If BC means "before Christ", how can Jesus' birth be recorded as between 6-4BC?
by 
Roberta Randall
ANSWERS: 2
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I have copied my answer from a similar question under Religions>Religions A-Z>Christianity>Jesus Christ: Because of errors made in the calculation of the calendar. The BC/AD year numbering system was developed hundreds of years after the birth of Jesus, and then had to be synchronized with other calendar systems of the time. Research since that time has indicated the error, and it's simpler to adjust our understanding of the relation of Christ's birth to our calendar, than it is to correct every historical record since. There are no issues of the faith here, since the Bible gives us no real instructions on calendar making, unless you count the Jewish calendar. And even it has lost its precision, due to disruptions in their record keeping over the years. Here's a good discussion of calendar making in general, including this question: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Calendar.html
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Although, B.C. stands for "Before Christ," the calendar system is based (thankfully) on a fixed date, rather than the evolving theories of the acutal date of the birth of Jesus. That fixed date was determined by the man who started the system back in the 6th century A.D., obviously without the scholarship we now have that shows that the actual date must have been between 3 and 8 years before what he defined, and we still use, as "A.D. 1".
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