cdia
REPRINT FREELY WITH THIS INFORMATION.
If you get your Church bulletins from Liguori
Publications, you will find that they are now using the Jewish B.C.E. and C.E.
instead of the Christian B.C. and A.D.. It has happened several times, and by
different writers. This is anti-Christian, anti-Catholic, and anti-Christ.
The latest example is dated September 27, 1998 and is on the front page of
the bulletin in an article by John F. Craghan.
Two previous examples were in
the June 21, 1998, and September 6, 1998 editions of the bulletin in articles by
Elsie Hainz McGrath.
I have raised objection twice with Liguori Publications
and they have responded with "theologians are telling them to do it". Please
take note, they said "theologians" and not the Vatican.
The URL for Liguori
Publications is: http://www.liguori.org/
Here are a few more notes on the subject which I
acquired from various sources...
The point within this small section is to acquaint the
reader with the terms "BCE/CE" which the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
(Jehovahs Witnesses) employ instead of B.C. or A.D.. B.C. stands for "Before
Christ" and A.D. stand for "Anno Domini" or "In the Year of our Lord", clearly
Godly, Christian terminology.
Instead of using these simple terms, the WTB&TS use B.C.E (Before the Common
Era) and C.E. (Common Era) to depict time. The WTB&TS does not explain why
they have decided to use this terminology instead of the commonly used
terminology, they simply just state what the terms means and continue in their
explanation of what the Old Testament contains (39 Books) and that the New
Testament contains 27 Books.
I never dreamed this would turn out to be a sinister as it did. It turns out
that only Christians have ever used the terms "B.C." and "A.D.". Jewish people
use the terms "Before the Common Era" and "Common Era" because they deny the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.
As a boy in Jewish Sunday School I was taught to use B.C.E. (Before the Common
Era) and C.E.(Common Era) instead of B.C. and A.D.. Since A.D. refers to "Year
of our Lord" and Jews do not recognize Jesus as the lord we avoided the usual
term.
The references are to "Before the Common Era" (B.C.E.) and the "Common Era"
(C.E.). They are related to B.C. and A.D., but avoid somewhat the Christocentric
implications of those initials.
Someone wrote that these stand for Before the Current Era and Current Era. This
is close, but not quite. They stand for Before the Common Era, and Common Era.
This is a way of stating times in a non-Christian way, since they make no
reference to Christ, as B.C. and A.D. do. Not everyone is Christian, which is
why B.C.E. and C.E. are now used more often than B.C. and A.D. Hope this helped.
What does B.C.E. & C.E. mean and why does the Jewish community use them
rather than B.C. & A.D.?
Our Question and Pastor R-----'s Answer...
Dear Pastor R-----, I am confused as to why the Jewish people and a lot of
people dealing with the Bible and Israel date history using B.C.E. and C.E.
rather than the most common used B.C. and A.D.. Is there a Jewish
reason?
Dear Bev, shalom,
This is a fast but pointed answer, but I
know you can quickly get more information by looking at the local public
library. Research on our calendar's development, ok.? So, a simple help will do
from me. B.C., meaning "before Christ," & A.D., meaning "in the year of our
Lord", are abbreviations primarily used/developed by Christians. Their use
implies the acceptance of Jesus Christ as divine, a concept rejected by
traditional rabbinic Judaism. Hence, in Jewish scholarship B.C.E., meaning
"before the Common Era," & C.E., meaning the "Common Era," were introduced
to draw a distinction between Christian and Jewish belief.
Interestingly, the fallacy of this belief is, no matter if
they use AD-BC or CE-BCE, the time of the transition is still the same, and what
or who caused that transition? So what have they gained?
The simple reason why the WTB&TS does not use BC or AD
is because they wish to distance their members from the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. They refuse to acknowledge Him in all their ways. Also, they forget that
someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, to the glory of God
the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord!
(Philippians 2:11) Dan 7:25, Acts
10:15,11:9
As you can plainly see, the use of C.E. and B.C.E. are strictly
anti-Christian and anti-Catholic. We Christians should be alert to this, yet
another attempt, to remove Christ from our lives. It is appalling that Catholic
organizations such as Liguori Publications are aiding and abetting yet another
crucifixion of Christ.
Liguori! Why are you doing this? What possible reason
could you have for removing Christ from our time measure which has been used for
centuries?
I urge all Christians who love Jesus Christ to stand up and let your voices be
heard, that we will not tolerate these modernist liberal intrusions into our
traditional values.
One priest on EWTN devoted his homily to this subject,
and he stated,
ALL CATHOLICS SHOULD USE B.C.E AND C.E., BUT SHOULD CONTINUE USING
A.D. AND B.C..
I certainly will..., will you?
Compiled by Bob Stanley, October 10, 1998
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