[HokieMom]

“In the year 364 BCE”

I love the story of Esther but stopped reading right there.

[editor-surveyor]

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What horrible thing happened to you “In the year 364 BCE?”
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[Read Write Repeat]

The usage of BCE isn't intended as an affront. Instead it's the ultimate hospitality act from those who use the Hebrew calendar to give those who use Gregorian, strictly solar or strictly lunar calendars a reference point.

The intention is to include, not exclude. We're commanded to start counting at a certain point (Exodus 12:2), so in order to fulfill the commandment and fulfill another commandment not to bear a grudge (Leviticus 19:18), the term BCE is used as not to exclude those who follow a different calendar which is much more widely followed than the Hebrew calendar.

Bearing a grudge would mean not using the term BCE, and intentionally confusing people with a point of time reference using the Hebrew calendar.

For example, if I said "the year 5777" to someone using the Gregorian calendar, they would think it was a time in the future, and not 2016/2017 strictly solar or CE.