NYT confirms!

What I just found in today's New York Times:

 

 

Majic by numbers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17gilbert.html?th&emc=th

 

"...A recent study of antibiotic treatment published in a leading medical journal began by noting that "the usual treatment recommendation of 7 to 10 days for uncomplicated pneumonia is not based on scientific evidence" and went on to show that an abbreviated course of 3 days was every bit as effective as the usual course of 8. My doctor had recommended 7.

 

Where in the world had 7 come from? Italy! Seven is a magic number because only it can make a week, and it was given this particular power in 321 A.D. by the Roman emperor Constantine, who officially reduced the week from 8 days to 7.

 

The problem isn't that Constantine's week was arbitrary — units of time are often arbitrary ... The problem is that Constantine didn't know a thing about bacteria, and yet modern doctors continue to honor his edict.

 

The magic that magic numbers do is all too often black. They hold special significance for terrestrial mammals with hands and watches, but they mean nothing to streptococcus or the value of Google. Which is why we should be suspicious when the steps to sobriety correspond to a half turn of our planet, when the eternal commandments of God correspond to the architecture of our paws and when the habits of highly effective people ... correspond to the whims of a dead emperor."

 

 

[Comment: So there ya have it: the NYT confirming that Constantine, not only changed the day of rest, but instituted the cyclical/unending 7-day week. It was at this time that the Jews were forced to start keeping the Sabbath day on the "7th day of the week" - rather than observing the New Moon festival, then working 6 days, and then resting on the 7th, as commanded by Scripture. The Sabbath day is indeed the test commandment: to see whether YOU will follow the traditions of dead men or follow the commandments of Yahweh...]