[Nez]

I'm not totally convinced about the ozone.Volcanoes still exploded,methane swamps,animals,etc. :D
Personally I do not believe that the human body is designed to live beyond a certain age.Cell degregation being the main concern.Yes we are livng in the so-called modern age,with pollution,stress,and other variables.I tend to agree with Style,and Scott,in that how people "used" the calender count,might have been different.Still,as Joe said,living to 900 might be nice,if I could avoid the boredom.

[ScottGem]

I'm not totally convinced about the ozone.Volcanoes still exploded,methane swamps,animals,etc. :D
Personally I do not believe that the human body is designed to live beyond a certain age.Cell degregation being the main concern.Yes we are livng in the so-called modern age,with pollution,stress,and other variables.I tend to agree with Style,and Scott,in that how people "used" the calender count,might have been different.Still,as Joe said,living to 900 might be nice,if I could avoid the boredom.

I think Nez's point about the cell degradation is very important. That aging occurs and cells degrade is a fact of physical law. It can be measured. While it might vary from organism to organism, there is an range. Given that scientific fact, I think it makes more sense that ways of measuring time have changed.

[orange]

Yeah I agree with the cell degeneration theory as well. My first degree was in Zoology, so I guess I should be defending this more! :p Still, the other theories are intriguing to me, from the point of view of someone who loves science fiction!

I wondered about them using a different calendar or a different definition of years, but I can't seem to find any theories on that, and I've done a lot of searching online. If anyone finds anything please post it here, as I am fascinated by calendars. Obviously they would not have used the Jewish calendar, as that was not used until much later, and Noah wasn't a Jew anyway. I would think, though, that they would use approximately the same year as we do now. Ancient peoples such as the Sumerians were able to measure the seasons and years in quite sophisticated ways. But I guess Noah was even before them, so who knows.

I did find another modern theory which I thought was interesting and made some sense. Appparently the story of Noah is very similar to (and some say is derived from) a story in early Mesopotamian mythology, about a man called Gilgamesh. Apparently Gilgamesh survived a great flood, and as a reward from the gods, was granted immortality. The immortality part would explain Noah's extremely long life.

[DrJ]

Hmmmm... Im having a hard time buying the calendar difference. That is A LOT of difference. How could their calendar year be 1/10 less than ours? Even the old Hebrew Calendar had 12 months of 30 days. It was all lunar based back... so I could see if they counted a year as a full lunar cycle (which would put ages between 30-75 or so) but that seems ridiculous to think that the verbage was confused so quickly through time. I don't know how far back the Hebrew Calendar goes but it definitely dated back well into the Old Testament.

Cell degeneration is a good point... but that could also be contributed to the atmoshperic makeup. Everything is subject to its environment and if our environment was severely different, isn't easily possible that we could be living considerable longer, or shorter, lives?

[ScottGem]

Hmmmm.... Im having a hard time buying the calendar difference. That is A LOT of difference. How could their calendar year be 1/10 less than ours? Even the old Hebrew Calendar had 12 months of 30 days. It was all lunar based back... so I could see if they counted a year as a full lunar cycle (which would put ages between 30-75 or so) but that seems ridiculous to think that the verbage was confused so quickly thru time. I dont know how far back the Hebrew Calendar goes but it definitely dated back well into the Old Testament.

Cell degeneration is a good point... but that could also be contributed to the the atmoshperic makeup. Everything is subject to its environment and if our environment was severly different, isnt easily possible that we could be living considerable longer, or shorter, lives??

The Hebrew Calendar is in year 5766. I can understand what you are saying, but there is still no clue how they did things. Did they understand lunar phases, season changes, the orbit around the Sun? We really have no idea, maybe their years were one lunar month.

[orange]

A year in the Hebrew calendar (which is a lunar-solar calendar) is approximately the same length as a year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 12 "regular" months and one extra "leap" month used every few years. All of the months are 29 or 30 days long. So a person's age according to the Hebrew calendar would not be very different than that of someone measuring their age in our calendar. It certainly wouldn't be a difference of several hundred years.

If we used the month as year theory, the people mentioned in Genesis 5 would have lived fairly normal lifespans. For example, Adam 77 years, his son Seth, 76 years, his descendents Enosh and Jared 75 and 80 years respectively, and Noah would have lived 79 years. However, this only works in early Genesis. By the time we get to Abraham, if we continue with the lunar month as a year, Abraham would only have lived to be 14 lol. But it seems to make sense for Genesis 5 anyway!

Actually I think someone could do a whole doctoral thesis on this topic! :p

[Starman]

The lifespans mentioned in Genesis are pitiful in comparison to the eternity that Adam and Eve were designed to live. The reason that these lifespans seem great to us is because we have slipped even further down the physical deterioration continuum since then.

Notice also how quickly the lifespans dropped after the Noachian Flood.

[ttzippe85]

The andeluvian people (pre-flood) were bigger in stature and intelligence. They also lived much longer than we do. However this intelligence and long life span enabled the unrighteous to do much more evil in their lifetime.This is one of the reasons God allowed Noah to eat meat on the ark. The eating of meat has deteriorated the condition of man and shortened our lifespan.

[NeedKarma]

The eating of meat has deteriorated the condition of man and shortened our lifespan.

On the contrary - the eating of meat has allowed man to survive. What about all the other meat eating animals? Are they doomed too? I don't think so. Your rhetoric is faulty.

[orange]

The eating of meat has deteriorated the condition of man and shortened our lifespan.

What about the Inuit and Yupik peoples of Canada, Alaska and Russia? They've eaten nothing but meat for at least 5000 years, and they only started getting sick when the Europeans brought them alcohol and various diseases such as smallpox.

[ttzippe85]

On the contrary - the eating of meat has allowed man to survive. What about all the other meat eating animals? Are they doomed too? I don't think so. Your rhetoric is faulty.

I didn't say they were doomed to death, however its been proven that dogs that eat vegetarian diets live longer. Our original diet consisted of fruits, nuts, and grains but God allowed the eating of meat for several reasons.

[DrJ]

So if God allowed it and Jesus pardoned it, why is it killing us off faster?

[ttzippe85]

Please make your question more specific. Do you mean why is he allowing it to kill us off faster or why (scientifically) is it killing us off faster?

[orange]

I didn't say they were doomed to death, however its been proven that dogs that eat vegetarian diets live longer. Our original diet consisted of fruits, nuts, and grains but God allowed the eating of meat for several reasons.

The problem with using dogs as an example is that dogs are omnivores (they eat both meat and vegetables). So they can survive without meat. But what about true carnivores? Cats for example only eat meat, they would get very sick if they had to live on a vegetarian diet. But interestingly enough, even though they eat meat, cats live longer on average than dogs.

[DrJ]

Please make your question more specific. Do you mean why is he allowing it to kill us off faster or why (scientifically) is it killing us off faster?

LOL no, I don't want a scientific shpeal about why it is killing us off faster.. Im saying that if God decided that it was okay for us to eat meat and Jesus even came along and pardoned meats that were "forbidden," why would it be such a "poison" to us??

[orange]

LOL no, I dont want a scientific shpeal about why it is killing us off faster.. Im saying that if God decided that it was okay for us to eat meat and Jesus even came along and pardoned meats that were "forbidden," why would it be such a "poison" to us???

You're assuming the Bible makes sense, DrJizzle! :p Seriously though I share your questions about this. I was also going to say that the Bible sure changes its mind a lot about what people can and can't eat... first people didn't eat meat (before the flood), then people could eat any animal (after the flood but before Moses), then they could only eat certain animals and never with milk (Moses' time), then people were allowed to eat any animal again (Jesus' time).

If G-d really is behind all of this eating business (which I doubt!), He either has a hard time making up His mind, or He has a pretty awful sense of humour! :p

[ScottGem]

You're assuming the Bible makes sense, DrJizzle! :p Seriously though I share your questions about this. I was also going to say that the Bible sure changes its mind a lot about what people can and can't eat... first people didn't eat meat (before the flood), then people could eat any animal (after the flood but before Moses), then they could only eat certain animals and never with milk (Moses' time), then people were allowed to eat any animal again (Jesus' time).

If G-d really is behind all of this eating business (which I doubt!), He either has a hard time making up His mind, or He has a pretty awful sense of humour! :p

That's one of the things about the Bible. Usually someone can find a passage to support almost anything. Or find 2 passages that directly contradict each other.

Of course G-d has one hell of a sense of humor. Look at his creations!

[orange]

That's one of the things about the Bible. Usually someone can find a passage to support almost anything. Or find 2 passages that directly contradict each other.

Yup even the rabbi at the synagogue we've been attending admits to this, because I asked him. He says that's why we have the Talmud, to interpret everything, but that the Talmud also seems to contradict itself in parts! It doesn't seem to bother him though... he made a joke about it the other day actually! It's nice to see a sense of humour in a religious person! :p

[ttzippe85]

The problem with using dogs as an example is that dogs are omnivores (they eat both meat and vegetables). So they can survive without meat. But what about true carnivores? Cats for example only eat meat, they would get very sick if they had to live on a vegetarian diet. But interestingly enough, even though they eat meat, cats live longer on average than dogs.

Yes, but is has also been proven that vegetarian humans live longer lives than their omnivorous fellow humans. For example vegetarian adventists live an average of 4-5 more years, take less medicine, have fewer hospital stays, and have lower rates of several chronic diseases.

[orange]

Yes I agree with that, vegetarian diets are better for humans, but do you really think G-d would tell people to eat meat on purpose so that they would die sooner? I have a hard time believing that. Does it actually say in Genesis that Noah before the flood (or any of the people before him, Adam, Eve, Seth, etc.) never ate meat? I looked after you first posted this, but couldn't find anything. It does say in Genesis 9 that Noah was allowed to eat meat, but it's not clear about before hand.