Why did people live so long BEFORE the flood and shorten AFTER the flood?

Genesis 6:3 – 120 years

Genesis 47:9 – Jacob did not live as long as his forefathers

Methuselah’s Diet

Anonymous

Methuselah ate what he found on his plate,
    And never, as people do now,
Did he note the amount of the calorie count.
    He ate it because it was chow.

He wasn’t disturbed as at dinner he sat,
    Devouring a roast or a pie,
To think it was lacking in granular fat
    Or a couple of vitamins shy.

He cheerfully chewed each species of food,
    Unmindful of troubles or fears
Lest his health might be hurt by some fancy dessert,
    And he lived over 900 years.

Many question or scoff at the Bible ages

1.     Myth, legend

2.     Skip generations

3.     Lunar (monthly) rather than solar (yearly)

4.     Trying to make them “super” human

5.     See section – Conclusions regarding age of biblical patriarchs

There are many possible factors to consider

1.     Earth was destroyed – Genesis 6:13; Genesis 9:11

2.     Global changes in climate, atmosphere, UV rays

3.     Changes in diet, health

4.     Geologic, cosmic changes

5.     Genetic changes

Chart – decline in life spans

1.     10 generations before flood – average 857 years

2.     10 generations after the flood – 317 years

Exponential decay rate – plant, animal, mineral

1.     A coefficient of 1 = perfect match

2.     This graph - .889 (89% match – 11% deviation)

Here is my list of possible reasons:

1.     Genetic loss after the flood - gene pool limited – bottleneck

2.     Pure and natural foods

3.     No pollution

4.     Plenty of exercise – physical labor

5.     No drugs – natural plant remedies

6.     God protected them

7.     No war in early years

8.     Climate changes

a.     Did it rain before the flood?

b.     Clear sky – UV rays

9.     Some illnesses are gotten from close contact with animals

a.     See Exodus 15:26 “none of these diseases”

10. End cap shortened

a.     Different animals live different life spans

b.     DNA is coded for length of life

c.     “Ignoring death by accident or disease, different living things seem to be genetically programmed to live for different average periods.”

d.      The ‘capping’ at the end of each chromosome (called a telomere, from Greek τέλος telos = ‘end’ and μέρος merοs ‘part’) is, like the capped tips of shoelaces, necessary to prevent the ends fraying. The telomere shortens with each cell division—once the limit is reached, the cells can no longer divide. This is probably only one way in which our limited lifespans are ‘programmed’ into us. There is no biological reason at all why people could not live much longer than they do at present, if they had the appropriate genetic makeup.

f.      It has long been known that there are human cells that can keep on dividing forever—cancer cells. These appear not to have the built-in ‘switch’ which tells cells to stop dividing, so they keep on making copies of themselves. This is why medical labs, which need to use human cell lines in their work, can be continually supplied with cells which are all the ‘offspring’ of one unfortunate person’s cancer. (Called HeLa cells, after Henrietta Lacks, the lady whose cancer it was). The HeLa cell line is effectively ‘immortal’ (unless existing HeLa cells were to all be physically destroyed).

Websites I used in this study:

 http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/why-did-man-live-longer-before-flood-of-noah-than-after-it.html

http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1978

http://creation.com/living-for-900-years