Have you ever thought about the origin of certain numbers in our life? Why do we have 365 days in a year? Or, why do we have 12 months in our calendar as opposed to 10? Or why do we have 24 hours in a day?
Well, of course, the answers to these questions are easily explained. Permit me to address some of these numbers only to ask a very important question for you to consider. The conclusion is a lesson in apologetics. First let’s address some of the common divisions of time.
The length of the year is determined by the length of time it takes the earth to make one complete cycle around the sun.
The length of a day is 24 hours because that is the time required for the earth to make one revolution on its axis.
The origin of the 12 months in our calendar might not be as well known. The fact is, there are 12 months in our calendar year as well as the Hebrew/Jewish calendar. So what is the explanation?
Month
The word month gets its name from the word moon and is tied to the length of time it takes the moon to orbit the earth. This lunar cycle is 29.5 days. You see how closely this time corresponds to the length of a month.
This means that every 29.5 days we have a full moon and the lunar cycle starts over again. With 11 of the 12 months containing more than 29.5 days, this explains why every 2 or 3 years we have 2 full moons in the same month. This happens if the first full moon occurs within the first couple of days in the month. Incidentally, when there are 2 full moons in the same month, the 2nd one is called a Blue moon.
But note, dividing the 365 days in the year by 29.5 yields 12.3. So each month is not exactly 29.5 days long. This explains why the months range from 28 days to 31 days.
Year
Again, one year is determined by the length of time the earth takes to circle the sun. But that time is not exactly 365 days. It is very nearly 365 days and 6 hours. This explains why every 4 years we must add a day, February 29, in a leap year. This is also the reason why the spring and fall equinox is not on the exact same day each year.
The fact is the earth’s journey is not exactly 365 days and 6 hours. It is a few minutes shy of 6 hours. Thus every few hundred years, a leap year has to be skipped.
Day
Of course, the length of a day is set by the rotation of the earth on its axis. It takes the earth 24 hours to make one revolution.
The point of all of this is to say there is a plausible, scientific explanation for all of these times.
The length of a day is determined by the rotation of the earth on its axis.
The length of a year is the orbit of earth around sun.
The length of a month is tied to the lunar orbit and produces the moon’s phases.
So where does the length of a week come from? Why are there 7 days in a week?
How does an unbeliever answer this???