Biblical Ages• How long did the partiarchs live?

– Adam : 930 yrs– Methusela : 969 yrs– Noah: 950 yrs

• Oldest man who ever lived (Guinness book of records) died at 129

• That’s with the benefit of:– 6 billion people to choose from– Modern medicine– Abundant food and running water– Shelter, heating, transport etc.

• Archaeological records show that the average life expectancy in the Bronze age, around 5000 BC, was 20-30 years– Yet only one of the patriarchs died before 900

(and he was 777)!Habib Miyan, Died at 129

Oldest man on Earth?

High Oxygen• Can high oxygen levels help us to live longer?

• We know that oxygen levels have not substantially changed for millions of years– So they were not higher in the early days of the Old

Testament

• Would high oxygen lead to long lives?– Actually there’s evidence that the reverse is true – low

oxygen leads to longer lives. (Baibas et al., 2005)

Protection by Atmospheric Water• Would a vapour canopy protect us?

• Firstly, the vapour canopy is umbiblical– The Bible talks about the stars of the heavens, but these would

have been obscured by a water canopy.

• Secondly, the canopy would have acted like a thick cloud– To have enough to block out harmful radiation, you would also

need to block out much of the useful light• How would plants thrive without enough light?

– When the canopy ‘fell’, we would have been left out in the open, without any natural sun protection

• Everyone would have burned, then died of cancer!

After the flood• Why didn’t ages suddenly drop?

• Seth – 912 years• Jared – 962 years• Kenan – 910 years• Methuselah – 969 years• Lamech – 777 years• Noah – 950 years• Flood……………………………• Shem – 600 years• Eber – 464 years• Serug – 230 years• Nahor – 148 years• Terah – 205 years

• If the vapur canopy was keeping people alive, then why did the ages only come down slowly?

• Alternative hypothesis: The ages are fictional.

Hunza People• How long do they live?

– A recent study said:• Men : 53 years• Women: 52 years

• Claims of great ages are probably fabricated for tourists

• “The great Hunza secret to old age turned out to be its absence of birth records. The illiterate elders didn't know how old they were, and they tended to overestimate their ages by a decade or two, as I discovered by comparing their recollections with known historical events. Hunza didn't have an unusual number of centenarians, it turned out, and its traditional way of life was not a formula for good health. “ John Tierney, The New York Times, September 29th, 1996