BC and AD...in five minutes or less

Here's a quick explanation of what BC and AD mean. I also take a peek into the origins of these terms and what is an acceptable labeling system today.

Here's some sources:

Here's some photo credits:
(in order of appearance)

[lyra]

“i thought AD meant after death..”
yeah me too sounds reasonable
“that doesn’t make ANY SENSE”
LMAO OKAY I-IM SORRY

[thekidfromiowa]

Why not use Latin for both.
Before Christ in Latin is Ante Christum. So you'd get AC/BC*.

Originally write AC/DC. Twas a typo.

[davidu]

It says a lot that people are so up in ARMS of the labels of our timeline and offended by Christ they have to call it an "error" even though the timeline is not in error. Just proves more He was who He said. The world hates it's creator.

[nalisaed]

In name of everyone who watches history channels on youtube, I YOU.

[rightmano]

i was 22 years old when i learned what A.D stood for. me and my friends always thought it meant "After Dinosaurs" 😅

[zoe]

Thank you so much!!! You are an excellent teacher to be so lucid in less than 5 minutes. I have often wondered why authors would say 538 BC to 332 BC and now I understand it's because of the counting down to Jesus' birth.

Using the number line was an excellent choice to help with processing the information. I understand that when writing the year now the correct thing is to put AD before the year as oppose to the years we indicate before Christ: although I see from the comments some of your viewers did not get that.... so it is
332 BC and
AD 2020
Truly appreciated this lesson, it was not drawn out just straight to the point. 👍👍

[VikkiTG]

Wow thank you. I’m helping my son with a project and he asked me what A.D and B.C meant and wanted an explanation and I couldn’t give it to him…. I love that I watched this

[colourbox]

well even if you use the BCE/CE version, it still pertains to the same era which is before and after Jesus came.

[Diary_Memories]

The Background Music is like we walked in to the Casino and having beer and the bartender explaining AD and BC..

[thatgirlfromktown]

When I was younger I thought BC meant "Before Crucifixion" & AD stood for "After Death". I feel like the people who thought AD stood for 'after death', thought the same as me with BC. That is why "After Death" probably seemed right to people.

[TapesNstuffS]

To me it's silly because the calendar that "CE/BCE" refers to is tied with Christianity. If the goal is to remove religion then why not just start counting all over and make a new one and leave the old one alone instead of trying to hide what started it.

[Super-qrwm]

So we are all in agreement that jesus is the centre point of the timeline ?

this comment is years old and its not even their account anymore, stop replying.

[joshrichards]

BCE: Before Christian Era
CE: Christian Era

Works for me.

[Anna-mybj]

Why did u stop posting you actually such a good explainer.

[sgillman]

We literally were taught this in 1st grade (at least I was).
There should not be anyone with at least an elementary school education that is confused.
Unless you're gen z. Then all bets are off

[dann]

It is fascinating to point out that even if you use BCE and CE, the beginning of the "common era" starts with the birth of Christ. Otherwise it could have been just one continuous timeline. The event of Christ's birth still separates the two timelines.
Jesus is a historical person whether you are religious or not and he is mentioned in both Scripture and secular ancient historians, so you could still call it B.C. and A.D. even if you have some sort of "problem" with Jesus.
It just shows how powerful and significant Jesus' impact was on the world, and still is today.

[electricpizza]

3:13 How do authors who want a more secular approach handle the names of the months? January is named for the Roman god Janus and March is named for the Roman god Mars. And how about the days of the week? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are named after the Norse gods Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Frey. If one is concerned about a "secular approach", shouldn't those terms be changed too? Why do these who advocate for removing BC and AD only care about removing Christianity and not the other religious influences?

[ecoroom]

Which year would it be today if it was not accoding to this concept?

[vonilao]

BCE - before confused era, CE - confused era ... ok i got it ... 😂😉😉😉😊😋😋😋😊😉😎😎😎😊😊😙😉😙😙😀😀😁😂🤣🤣😂😁😁

[Rogerio]

Your video is most interesting; unfortunately, it does not answer to something that has puzzled me during a number of years. That is: How the 12 months used today at AD (or CE) can be used to settle a precise date in BC (or BCE)? More specifically, July was created to glorify Julius Caesar who died in March 44 BC; then how can we reach the date of birth of Alexander the Great - July 20, 356 BC? When this hero was born, July did not exist yet? Is not that so? I will appreciate your reply very much. Best regards and thank you.