Hello out there!
Once again it has been a
wonderful week! Beautiful weather—both sunny and rain storms! How are all you
fine folks holding up in the southern hemisphere? Has spring begun to peak its warm
head above ground yet? Well, it might be a wee bit too early for that but it
should be coming soon.
So…for the last two weeks we
learned about the longevity of life in Pre-Flood and immediate Post-Flood and
Post-Babel generations due to both environmental factors and genetics. But what
about those generation’s whose life spans were shortened, while the long lived
generations still lived on. How did people react to this unique situation in
time?
There is
really two sides to this event. How did the later Post-Babel peoples (those who
grew old and died in 120 years) react to those who outlived their grand and
great + grand children? And how did the generations of peoples who lived extraordinary
long lives react to the people who lived for only one century. Believe it or
not, there are some significant recordings of just what happened…
The Short-Lived Generations:
As people’s
life spans became shorter and shorter, those who lived for many generations
would have become thought of as...immortal. They would have been revered and held
in awe, even whispered that they could be gods.
And that is just what we see happened in various culture’s history.
Egypt, the Romans and Greeks as
well as many other cultures had many gods and goddesses whom they worshiped. Some
of the people even began to worship their ancestors. Even today in China, ancestor
worship is still prevalent in rural areas.
Scripture
records the humans that were born following the great deluge had life spans that
still numbered in the hundreds of years. Thus, a person born several centuries
after The Flood could speak with someone who was alive at the same time their
ancestor six or seven times removed lived. To a short-life span person, the
long-lived human would seem immortal. It would be hard not to worship your
great, great, + grandfather who was 400 years old. Imagine what they would have
experienced during their lifetimes. It would be like meeting someone still alive
who was born in the 1600’s. It would be hard not to be in awe of them—imagine all
the questions they could answer! It would be very easy, almost natural to deify
them.
The Long-Lived Generations:
On the other
hand, what did the long-lived generations think of themselves and of the short-life
span peoples? It is very possible if not probable that those long lived humans
(at least some of them) played up the immortal part, turning the eyes of the
current population to worship them. Genetics and the early environment would
have aided these long lived individuals to appear young and vital for several
hundred years. As a matter of fact, they may have even believed in themselves
as gods. After all, they did out lived everyone else…so maybe they were gods. And that is exactly what we
see in cultural historical records around the world.
There was a deity for just about
anything imaginable; Jupiter (the master of all Roman gods), Mars (Roman god of
war), Venus (Roman goddess of love), Neptune (Roman god of the sea), Diana
(roman god of the moon), Iris (Egyptian goddess of the earth), Re (Egyptian
creator god), Pan (Geek god of the mountains) and Mithras (Persian-god of
light), just to name a few. Not to mention the ancestor worship.
But the mythology legends also tell us these
gods and goddesses not only lived, but were capable of death. Though they were
considered immortal, it was known that they could be killed, or even just die.
The myths never did say they couldn’t die, just that they lived a long, long
time. Sound familiar?
Unlike those
‘immortals’, there is only one God—God the Creator—who is truly immortal and is
beyond time: God the trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Until next time, take care and
God Bless!
Willow Dressel
This week in the night skies; Tuesday, August 20 is the
Full Moon (exact at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time-USA-northern hemisphere).
The Moon rises around sunset and shines in dim Aquarius after dark. Also in the
northern hemisphere The asteroid 7 Iris (the 7th discovered) is just past
opposition in Aquarius. Find it at magnitude 8.0 this week with a small
telescope. For the southern hemisphere, Mars, Jupiter and the bright star
Procyon start the week forming a triangle in the morning twilight.
Jupiter and Mars are passing through the constellation Gemini, towards the end
of the week. Mars is also close to the bright star Pollux. Nova Delphins is
magnitude 6, bright enough to be seen faintly with
the unaided eye from dark sky locations, but best seen with
binoculars. Have fun!
References:
Morris, H. M. 2006. The New Defender's
Study Bible. Nashville, TN: World Publishing, Inc.
Answers in
Genesis, The Tower of Babel, Bodie
Hoge, 2011. DVD
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