well i know there are diffrent belifes as to what each one stands for. but my current understanding is "Before Christ" and "After death".

although im highly assuming that they are wrong because of the obvius flaw im about to point out.

if those meanings are correct, what happend and what years are the 50 or so years jeasus was alive. because those meanings are before him and after him, nothing is during.

AD does not mean "After Death".

if those meanings are correct, what happend and what years are the 50 or so years jeasus was alive. because those meanings are before him and after him, nothing is during.

Jesus was alive for 33 years.

BC = Before Christ; before He was born

AD = After death

Jesus was born. AD 1.... And so on. Where is the ambiguity?

AD actually stands for the Latin phrase "anno domini" which means "in the year of our Lord."

quote:Originally posted by Boblong:

AD actually stands for the Latin phrase "anno domini" which means "in the year of our Lord."



This is true.

EDIT: Well, there's more to it. The entire phrase should be Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, but AD is more to the point.

[This message has been edited by Inti (edited 11-14-2005).]

quote:Originally posted by Goat Saint:

AD does not mean "After Death".

jeez your helpful. notice where i said "i dont think this is what they mean. so would you now care to tell me what they mean

quote:

Jesus was alive for 33 years.

BC = Before Christ; before He was born

AD = After death

Jesus was born. AD 1.... And so on. Where is the ambiguity?



so if jesus was born on AD 1. where was the death. im assuming "after death" means "after someone has died" (namely jeasus. and if BC is before he was born. where is the part in time after he was born, but before he died

BC = Before Christ

AD = Anno Domini (In the Year of Our Lord)

Obviously, Jesus being born 1 year "After Death" does not make sense.

In any case, the years were calculated wrong in the 1580s when the modern calendar was created, and Jesus was actually born somewhere between 4-8 BC and his death between 26-36 AD.

[This message has been edited by Shadout Mapes (edited 11-14-2005).]

quote:Originally posted by Boblong:

AD actually stands for the Latin phrase "anno domini" which means "in the year of our Lord."

OK, thanks for that. where did the after death rumor come from?

Once again, "AD" does not mean "After Death". It means Anno Domini which is Latin for "In the Year of the Lord".

This suggests AD refers to Christ's time on Earth, not after He ascended.

It's kind of simple to assume AD means After Death. I used to think that AD years started when Jesus died, so I just thought for a minute and came up with "Well, the A could stand for After, and the D could stand for Death."

It seemed logical.

quote:Originally posted by head__hunter:

OK, thanks for that. where did the after death rumor come from?

They just say After Death.... They use this as a reference of time being divided in two from the old world to the new. After Death is just an English way of saying Anno Domani.

quote:Originally posted by head__hunter:

OK, thanks for that. where did the after death rumor come from?

I'd think that not too many Latin phrases are known by people that aren't interested in that sort of thing.

I guess it stand to reason that since "BC (Before Christ)" is pretty much common knowledge, some people would jump to the conclusion that "AD" means something along the lines of "After Christ".

quote:Originally posted by hyroglyphx:

They just say After Death.... They use this as a reference of time being divided in two from the old world to the new. After Death is just an English way of saying Anno Domani.



After Death and Anno Domini mean different things.

[This message has been edited by Shadout Mapes (edited 11-14-2005).]

Yep, BC is before Jesus was born and AD is after he was born (not after he died).

Some interesting bits,

some people like to claim the US constitution contains God (well lord) but in reality it just contains the expanded english translation of AD, In the year of our lord.

Recently CE (common era) and BCE (Before common era) are commonly replacing AD and BC. Not only to secularize the dating system but because the exact year of Jesus's birth is unknown and most don't believe it was 1 AD making the AD BC system technically wrong.

quote:Originally posted by Beta69:

Recently CE (common era) and BCE (Before common era) are commonly replacing AD and BC. Not only to secularize the dating system but because the exact year of Jesus's birth is unknown and most don't believe it was 1 AD making the AD BC system technically wrong.

Keep in mind that CE and BCE are exactly synonymous to AD and BC, respectively; because of the status quo and because it's so deeply entrenched, I doubt we're going to be using any other dividing system any time soon.

It's already been answered; BC is the time Before Christ, and as arbitrary as that may be, it does provide a specific (and fitting, considering the pervasiveness of Christianity) point in history to use as a dividing line.

AD is Anno Domini (spelled correctly here and jocularly misinterpreted by Dickens in A Tale Of Two Cities as Anne Dominoes, the woman who invented the game of dominoes), or the Year of Our Lord. No sufficient explanation has been provided yet in this topic--Every year after Christ is a year in which humanity has been made aware of the Lord Jesus; therefore, it is the year of Our Lord (God)--it refers to the presence of Christ.