Hello my
friends!
Well please
excuse me for being late on my blog writings. But my daughter finally had her
baby late Sunday night! My grandson is a wonderful new creation and he has been
here for a long two days.
Last week we
discussed physical properties that contributed to long age and cellular health,
but there is one other thing that can supplement longevity. Genetics.
Before the
great deluge, the bible records people living naturally long lives. Then after
the global flood, the bible records human ages decreasing. But not all the
people. Noah’s sons Shem and Japheth, are recorded to have lived long lives as
well, six hundred and two years and ? respectively. Ham’s age is not recorded in
the bible so it is an unknown how long he lived. However, if he did live out a
natural life, I would venture to say it was long as well.
But then we
see in their descendents, life spans decreasing. Arphaxhad lived four hundred
and thirty eight years, Peleg two hundred and nine years, Nahor lived a hundred
forty eight years, and Terah father of Abram, two hundred and five years. (There
are several generations between some of these people). By the time Abram (Abraham)
passed, he was considered old at one hundred and seventy five years; “Then Abraham
gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years;
and was gathered to his people.” Genesis 25:8.
The environment
certainly had something to do with the reduction of longevity and could very
well be reflected in the immediate descendents of Noah’s sons (in our example –
Arphaxhad). The bible states they did not live six or nine hundred years like
the former-world residents did. But it seems that it wasn’t until after Peleg
that the years drastically dropped off of human lives.
The cause? A
bottle neck of genetics…at the tower of Babel. Peleg is mentioned in the bible
as-in the days of Peleg the world was divided-and is in reference to the
splitting of the original language. When God proclaimed His judgment on
mankind, confusing the languages at the tower of Babel, people split into
different groups with others who spoke the same language (see blogs on the
Tower of Babel). Genetics became very limited because of intermarriage which was
not considered taboo at that time. However by the time Moses came along, the
genetic limitations had grown so detrimental to the human race, God instructed people
they could not marry immediate family members anymore.
Reactive oxygen
species, caloric restriction, telomere loss, genome loss, and a vela supernova
are environmental and genetic factors in which human longevity had been
affected during that time. “Exactly how God altered human life spans no
one knows. However, recent discoveries in the biochemistry of aging continue to
build the case for the reliability of Scripture [scientifically speaking]—even
of Genesis 5 and 6.”1
God is a God
of immeasurable possibilities. Even though it may be hard for us to wrap our
minds around such strange concepts, we should never limit God.
Until next time!
God Bless,
Willow Dressel
In the night sky this week –The
crescent Moon is in the west as twilight fades [on friday], and can be used to
guide your way down to little Mars. “The Leonid meteor shower, normally weak
but occasionally surprising, should be at its best in the hours before dawn
Saturday morning. Under a dark sky you may see about a dozen to 20 Leonids per
hour. There is no Moon.”
References:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance
http://www.answersingenesis.org
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