Ages In Scripture

newchristian99 · Jul 25, 2007

Hello Everyone

I'm a new christian and i'm sure i will be annoying plenty of people with lots of simplistic questions over the coming months.

However i am looking to improve my knowledge and understanding and bring up any confusions i have about scripture and christianity. Hope this is okay!

Anyway i was in church recently and the pastor mentioned that Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark and another man possibly named "methusala" was like 750 years old. Excuse my vague information but how can this be? Surely people don't live to these extraordinary ages? Can someone help me out here.

BrBob · Jul 25, 2007

the men of old, before the flood, lived extraordinarily long lives. Methusala lived about 969 years, Adam was 930 when he died, Noah finally died at 950 years old. There were many others who lived long, long lives.

When the flood happened, God shortened the lives of men. I don't know why but the standard became 70 years. Before the flood the earth was much different and I believe that conditions were more favorable for life to continue.

I have lots of questions for God when I finally get to see him face-to-face. The age thing just might be one of them.

Bob
Spearfish, SD

BloodwashedPilgrim · Jul 25, 2007

Well, consider the law of entropy. Plainly stated, things get worse over time, not better. I believe in both a pre-flood canopy, which some believe would have filtered out many of the harmful effects of the sun upon our lifespans and just provided a more favorable living condition for mankind and in the compounding effects of sin. Sin has a decaying effect upon life, sin is what caused death, in every sense; spiritually and physically. Sin has been eroding away all mankind slowly and slowly as its effects increase. Yes, men did live to such ages in the pre-flood era, but life expectancies have dropped and I believe it greatly to be due to sin's effects. That fits in with what Scripture teaches concerning sin's effects. Hopefully that helps with your question. Don't ever think you will get annoying, it is wonderful to know your faith, we as believers are commanded to be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is within us (1 Peter). If you have any other questions or need some more clarification about this one, keep asking.

Much love in Christ!

KerrMetric · Jul 25, 2007

These are mythology not real ages.

KerrMetric · Jul 25, 2007

BloodwashedPilgrim said:
I believe in both a pre-flood canopy,

I'm sorry you ignore high school level physics.

which some believe would have filtered out many of the harmful effects of the sun upon our lifespans and just provided a more favorable living condition for mankind and in the compounding effects of sin.

Some believe anything they like the sound of to mesh with preconceptions too.

Yes, men did live to such ages in the pre-flood era,

Well apart from the fact of no evidence for it, many examples against it, biological reasons it cannot be true. Just those little details.

BloodwashedPilgrim · Jul 25, 2007

KerrMetric said:
I'm sorry you ignore high school level physics.

Some believe anything they like the sound of to mesh with preconceptions too.

Well apart from the fact of no evidence for it, many examples against it, biological reasons it cannot be true. Just those little details.

Thank you for your input. I would appreciate it if rather than simply blather at me you would show me your support for your stance, that way I can learn as well. I never really liked physics, but I fail to see how that violates anything to do with physics, but I wouldn't doubt that you have taken a few more courses than I, so please inform me. Could you please state your examples against it? And as far as biology goes, I would say that any biological confines could be the combination of God's implementation of them and sin's degenerate effects. I appreciate your view and any knowledge you can impart to me, but please do not just make opinionated snaps at me, if our goal is to help this brother with his comprehension of such things we should not make it into personal attacks. Thank you again for your insight and input.

Much love in Christ.

david_x · Jul 25, 2007

Well apart from the fact of no evidence for it, many examples against it, biological reasons it cannot be true. Just those little details.

What if I were to live to be say 500. Why is that impossible. (My family does cling to life, but not that long) There is dog tissue that is nearly 5,000 years old. (or maybe it was 50,000, not sure)

Sojourner<>< · Jul 25, 2007

newchristian99 said:
Hello Everyone

I'm a new christian and i'm sure i will be annoying plenty of people with lots of simplistic questions over the coming months.

However i am looking to improve my knowledge and understanding and bring up any confusions i have about scripture and christianity. Hope this is okay!

Anyway i was in church recently and the pastor mentioned that Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark and another man possibly named "methusala" was like 750 years old. Excuse my vague information but how can this be? Surely people don't live to these extraordinary ages? Can someone help me out here.

It depends on who you talk to. I don't think anybody knows exactly what went on back then. And I mean nobody... not scientists nor pastors. Nobody that's around today was there but God himself and we do have his testimony. Personally, I believe God's testimony over any amount of questionable forensic evidence.

There's a book out there called the Genesis Record by Henry Morris that's really interesting. In it, Morris outlines a theory that combines his scientific knowledge with the scriptural account of Genesis. Basically he thinks that the earth had a different kind of atmosphere back then since the scriptures say that there was no rain, just a lot of dew every morning or something. Morris goes into a lot of detail about how a moisture rich atmosphere could filter out the harmful radiation from the sun which in turn could explain why people lived much longer back then. He also suggests that this moisture began to condensate heavily and may have caused the flood. It's pretty interesting since you can see how the life spans of biblical people decreased sharply right after the account of the flood.

KerrMetric · Jul 25, 2007

david_x said:
What if I were to live to be say 500. Why is that impossible. (My family does cling to life, but not that long) There is dog tissue that is nearly 5,000 years old. (or maybe it was 50,000, not sure)

Tissue??? There are dug up mammoths far older than that but they ain't alive are they?

Free radical damage? Mutagenic effects. Aging occurs for valid biochemical reasons.

KerrMetric · Jul 25, 2007

Sojourner<>< said:
There's a book out there called the Genesis Record by Henry Morris that's really interesting. In it, Morris outlines a theory that combines his scientific knowledge .

What knowledge?

Henry Morris was a creationist engineer with no scientific background - especially not in biology or chemistry. He coauthored "The Genesis Flood" for crying out loud - one of the biggest jokes in 20th century publishing.

He's as much an authority on these topics as John Lennon was.

KerrMetric · Jul 25, 2007

Sojourner<>< said:
Morris goes into a lot of detail about how a moisture rich atmosphere could filter out the harmful radiation from the sun which in turn could explain why people lived much longer back then. He also suggests that this moisture began to condensate heavily and may have caused the flood.

No he doesn't say how. He just plucks it from his rear end with no science behind it. It's an appeal from personal delusion and nothing else.

It's pretty interesting since you can see how the life spans of biblical people decreased sharply right after the account of the flood.

No you cannot see. There is no data. It's a claim from no evidence.

Sojourner<>< · Jul 25, 2007

KerrMetric said:
No you cannot see. There is no data. It's a claim from no evidence.

Their life spans are recorded in scripture. Whether or not you think of the Biblical records as trustworthy is your choice to make.

david_x · Jul 25, 2007

Tissue??? There are dug up mammoths far older than that but they ain't alive are they?

Free radical damage? Mutagenic effects. Aging occurs for valid biochemical reasons.

No it is still alive, it is cancer actually.

Varik · Jul 26, 2007

Well there is something that might explain why people lived so long.

If you take someone whose family has lived for generations in a high altitude (around 6'000 feet) and compared him to someone that whose family lived for generations in a marsh land there would probably be a noticeable difference........there height. The one living at higher altitude would be smaller than the one who lived in the lowland marsh. Why? Because of the thickness of the air. Thinner at high altitudes thicker at lower altitudes and most times more humid although this totally depends on location (i.e. marsh).

So as the theory goes the atmosphere was much thicker in Adams and Noah's time. The Bible i believe says that the earth was watered by a vapor. It would have been extremely humid. These conditions would be lethal to our body's. It would feel as if you had lead weights pressing on your chest and it would be impossible to breath.. But our ancestors body's had been adapted to stand such conditions. It is theorized that the average height at the time was 14 feet. As everyone knows the smaller an animal the shorter its lifespan. So there bodies being larger may have had much longer lifespans. When the flood came it caused the atmosphere to start thinning. Thus making us what we are today

newchristian99 · Jul 26, 2007

Thanks for the replies...so the flood seems a pivotal moment in world events. What date did the flood happen around?

Sorry about the many questions. I want to learn more about the lord.

ebia · Jul 26, 2007

What date did the flood happen around?

It didn't.

(At least in the form of a global flood.)

metherion · Jul 26, 2007

Most creationist organizations put the Flood about 2300 BC, IIRC.

I think that most of Genesis is mythology, for several reasons.
1. Just about everybody had a creation myth. Why would the Jews be any different? They actually have 2!
2. The Flood story has major parallels and came after Babylonian epics. It is quite plausible that the Jews took the stories and changed them to show how their God worked.
3. Many civilizations were well established by 2300 BC and keep chugging right through when the Flood was supposed to happen with no major interruption.
4. Several cultures in the area exaggerated ages to pay respect to a person. It makes sense that the Jews would pick up on that too.

And some others.

Metherion

ebia · Jul 26, 2007

metherion said:
Most creationist
3. Many civilizations were well established by 2300 BC and keep chugging right through when the Flood was supposed to happen with no major interruption.

Indeed, the civiilisation around here seems to have been continuous for around 30,000 years. They even have stories that can be dated to real local events over 10,000 years ago. That makes aboslutely no sense if a global flood wiped everybody out 2300 years ago.

newchristian99 · Jul 26, 2007

Flip me! Those are good points. Would the flood not have completely wiped out everything? Therefore there was only noah's family and a lot of animals left to re-populate the earth? So did Noah preserve religious scripture and go about telling the word of god to the remaining people.

If everyone was killed then are we all descended from Noah's family alone? I'm even more confused now :-(

ebia · Jul 26, 2007

newchristian99 said:
Flip me! Those are good points. Would the flood not have completely wiped out everything? Therefore there was only noah's family and a lot of animals left to re-populate the earth? So did Noah preserve religious scripture and go about telling the word of god to the remaining people.

If everyone was killed then are we all descended from Noah's family alone? I'm even more confused now :-(

He must have not only preserved all the 'true'/biblical stories, but everyone else's as well!

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