And beyond that, what if a year from now, we'd be wishing each other a Happy New Year for 2007? That is--what if we were progressing through life as time decreased? (Go ahead. You can read that again.)
Our ancestors--the ones before Jesus' time--did exactly that. When they started a new year, it was, "Goodbye 485. Hello 484." This generates a million and one questions. Who told them to count down? Logic would seem to strongly push for the contrary. What was the circulating theory about what would happen when they reached zero? (An old-world Y2K, maybe?) And who made the switch at Christ's birth, splitting time for the rest of history between those decades "Before Christ" and those designated as "Anno Domini"? This is particularly puzzling, given the biblical impression that few even recognized or acknowledged His birth. And what about those who blatantly didn't accept Christ? (And for that matter, those today who still haven't?) The answer may lie in the fact that time, as we calculate it today, was adopted in the relatively recent past. Fine. But then how did people living in that day keep track of it?
Think about it. It's all a little weird. But then, time is just like that. Contemplate it for any length, and you'll find one lobe of your brain spinning counterclockwise circles while another twirls the opposite. It's a peculiar and curious thing.
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