Historians and 911 Years

How marvelously the secrets of life are revealed when the Words found in the Holy Word of God, the Holy Bible are given supreme, number-one honor.  In order to fully participate in the revelation, a 100% surrender to the truth of the Gospel is imperative.  Ninety-nine just won’t do.  The one percent of unbelief will eventually leaven the whole lump.

Jude 1:3-4:

3.  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

4.  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

On this website, there are presently 342 features.  God willing, this number grows by one every Thursday eve.  All the features prove the beautiful truth of the Scriptures.  These subjects are all archived in text and streaming audio.

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GOD SAID, Genesis 5:5:

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:8:

And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

GOD SAID, Genesis 5:27:

And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

GOD SAID, Genesis 9:29:

And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

MAN SAID: The Bible is a book of incredible fairy tales.

Now THE RECORD.  All the amazing claims in the Scriptures—could they be true?  God speaking us and the universe into existence in six literal 24-hour days just over 6,000 years ago and His placing of one man, Adam, and one woman, Eve, who was made of Man’s rib, in a place called Paradise—could such accounts be true?  Could it be true that God destroyed the entire earth and all terrestrial creatures by a global flood, saving only Noah alive and all that was upon the ark?  Were the world’s creatures once vegetarian?  Did God strike Egypt with horrendous plagues and did Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt via the Red Sea?  Did Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and did the walls come tumbling down?  Did David slay Goliath, and was there a Jonah and the whale?  Were there fire-breathing dragons, fiery flying serpents, and did giants once walk the earth?  What about the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Joseph and his coat of many colors?  Can such accounts be proven?  Are these accounts simply incredible fairy tales, or does empirical data soundly support the Bible’s account?  The single answer to all the questions posed is a resounding YES!

Fitting into the category of “incredible but true” is man’s average life span of 911 years before the flood.  Immediately after the great flood, life span begins to drop precipitously, first down to 120 years, then finally to the Psalmist’s “threescore years and ten,” or an average of 70 years.  As an aside, Genesis 6:3, which refers to man’s life span of 120 years, is interpreted by some to mean that Noah was building the ark for 120 years, although there is no suggestion in that verse of such an idea.  The famed Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote directly after the years of Christ, weighed in on this subject in the following passage:

Now God loved this man for his righteousness; yet he not only condemned those other men for their wickedness, but determined to destroy the whole race of mankind, and to make another race that should be pure from wickedness; and cutting short their lives, and making their years not so many as they formerly lived, but one hundred and twenty only, he turned the dry land into sea; and thus were all these men destroyed:  [End of quote]  

There are several features on GodSaidManSaid that deal with the life span of man.  These subjects are posted at the end of this feature for your perusal. 

Could man have lived for nearly 1,000 years as the scriptures clearly state, with the Bible’s oldest man, Methuselah, reaching 969 years?  Last week’s feature article titled, “Is Immortality Knocking?” dealt with the Bible’s truth that Adam was created immortal, and as a result of sin, death and mortality began to reign.  The following excerpt from Experimental Gerontology was republished by Dr. Mercola, and it’s an update for “Is Immortality Knocking?”  It is also additional certification of the scriptural account of 911 average years for the antediluvian life span:

The search for a “cure for aging,” or the proverbial fountain of youth, is alive and kicking throughout the world.  Still, the camps are divided over whether virtual immortality in humans is possible—and if it is, if it’s a good thing.

According to Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey:

“The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today ...whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries.”

Among the many advances in science and technology that point to an incredibly long life for humans, possibly in the near future, are experiments that have extended the lifespan of fruit flies and other organisms, including mammals.

Anti-aging researchers are increasingly optimistic that aging can be slowed down dramatically, or even prevented altogether.

Even the federal government has devoted funds, to the tune of $2.4 billion a year, to study the “biology of aging.”

“ ... In the near future, say the next two to four decades, the disease of aging will be cured,” said Robert Freitas at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, a non-profit, nanotech group in Palo Alto, California.  [End of quote]

This feature deals with the historians’ record concerning the phenomenal life span of ancient man.  It also demonstrates the catastrophic results when TRUTH is rejected for hypothesis.  The following paragraph is found in the writings of Josephus:

Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood, and that all that time happily, he died, having the number of nine hundred and fifty years: but 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 Phoenician History, agree to what I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus; and besides, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years: but as to these matters, let every one look upon them as he thinks fit.  [End of quote]

If men lived an average pre-flood life of 911 years, or basically 13 times longer than we do today (and they certainly did), then much of the world’s knowledge that rejects this Biblical record would have a very distorted view of reality (and it certainly does).  Just two points will be briefly discussed to illustrate: