where in the bible is it explained?

Question

i've heard the explanation that the reason people don't live to be 1000 years old like people in the old testament did is because sin entered the world and infected mankind. first of all, this wouldn't explain why people continued to have lifespans of nearly 1000 years after adam and eve. secondly, i can't really find any specific verse which says that is the reason at all. didn't god explain exactly what his punishment to adam and eve would be? no where in this punishment did he ever say anything about shortening the lifespan of man to less than 100 years. it's one thing to take a verse out of context. it's an entirely different thing to just make stuff up.

ysk, that wouldn't explain then why noah and his descendants continued to live longer than 120 years. would it now?

gen 9:29, (this is after gen 6:23) And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Answer 1

absolutely true...

Answer 2

Genesis 2:17. God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this certain tree they would die. When they ate-death entered the world. At that point they began to die. Why did it take Adam 930 years to die???who knows? There was no illness or diseases then. The gene pool was perfect. Some 'speculate' that there was a canopy of water covering the earth (Gen. 1:6-8), and the first inhabitants lived in a 'greenhouse'. Some also speculate that the atmosphere would have been near double what it is now, along with the o2 level.
Prior to the flood, the average lifespan was over 900 years. The canopy would have collapsed in the flood changing the atmosphere. After the flood life spans fell continuously for the next about 500 years-Abraham lived 175 years. After that, it was as it about is today. If you want to see some good carts on times and dates go to:

http://www.bibleworldhistory.com/

This guy has done some excellent work in this area.

Answer 3

Genesis 6:3 is the passage that many point to and I think is the verse that you are looking for. There are two thoughts to this verse. One is that it means that man will not live above 120 years any more. This doesn't seem to fit though because after the flood there are many people that are listed, but of the ages given 17 live over 120 years. In addition to that, the Guinness book of world records lists a woman that died in 1998 that lived to be 122. This then cannot be the language of this verse. The 120 years also was thought to be the time from when God made His choice to destroy the Earth till when it actually occurred. This seems to be the most plausible explanation to this verse. The drop in the ages then can be explained by some sort of a change in the atmosphere after the flood that caused people's ages to slowly decline.

Answer 4

This is in reference to the Old Testament.

You seem as frustrated about this as I did when I first started to analyze it.

Look at it this way: Adam and Eve is a creation story - an allegory for why there are Heavens and stars and such. Secondly, the creation story is historically known to be a oral interpretation - meaning it's old school religious lecturing.

Third, (and here's your million dollar question) people did not live that long, as historians will say - the life span of people is increasing, not the other way around.

So what gives? Respect. Respect was a measurement of age during that period where the old testament was first crafted. A person who is 58 years old, might be revered as having 20 years of friendship and respect from one person, 40 years of friendship and respect from another, and so on and so on until you realize that the 58 year old is just a wise old man who has alot of friends and family.

And you're right - you wont find any specific verse about shortening lifestpans- you'll have to do some research on that stuff. But consider this: If age was measured by respect for your elders at one point no longer becomes the norm, then maybe (as is seen in the bible as it progresses) respect isnt given to them. Disrespect and "sin" got pretty bad - remember that commandment, "Respect and obey your parents" - it took some thousands/hundres of years and Moses to address the problem.

Answer 5

Romans 6:23
*For the wages of sin is death; *
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is a bit of an interpretive stretch, but if you have sufficient knowledge of the Bible you accept such interpretations as they are not discounted elsewhere in the Bible.

Anything in genetics is degenerative. Add two potential reasons for someone to die in a child and that child has double the chance to die than their parents.

The only reason people live longer now than a hundred or so years ago is our attitudes towards cleanliness and sanitation.

Genesis 6:3 as quoted above by Jaythe is a great find, well done! Regarding Noah and other contemporaries, they must have been "grandfathered in". How can you tell a 200 year old that their lifespan is now 120 years? It does refer to the future (shall be).

Answer 6

The reason people today don't live to be as old as the people in the Old Testament is because there are a lot more environmental factors to consider than there were back then... pollution, ozone, all that good stuff... Plus, they had a different time schedule (meaning that they didn't go by the same months and years... they used other units of measure) than we do...

God's punishment to Sinners when Adam and Eve ate the fruit was that people would not live forever... and that multiplying the earth (child-bearing) would be painful... Most people think that Adam and Eve were supposed to be the only two people on Earth forever, but the Bible clearly states that God told them to "be fruitful and multiply..." Also, they were not allowed to live in Paradise (the Garden of Eden)... which gives us some of the environmental factors that kill us sooner today.

Answer 7

Read the story of Noah. God stated that lifespans would be shortened:

Genesis 6:3 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.

People's lives began to be shorter after the flood, they were not immediatey shortened to no more that 120 years, but they got dramatically shorter thereafter, and within just a few generations, were about 120 years maximum.

This was accomplished, I believe, through climatic changes after the flood. The thing about climatic changes is my opinion, it doesn't come directly from scripture, but the rest of what I said does.

juicy_wi, God did not say exactly what date He would enact the limit, He just said He would. Just as He promised Eve that her seed would crush Satan's head, but He didn't say how many generations would pass before it was accomplished.

Answer 8

I don't believe there is a specific verse. God just told Adam and Even NOT to touch the tree, for if you do, you will surely DIE.
I don't think God has to explain himself when he tells us not to commit murder, lie, steal, etc.etc (gal. 6) It's up to us to have faith and obedience to live a life worthy of Heaven when he returns.
The only commment that I can give to the life span is that after the Flood, there was a steady decline in lifespan until about 2000 B.C., where we find that Jacob’s son, Joseph, lived to be 110. Some people now adays live to be in their hundreds, some don't. The average age I believe since then to now is 78.
People make a lot of stuff up. How do you think all these denominations were formed? The truth is, is it found in the Bible?

Answer 9

Man is designed to live forever. Doctors have found this and are really amazed.
God intended man to rule the earth forever. But disobedience on the part of Adam brought sin into this world
Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

So God brought the global flood and the earth perished.

2 Peter 3:5-7
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

There were recordings in the history of mankind regarding global flood and the climatic changes that came after, proving scientifically that man cannot live much longer due to the worsening of earth conditions.

i hope this helps you.

Answer 10

Were the ages of people before the Flood, as stated in the Bible, measured according to the same kind of years that we use?

If it was reasoned that the “years” must be equivalent to our months, then Enosh became a father when he was seven years of age, and Kenan was only five years old when he fathered a son. (Gen. 5:9, 12) That is, clearly, impossible.

Detailed chronology provided in connection with the Flood indicates the length of months and years used at that time. Comparison of Genesis 7:11, 24 and 8:3, 4 shows that five months (from the 17th of the 2nd month to the 17th of the 7th month) was equal to 150 days, or five 30-day months. Specific reference is made to a “tenth month” and to further periods beyond that before coming to the next year. (Gen. 8:5, 6, 8, 10, 12-14) Evidently, their years were made up of twelve 30-day months. At a very early time, the strictly lunar calendar was adjusted periodically to the length of the solar year, as indicated by Israel’s holding seasonal festivals of ingathering on specified dates. In that way the festivals continued to fall in the appropriate seasons.—Lev. 23:39.

Keep in mind that God made humans to live forever. It was Adam’s sin that led to death. (Gen. 2:17; 3:17-19; Rom. 5:12) Those who lived before the Flood were closer to perfection than we are today, so they lived much longer. But each one died within a thousand years.

Answer 11

it doesn't ,God has left some things to our imagination but i really don't see life span as being relevant. I'm glad i don't have to live here like 1,000 years with the way things are. Genesis 6:3 only tells us that the men in Noah's day only had 120 years before God would flood the earth. some people probably live longer than 120 years today.