What was the year before Jesus existed????

I have been trying to understand what the dating systems were before the (supposed) birth of Jesus.

Assuming he was born on December 25th year 1 (?) and I know people dispute the month and day, what on earth was the date, say 50 years earlier? (and please don't say BC).

If he was born in December, then logically, there was a November, October September etc leading up to that. So if there were twelve months in that year, what year was it, and when did it start and end its sequence?

I have read that some years were based on the reign of rulers at the time (Roman empire etc), but given the fact there are many religions around the world, all with different deities, and former rulers, how come we have one global date today, of March 10th 2011????

Its like thinking about the size of the universe.... my head hurts!

Help.

Everything was ripped off from the pagans.

reply to post by ckitch


We don't know the exact day he was born, but he was born in September-October of 5 B.C.

This will get you started, 7 or 6 BC was at the time of birth of Christ and 33 AD is the time of his death.

www.year-by-year.com...

I think the answer to the question he is asking since there was no BC/AD before Jesus was born (actually not true), but since Jesus was Jewish the year was 3758. Which is most likely what they would have used. Roman, using the Julian and then the Gregorian are the creators of BC/AD . And most likely compared to some of the gospels it wasn't Dec 25th, that was taken to to convert Pagans and give them the ability to celebrate a Christian Holiday and be used to it lol.. Damm organized religion. Love the teachings of Jesus, and the peaceful do unto others. To bad the Romans and Vatican had to ruin it all.

I remember when I was a kid(back when I believed everything I was told), and I thought that those initials meant this- B.C.= Before Christ; A..D = After Death. I was always curious what happened to the 33(??) years in between.

As far as an answer to your question, it is my opinion that many did not care. Long distance communication was non-existent. There was no reason or desire for everyone, who was spread out across the "flat" Earth, to keep life on a similar time schedule.

Its like thinking about the size of the universe.... my head hurts!

I have been having this issue quite frequently lately also.

Originally posted by ckitch
Assuming he was born on December 25th year 1 (?) and I know people dispute the month and day, what on earth was the date, say 50 years earlier? (and please don't say BC).

Jesus birth could not have been on the 25th December.

Luke 2:8-11 " And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

Shepherds would not be in the fields at night in Israel on December 25...its too cold.

One year before Jesus was born, the date was 1 BC.

reply to post by ckitch


According to the bible, jesus was born during passover. The Inns in town were all full so the took shelter in a stable. I believe Jesus was born in April of 4 BC. My personal opinion based on everything I've read.Having said that, I would also like to say that its all been a lie.

reply to post by troubleshooter

Shepherds would not be in the fields at night in Israel on December 25...its too cold.

I do not know anything about job of shepherds and know very little about actual OP, however i was shooting star trails (which is a night-time activity naturally) on 23 of December and while i was freezing - it was so because i was wearing t-shirt. So it is very possible to be in forest (or in fields) in Israel on December 25 at night. Wearing appropriate clothing.
My 5 cents

Originally posted by Magantice
reply to post by ckitch

 

According to the bible, jesus was born during passover. The Inns in town were all full so the took shelter in a stable. I believe Jesus was born in April of 4 BC. My personal opinion based on everything I've read.Having said that, I would also like to say that its all been a lie.

This is not correct.

Elizabeth the mother of John (John the Baptist) was six month pregnant...
...when the conception of Jesus was announced.

John was born on Passover, the 15th day of Nisan (the 1st Jewish month), Jesus would have been born six months later on the 15th day of Tishri (the 7th Jewish month). The 15th day of the 7th month begins the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34-35), also known as Sukkot. Jesus was born on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

So Jesus was born in September not December.

reply to post by ckitch

As far as Rome was concerned, events were normally dated in terms of "the year when the two consuls were X and Y". That's how things are dated in the histories of Tacitus.
An alternative was to date things "from the year the city was built".
This system actually continued for several centuries afterwards, until somebody got around to calculating when Jesus was born, and that began to gain acceptance.

To answer your question at the end, we nearly have a "global" date-system now, just as English is very nearly a "world-language" (the process is far from complete in both cases), because one of the cultures of the world became dominant over the last few centuries.

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
I remember when I was a kid(back when I believed everything I was told), and I thought that those initials meant this- B.C.= Before Christ; A..D = After Death. I was always curious what happened to the 33(??) years in between.

A.D. stands for "Anno Domini", not "After Death". Anno Domini is Latin for "Year of Our Lord", so it was intended to begin with the year of Christ's birth, though the calculation was off by a tad, so I believe Christ was born in 5BC, not 1AD (there was no "year zero", obviously.)

To to OP, Christ was not born on 25 December, Christmas is simply a festival that celebrates his coming. It is on that day because no one really knows when he was born, so the festival date is, by nature, arbitrary, and so they scheduled it near the date of pagan festivals of the Winter Solstice. Not really a conspiracy, but a sensible decision -- if you're going to tell people to stop doing things, it's easier if you give them something to do instead.

And as for what year it was, different cultures had different calendars, so the answer varies. But no one thought it was the year "1 BC".

Can one get an accurate date from the heavens - asks she facetiously

What I mean is the timing of the star of Bethlehem.

why do people keep saying "it was too cold"

Have you been to the middle east in Dec.?

Too cold? C'mon...

Originally posted by Akragon
why do people keep saying "it was too cold"

Have you been to the middle east in Dec.?

Too cold? C'mon...

The average temperature in Jerusalem in December is 16C.

reply to post by ckitch


PLEASE GIVE ME TO SATURDAY,I WILL ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS,HONESTLY AND THE BEST I,CAN FOR YOU.....I,AM A CHRISTIAN,I,HAVE ALL THIS SAVED ON MY LAPTOP,WILL GET THIS INFORMATION,FOR YOU.......YOU ARE RIGHT HE WASN'T BORN ON DECEMBER 25TH,,,,,,I CAN SHOW YOU AROUND WHAT TIME,REMEMBER THE SHEEP WERE ABIDING IN THE FIELD,THIS HAPPEN TWICE A YEAR,THATS WHEN THEY WERE HAVING THEIR LAMBS,THE REST OF TIMES,IN SHELTERS.......THANKS

ALSO YOU MUST GO BY JEWISH CALENDERS,NOT OURS,WE WENT TO THIS CALENDER,THE CATHOLICS,HAD US TO GO BY THIS CALENDER,365 DAYS,IN JEWISH CALENDERS,IT ONLY 360.DAYS.AND THEIR DAYS AND NIGHT START FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET,DIFFERENT THEN OURS....I HAVE DONE A LOT OF STUDYING......HE DIED AT 3PM ON PASSOVER DAY........THINGS I REMEMBER BY MEMORY,LIKE I SAID SATURDAY,WILL TELL ALL.GOOD NIGHT ALL.

reply to post by Lynda101

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