What was life enhancing in the preFlood world

[mindlight]

The bible suggests that lifespans declined almost 90% following the destruction of the preflood world. What did we lose that so shattered our longevity?

In todays world we have an increasing measure of control over our environment. To what extent can we duplicate the preflood conditions in our homes, offices, churches and clubs? Can we filter out toxins, radiation, moderate temperature and humidity, improve our diet etc , clearly demarcate day and night in way that brings back something of the quality of the world our wickedness lost for us.

 

[GBTG]

Not a lot of decay and bacteria pre-flood? I have no idea just throwing out there!

Regards, GBTG

 

[rockytopva]

God has programmed the death process. At first it was a thousand years,and after the flood God said...

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. - Genesis 6:3

And somewhere between Noah and Moses....

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years -Psalms 90:10

It was a gradual decline. Programmed by God himself. You can take care of your body and possibly beat the 80 year rule... But not by much.

 

[mindlight]

Not a lot of decay and bacteria pre-flood? I have no idea just throwing out there!

Regards, GBTG

In a perfect ecosystem you would still have plant death and decay. But animal and human longevity and vitality might also mean that bacteria were more easily handled.

Various bible based views have been expressed about the antediluvean world.

1) That there was a water vapour canopy around the earth. Since water vapour is a greenhouse gas this would have meant a warmer earth and also more moderated extremes of temperature between day and night and cold and temperate regions. Indeed Artic oil is testimony to polar plant growth in the preflood era.

2) watering of plants etc was managed differently. There was no rain ( before the flood and the rainbow that followed it) but water came from springs and morning dew. It seems there were no clouds before the flood clouds darkened the earth and stars and sun and moon more clearly demarcated the day and night.

3) people were vegetarians. The post flood allowance of meat eating was a response to a world laid waste by the flood in which plants were no longer sufficient for food. The lush plant diversity of the preflood world was gone forever. Much like comparing the Amazon rainforest to overfarmed dust bowl land. The world became a more brutal place with predators and prey.

4) it is possible that the earth had a stronger magnetic field in the past that would have deflected more harmful radiation from the sun. Thus lacking clouds the earth had more light but less harmful radiation. With the greenhouse effect of the water vapour canopy the earth may also have been warmer and indeed polar ice may not have existed.

5) the Hebrew calendar like many ancient calendars was of 360 days corresponding with 12 cycles of the moon. It is possible that seasons were less obvious in a pre flood world where the world was cocooned in a water vapour canopy. But so also it is possible that the earths orbit was pushed outwards 5 days by the catastrophic events of the flood that might have included an asteroid strike for instance. The flood thus both stripped away the protective cocoon for earths ecosystem and our DNA exposing us to more harmful radiation and was accompanied by a cooling effect of being further away from the sun, having less of a greenhouse effect from the water vapour. Also clouds now meant a localised cooling and occasional darkness that was not present before the flood.


The net effect was an ecosystem that had lost its preflood diversity and vitality. A new world more harmfully exposed to the sun but colder for the loss of the greenhouse effect of the water vapour canopy.

 

[mindlight]

God has programmed the death process. At first it was a thousand years,and after the flood God said...

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. - Genesis 6:3

And somewhere between Noah and Moses....

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years -Psalms 90:10

It was a gradual decline. Programmed by God himself. You can take care of your body and possibly beat the 80 year rule... But not by much.

The curse of the fall was one thing that broke our DNA and fellowship with God so that death was now possible. But lifespans before the flood were a constant and indeed the oldest man Methuselah died just before the flood. So the ecosystem that God had originally created to last forever was broken but still vital in a way that it was not in the postflood world.

Gods second judgment for our sin following the fall was on the ecosystem itself. Basically he broke its perfection exposing us to harmful radiation more likely to damage our genome. A diet that was no longer as rich and diverse as before and indeed may have been slightly toxic. A world full of predators hunting prey where some species may have been quickly hunted out of existence by Great hunters like Nimrod. So eventually even the extra nutritional value of eating meat may have been diminished by a loss of diversity. Also the loss of moderation of temperature an overall cooling and due to clouds less light would have resulted in a harsher less regular environment. It seems the harm done to us was passed on in part by reproduction. Noah afterall still lived to 950 but his grandchildrens lifespans declined rapidly. But also the environment itself accelerated the decline as Shem, Ham and Japeth outlived their father but died at a much younger age of about 600 just 150 years later. So it seems that the environmental change has set a new normal age span that is much reduced.

Over the last century lifespans have almost doubled in many countries. Factors include improved diet which due to modern farming and global transport systems has also become more diverse. Better control over diseases. Higher global temperatures, more personal control on the moderation of temperature. More understanding of the harmful effects of radiation. A more domesticated animal kingdom with wild animals and predators as the exception rather than the rule.

Indeed many of the impacts of the flood have been reversed by human progress. But not by any means to the point of recovering preflood perfection. So we will still die young even if older than our parents and grandparents.