Question: Can we determine where we are in the Metonic Cycle by counting from Creation?
Answer: There are a few reasons that we cannot simply count from the Creation year forward to determine where we are in the Metonic Cycle. Kindly consider the following:
(1) We cannot know with absolute certainty that the Metonic Cycle we observe today stretches without hiccup all the way back to Creation week. It is very possible that all months once contained 30 days. Doing the math around Noah's flood (Genesis 7-8) suggests that this was the case. Some scholars have suggested that all ancient lunar-solar calendars contained 30-day lunar months up until about 700 BC (around the time that Yahuwah moved the sundial shadow backwards for Hezekiah - 2 Kings 20:9-11). WLC does not take a dogmatic position on this issue, but the point here is that we cannot know with certainty that the 19-year pattern of embolismic years that we observe today is identical to what was observed 6,000 years ago. Heaven only knows, and Yahuwah knows best. Praise His Name.
(2) We cannot know with absolute certainty what year it is (since Creation). The projection offered by the Calendar App (6001) is simply our best estimation based on the information available. Again, WLC is not dogmatic on this point. (Note: Because we do not know exactly how many years it has been since Creation, we also cannot at this time say with certainty where we are in the cycle of Sabbatical years and Jubilee years. This is something that WLC continues to prayerfully study.)
It seems that the most reasonable way, today, to establish where we are in the Metonic cycle is to figure out the beginning of each year and then step back and look for the Metonic pattern. This is exactly how we reached our conclusion regarding the current count. We determined the first day of the year for more than 200 consecutive years and then identified where we were in the cycle.