Why did people live longer in older Bible times (before the Flood of Noah) than today?

Answer 1

Gen 6;3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

Answer 2

Also interesting to note that after the flood God gave Noah and humans permission to eat meat (although the animal had to be dead...haha). They say meat is not great for you as it sits in your intestines and rots....blech! Cant be good to have rotting flesh inside you....blah! But it tastes so good!

my take always was that God was going to destroy humans but didn't cos of Noah and therefore reduced the # of yrs we live rather than destroy us. Also, it is mentioned that men produced with any woman they wanted and the earth became populated. Maybe there were too many people for us to all live that long...God was wise...who would WANT to be 950! WOW

On another note - how can the avg life span be 19 for cavemen?! Even if you had kids at 13, 15 and again at 17 (not very easy much earlier), the kids would be SIX when you died. How could a 6,4 and 2 yr old survive on there on in the wilderness. Maybe I don't know all the facts. Maybe we didn't "deteriorate" as quickly back then and it just seems, by todays stds, that the bodies exhumed were 19? Just a thought!

Answer 3

The atmosphere of earth has changed at some point since the era of dinosaurs.. If one were to be transported from its era to ours it likely wouldn't last very long. The Biblical reason for this is due to the account of the flood of Noah. The deluge of rain is said to come from the collapse of the firmament mentioned in Genesis. The firmament had surrounded the earth much like the ozone layer does now.. protecting the earth and making the atmosphere very much like inside a greenhouse. It caused a different air pressure that allowed for longer life spans. Certain creation scientists have conducted experiments with hyperbaric sealed contraptions and various kinds of wildlife concerning this theory and found it to be feasible. This idea is better than what you propose.

Answer 4

The environment was more suitable to life before the flood. After it many people were wiped out, civilizations lost, people feared the lowlands.You notice it actually gradually declines from Adam and Eve but really starts dropping after the flood. Apparently the first humans were really built well. If anything we've been devolving.

Answer 5

They still lived in the life sustaining earth even after the imperfections of sin had them dying from birth, they came near to 1000 years in age, but the life sustaining earth was lost in the flood. So Abraham lived 175 years to die 527 years after the flood, yr 2183, 1883 B. C. Gen.25:7,9; Matt.1:1-17; Son #20 in the genealogy of Jesus, and Eber lived 4 years after him and all 20 sons have died.
Ishmael died age 137, Gen.25:17; 575 yrs after flood, yr 2231; Isaac died age 180, Gen.35:28,29; 632 yrs after flood, yr 2288.

So there will have to be a new heavens and a new earth, all must be made as new as before Eden. 2Pet.3:13; Rev.21:1-5; Rev.2:7; 22:!4;

Answer 6

I had a Catechism teacher (a very nice nun) tell me because it was God's plan to keep people around longer to help populate the earth. In more modern times there are enough people on earth so they don't have to live as long and have as many children.

Answer 7

Before the flood it is thought (by many scientists who have researched the description of the Flood and its effects) that there was a sort of canopy around the earth (which was not tilted as of yet), which caused the waters of the earth to "mist" down each day rather than rain, and which blocks out the harmful rays of the sun that would cause disease and faster aging. That, combined with what someone else said (better food and exercise), is probably the reason for longer life.

Answer 8

They didnt live longer. I read somewhere that assigning long ages to men who died was a form of ancestor worship. "Bill was such a macho and cool guy, I swear he lived to be 680 years old, nah dude, I SWEAR".
It's a mistake to take the bible literally, or figuratively, o.k, it's a mistake to take the bible. leave it at home, pack some sandwiches for you and some friends instead and enjoy yourself. its what jesus would have wanted ; )

Answer 9

I don't think we can know for sure. I would assume that the conditions on earth were different somehow before the cataclysmic flood. I wouldn't be able to say how, since I wasn't there.

Answer 10

The short answer is that there is almost no likelihood that they did. It is more likely that this (along with the flood) is simply legend or myth.

The better question would be, in the context of the story tellers and the writers of Genesis, why did they pass along tales that make it appear that people lived for multiple centuries, when clearly human DNA does not allow this.

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Answer 11

Adam and Eve were created perfect but as the generations come and go the further from perfection we become and the more imperfections we see.