A.D.

A.D. is the abbreviated form of Anno Domini, Latin words that mean "'in the year of our Lord,'" [1] not "after the death of Christ" as some may mistakenly think.  A.D. "indicat[es] years numbered from the supposed year of the birth of Christ. (Italics original)." [2]  Thus, A.D. does not  begin with the resurrection of Jesus but the birth of the Savior.  This makes sense since B.C. "indicat[es] years numbered back from the supposed year of the birth of Christ," [3] despite the fact that scholars cannot agree as to the year in which Jesus was born. [4], [5]

For this blog entry, "AD" (used without a period after A and after D) is to mean "After the Death of Christ."  Using this fictional definition, then AD would begin after Jesus took His last breath on the cross (assumed to be at noon on Friday), not after His resurrection (assumed to be right after midnight on Saturday, the "third" day when Jesus rose from the dead [6]).

The first questions this entry asks are where was Jesus and what was He doing during the 36 hours between noon on Good Friday when He died and right after midnight on Saturday when He resurrected.  According to the Vatican, Jesus descended into Hell so that "'the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.'" [7]

Here, more questions follow:  Are 36 hours enough to go through all 9 Circles of Dante's Inferno? [8]  Should each Circle of the Inferno get 4 hours each?  Should Jesus spend more time in each Bolgia of Circle 8, especially with the corrupt politicians in Bolgia 5, the hypocrites in Bolgia 6, the "divisive individuals" in Bolgia 9 and the falsifiers in Bolgia 10? [9]  And what about in Circle 9 where the envious murdurers and jealous killers like Cain, and betrayers like Judas Iscariot are being punished?  If Cain did not agree with God Who favored Abel's offering over his, and Judas Iscariot did not learn from Jesus and betrayed Him while on earth, why would they pay attention to the Son of God in Hell?  Would it be because of the suffering?  Would they be forgiven or was forgiveness intended only for those who did not know God or the Son of God?

Of course there are many more questions to be asked.  The one for producers of movies and television shows is why not focus on these fictional 36 hours of Christ in Hell?  With a total of at least 36 one-hour episodes which translates into 3 to 4 seasons with more or less 10 episodes per season ought to draw quite an audience and a number of high-paying advertisers.  Forecasts such as these live and die in the temporal world and are out of place in this blog which strives to peer into the eternal one but they are a part of life.

All kinds of wheeling and dealing take place in the "real" world [10] every day on every level in the fantasy AD and in the official A.D., sometimes charitably in the name of Christ, sometimes greedily in the currencies of Satan (like power and profit) and sometimes sordidly without compunction. Whichever the case maybe, Jesus, the Light of Life, is no longer alive in the flesh, so the surrounding present-day environment is by comparison not much different from the immediate dark period that blanked the world that began at noon on the first Holy Saturday.

In a sense, Holy Saturday has not ended and is continuing in the imaginery AD.  Without authoritative figures in the flesh like the Son of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary to remind the banished descendants of Adam and Eve of their predispositions to Sin and Sin's consequences, everyone, on every continent, from the very young with their innocence lost to the near-death with no innocence to spare, are in essence either on "Spring break" on the beaches of the Americas or in the battlefields in the Mideast and Africa ("Arab Spring"), doing whatever they please away from the Light, away from the watchful eyes of Christ and the protection of the mourning Blessed Virgin Mary.  The unbridled sinful acts are taking place in this fictional AD, a period equivalent to an extended Holy Saturday in which everything goes, and all Hell breaks loose, turning earth into Satan's sinister merry-go-round playground of alcohol, drugs and debauchery (in the Americas) and destruction, torture and death (in the Mideast and Africa). [11]


[1] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Anno-Domini
[2] http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ad#ad_4
[3] http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bc
[4] http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/in-what-year-was-christ-actually-born.html
[5] http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/what-year-was-jesus-born-the-answer-may-surprise-you
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024
[7] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_%28Dante%29
[9] http://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html
[10] The word "real" is in quotation marks because nobody knows what is truly Real.  Only by knowing God's Truth which is coextensive with time will the word "real" reveals its true meaning.  Because nobody can define time and tell when it began and if it ever ends, therefore nobody knows the Truth which leads to the full knowledge of what is real or not. Taking a bite of the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge has apparently done nothing to reveal the light of Truth, nor did Jesus during His lifetime disclose the whole Truth, for good reason (below), although He did show everybody the way there by His humility, His compassion, His forgiveness and His unconditional love.  In a way, Jesus' life, suffering and crucifixion were part of God's Truth that was revealed.  With this body of evidence, it is reasonable to conclude that the Truth can be rather harsh and no sinner is prepared to live It after knowing It for certain.  Perhaps that is why the images in Book of Revelation are being denied by the United States Conference Of Bishops with this statement: "symbolic descriptions are not to be taken as literal descriptions, nor is the symbolism to be pictured realistically."
[11] In this fictional AD, as in the official A.D., prayers can save souls.