Human longevity

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

Human longevity is the length of a person's life (life expectancy). The Creationist reflections on this topic typically focuses on the cause of human mortality and the effects of the flood on the human lifespan.

In the first book of the Bible (Genesis), it is said that there was a tree in the garden of Eden (Tree of Life) that would allow humans to live forever. Ancient historical documents, including Genesis, also record lifespans approximately 10 times above what they are currently. However, immediately after the flood, human longevity shows a rapid decline.

Human immortality

Fall of Man by Lukas Cranach the Elder

Main Article: Fall of man

The Tree of Life was a tree in the Garden of Eden that was placed there so humans could live forever. According to Genesis 2-3 , upon eating of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge, God immediately removed Adam and Eve from the garden, and placed a flaming sword to guard the tree so they could not eat from the Tree of Life. In Genesis 3:22-23 , God is quoted as saying "He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden...

There remains some debate within the theological and creation science community regarding the nature of this immortality. However, many people assume humans were originally designed to be physically immortal, but this ability was somehow linked to the aforementioned Tree of Life. Perhaps the fruit from the tree contained some factor that was able to transform the biochemical nature of humans, slowing or arresting programmed cell death (apoptosis). As a result of the actions of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they brought death to all mankind through their disobedience.

Pre-flood longevity

Prior to the flood, Genesis records that people lived extraordinarily long lives: routinely over 900 years. Methuselah is known for living longer than any other human in history, dying at the age of 969.[1] This longevity is believed to be so extraordinarily long in part because environmental conditions were optimal for longevity before the Earth was destroyed, perhaps maintained by a dense atmosphere which collapsed during the flood.

Name	Years Lived	Name	Years Lived
Adam	930	Seth	912
Enosh	905	Kenan	910
Mahalalel	895	Jared	962
Enoch	365	Methuselah	969
Lamech	777	Noah	950

It should be noted that there is nothing known about the human body which would fundamentally prevent humans from having lived that long in the past, or to one day live that long again.[2] Scientists do not know why humans age and ultimately die, although some have speculated that it might be due to the shortening of telomeres, which could theoretically have been much longer prior to the flood.

Josephus on early human longevity

Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, wrote:

“

Let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument that neither did they attain to so long a duration of life; for those ancients were beloved of God and [lately] made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of years; and besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the time of foretelling [the periods of the stars] unless they had lived six hundred years; for the Great Year is completed in that interval. Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all those that have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus and Hestiaeus, and besides these, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those who composed the Poenician History, agree to what I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanicus and Acusilaus; and besides these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years; but as to these matters let everyone look upon them as he thinks fit. (Antiquities, I:5:104-108)

”

Post-flood decline

After the great flood, human lifespans declined quickly and precipitously as seen in the chart at right.

There are several factors for consideration:

The decrease was a result of God's order that "His days will be 120 years.
The decrease in lifespan was the result of the harsher environment after the flood.
Accelerated recombination, inbreeding, and the resulting genetic drift played a possible role.
The decrease was a result of events occurring between 1997 A.M. and 2187 A.M.
The ages of the Biblical genealogy are exaggerated.

It is argued by some that the decline in human longevity was either an intended or knowingly concomitant result of the flood. The following passage quotes the Words of God when he basically says that the days of man will be 120 years because He would destroy the Earth by flood. Although one possible interpretation of this scripture is that this was a statement of when the flood would occur, it is very compelling that the maximum life expectancy for humans is almost exactly 120 years. The longest verified lifespan on record for a human was Jeanne Calment who lived to be 122 years of age[3].

"3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."..... 5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." Genesis 6:3-7

It is a foregone conclusion that after the flood, the environment had changed a great deal. The fossil record indicates that prior to the flood, the Earth was a tropical paradise. The destruction of the Earth by flood would have altered the environment in harmful ways about which we can only speculate. Further, post-flood inbreeding would have been extreme with only a father, mother, three sons, and their wives remaining, causing the loss of a great deal of heterozygosity, and making humans more vulnerable to the new and harsher environment. Their view is consistent with biology (particularly genetic drift,) flood geology, and the decline of humanity.

Chaotic events

The chart at right shows that all of the post-diluvian patriarchs died within a 200 year period, from 1997 A.M. to 2187 A.M. Interestingly, Noah died only two years before Abraham was born. It is possible that their deaths were caused by events occurring during this period, such as perhaps the dispersion of humanity from the Tower of Babel, war, environmental changes, or some other events during that period that caused the death rate to increase greatly.

Modern increase

Recently, human lifespans have been increasing at a remarkable rate in the Western World. This is due primarily to improved medicine, hygiene, and nutrition. Changes in the human gene pool itself are not the cause of this increase. In the absence of our improved technology and nutrition, the human lifespan would be no higher than it was 1000 years ago.