Expert: Rev C.Brian Ross - 1/7/2007

Question
Mr. C. Brian Ross

thanks for the answer- perfect

Now I have to follow up--- liberals will ask me-- how could people live to 800 or 900 years?

I have been answering this that the earths atmoshpere changed drastically after the flood-- within God's design and plan-- I also answer-- that with so many years of life-- people had no sense of urgency to seek God.  Not sure if this is even close but it it what I have been saying.

Any thoughts here?

thank you

Jeff Murray
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I saw on the Simpsons-- the little boys of the Crhsitian guy- the neighbor to Homer said  Daddy if Adam and Eve had 2 children Cain and Able-- did they have sex with Eve or each other.  

of course very crude but it got me thinking-- ok who did they have sex with?


-----Answer-----
Hi Jeff.
First of all, may I apologise for the delay in answering your interesting question.  I have just returned, this evening (UK time!) from a few days' holiday, to discover five questions awaiting my attention.  This was in spite of the fact that I had advised Allexperts that I would be away, and had had my notification acknowledged!  I have already reported this breakdown in the system to the administrator!
Now, to your question.  If you read (and if the writers of The Simpsons had bothered to read!) Gen 5:4, you will discover that "After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters." (NKJV)
What happened was, not that the children of Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship with the parents, but that they had such a relationship with one another - I would presume in a monogamous manner.  
Of course, the sceptic will throw up his hands with the cry of "incest".  Two things need to be said.  
(a) there was no law of incest until a long time after these days, by which time such relationships would be with such distant "cousins" that, even today, no-one would give it a second thought.
(b) the reason for this is that, at the beginning, there was an uncorrupted gene-pool.  This meant that there was no  danger of the genetic problems that the forbidden relationships would engender, coming about.  It is this genetic mix that is forbidden, rather than the blood-relationship per se.  The problems are seen in very isolated and close-knit communities in which there has been a lot of "in-breeding".
I trust that this will answer your query but, if you have any further question, please feel free to get back to me.
Best wishes,
C.Brian Ross

Answer
Hi, again, Jeff.
I actually commenced this answer last night – while right in the flow, as it were! – but must have hit a “wrong” key and lost everything!!  Not a happy chappy after that.
Anyway, you have come up with another interesting question, and the answers you have been giving are not entirely wrong.  I offer the following thoughts that may be of assistance.
You are certainly correct in saying that it was after the flood that the life expectancy seems to have started to drop, quite dramatically.  However, it is noteworthy that it was before the flood that God made the pronouncement that "My Spirit will not contend with man for ever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."  (Gen 6:3, NIV)  Noah himself lived to be 950 (9:29), so the new edict certainly didn’t apply to him, nor to Shem who lived to be 600 years of age (11:10-11).
There are a number of possibilities.  It may well have been the severe environmental changes that were the cause of the lowering age limit.  The protective “canopy” had disappeared, and humanity was now exposed to harmful rays from the sun that may well have caused genetic mutations that were the physical cause of the shorter lives.  Likewise, the change from vegetarianism to meat-eating may have played a part in the change, as the “inner environment” can have as much of an effect as the outer one!  Unfortunately, our current experience of both of these situations does not lend weight to either/both of them having any MAJOR effect on longevity.
However, I suspect that the real reason may have something to do with the gene pool that I mentioned in my earlier answer.  There is a well-known and simple phenomenon called ‘genetic drift’, through which varying forms of genes (stretches of DNA coding for various characteristics) can become lost in small populations. In a situation in which the entire human race was reduced down to Noah, his three sons and their wives, it is entirely feasible that some forms of the genes present in Noah were not passed on. Since it now appears that much of aging is under genetic control, loss of some of the genes for longevity may be the reason for the drop post-Flood.
The bottom line, of course, is that this is, and can only be, speculation.  There is no hard evidence to support any such theory.  The “plus” side is that, of course, there is no evidence to support any other (anti-Christian/Bible) theory!!  I simply take comfort from the fact that I am able to produce valid arguments that fit the facts as known, and that are perfectly feasible in accordance with our current level of knowledge.
I trust that this has helped.
Blessings
C.Brian Ross