How did Adam live to 930, Seth 912 and Methuselah 969 years old when anthropological evidence shows that we have progressively increased our longevity throughout history? If they did live that long back then, this concept would be reversed and our longevity should have been decreasing throughout history, right?
Because back in those times, it was the beginning of the world population and the concept of sin or the diseases wasn’t as heavy then, so the earth was stronger, people lived longer and they were more healthy, pluss your not taking into consideration that was before the great flood with noah, the first concept of gods world was to corrupted so he erased it and started over again for re-population. God ment for the world to be destroyed with the great flood, any documents or proof of evidance back then were washed away due to his intentions. Another point is your looking at the concept of a “Supreme Being” he can do anything, he wants, so before the great flood he could have erased and completely destroyed “most/or some” evidance of the past time, also how do you know there was periods where he used his great power and stopped the passing of time and like froze it to get things done faster before the world god older? again keep in mind GOD can do anything, adam and even had 100% proof god existed, they were the first, so in that nature of his presence im posative they had more abilities then what we have today.
In this connection, it may be noted that no one can say just at which point the human life-span comes to its ultimate limit. The Encyclopædia Britannica (1976 edition, Macropædia, Vol. 10, p. 911) states: “The exact duration of human life is unknown, although there is presumably a maximum life-span for the human race established in the genetic material. At first thought, this statement seems irrational. Surely no human being can live 1,000 years. Even though all may agree that the likelihood of an individual living 1,000 years is infinitesimal, there is no scientific proof that this statement is or is not true.”
Accordingly, from a scientific standpoint, no absolute evidence can be presented to prove or to disprove what the Bible says about the long life-span of certain men in ancient times. The Biblical statements, therefore, stand on their own merit.
That men once lived for hundreds of years is in full harmony with the context of the entire Bible. From the Holy Scriptures we learn that the first man Adam was created perfect. He had set before him the prospect of an endless life-span. The beautiful garden home in which he was placed contained everything needed for human life to be sustained indefinitely. In the first book of the Bible, we read: “Jehovah God made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden.” (Gen. 2:9) That “tree of life” represented God’s guarantee of continued life to those entitled to partake of it. When the first man Adam disobeyed God’s law, he forfeited his right to eat of this tree and, therefore, was expelled from his delightful paradise home.—Gen. 3:22-24.
At the same time Adam, through his disobedience, ruined his perfection and this shortened his life-span and that of his descendants.—Rom. 5:12.
In the perfect state, Adam’s body had the potential of being sustained forever and that would also have been true of other sinless humans. So, since man was created to enjoy an endless life-span, it logically follows that Adam and his early descendants must have lived far longer than their later descendants who were farther removed from perfection.
This is exactly what the Bible shows to have been the case. After the great flood of Noah’s day that occurred over sixteen centuries from the time of Adam’s creation, human life expectancy dropped sharply. Among those born after the Flood, life expectancy continued to decline more gradually. This can be seen by considering the list below.
Some 300 years after Abraham’s death the average human life-span had dropped some more, so that Moses could say: “In themselves the days of our years are seventy years; and if because of special mightiness they are eighty years.” (Ps. 90:10) These words regarding average life-expectancy still apply today.
Hence, according to the Bible, men once did live for centuries. This is of more than passing interest. It testifies to the fact that God’s original purpose for man was that he might enjoy an endless life-span. This purpose will yet be realized when Jehovah God fulfills his word to bring into existence an earth free from sickness, pain and death.—Rev. 21:3, 4.
Name Age & Death
Adam 930
Seth 912
Enosh 905
Kenan 910
Mahalalel 895
Jared 962
Methuselah 969
Lamech 777
Noah 950
Shem 600
Arpachshad 438
Shelah 433
Eber 464
Peleg 239
Reu 239
Serug 230
Nahor 148
Terah 205
Abraham 175
Based on Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31; 9:29; 11:10-25, 32; 25:7.
The atmosphere before the global flood was much different than it is now. The air, water, food - all was much purer. The life spans of people decreased dramatically after the flood.
You do have evidence of this. The evidence has been misinterpreted.
Think this through. The remains of a man who died at 90 years old would look much different than someone who had died at 19 years old. In the same way, the remains of someone who died at 900 years old is going to look much different than that of a 90 year old.
Those remains have been discovered. >>sigh<< and they have been misinterpreted as being some sort of prehistoric half human. Labeled neanderthals, etc. rather than understanding that the skull of a man who lived for many hundreds of years would appear different.
this is what i think: i believe there was a verse of a prophet that Says God does nothing except it be for eternity.
i think when God said let us Make Man in our image, he created Adam from the earth, to be eternal.
Paul said that a day with God is a thousand years with man.
so an eternal being is created incorruptible, unless such a person disobeys and is found to be prewarned not to eat the forbidden fruit. i believe there was a poison in the fruit that destroyed the genetic construction of ADAM and Eve.
but, i cannot give you proof that these conclusions go hand in hand. i can only say its theory or my own understanding.
i do know the above verse came to me in my studies, and helped me believe in the LDS doctrine of Eternal Marriage, knowing that Adam and Ever called man and wife and thus ordained to be married by God. Marriage itself being ordained by God.
The accounts contained in Genesis were written by several different sources, probably during the time of the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. They were compiled into a single document either during this time or shortly after returning to Israel and Judah They are basically Hebrew mythology. You could just as easily ask: “Why did Odin call his son Thor?”. There were no such persons as “Adam”, “Seth” and “Methuselah”, just as there were no such persons as “Odin” and “Thor”.
The average human lifespan has been increasing of course due to modern invention. 70,000 years ago when we were all living in Africa, we had a lifespan well less than 30 years.
3.5 billions years ago, when life began on the Earth, we all had a fairly short lifespan to go with our fairly short size.