why did man go from living 900 years to 90?

by sowhatnow 55 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  sowhatnow

  I cant recall the scripture, where it says than only a few men will he live to be 80 years or so, can anyone recall that?
  

  so then Im wondering, if it is a fact that men lived long years 900 in some cases, for what reason would God limit our lifespan if our time is so short compared to his?

  how on earth does man go from living 8 and 9 hundred years down to 80 to 100 ?

  unless, the ages were fabrications, or they were not humans. at what point did God say, gee Ill make sure they age very fast so they all die before they are 120 yrs old. that means he was still 'working'
  

  thoughts?
  
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  maksutov

  I thought the explanation was that some protective shield over the earth was lost during the flood.
  
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  prologos

  age claims can only be as good as the timepieces. If I had to rely on my own impression I could not estimate my age correctly. Where these bible writer bragging perhaps?
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  snugglebunny

  I cant recall the scripture, where it says than only a few men will he live to be 80 years or so, can anyone recall that?

  Psalm 90.10, KJV: The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
  
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  Finkelstein

  This 900 year life span of some bible characters is fictional, there is no historical archeological findings that support people in those supposed times lived that long.

  The bible is full of fictional story telling but that's accepted and realized of ancient mythology.

  ie the flood of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the story of Jonah who lived in the stomach of a fish .. etc.
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  AgentSmith

  I recall an article in the Awake or Watchtower that tried to answer that question. There was a picture of a desk fan. The explanation was something like this:
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  AgentSmith

  Its been a while, forgotten how to post.....I recall an article in the Awake or Watchtower that tried to answer that question. There was a picture of a desk fan. The explanation was something like this: There was a picture of a desk fan. "Before sin and Humans were perfect, they were plugged in directly to God's power" after sinning and being kicked out of the garden, the human race was unplugged. Just like the fan that slows down until it stops, so did human life expectancy drop'.

  So, those who lived soon after the infamous fruit theft, lived long lives. the further away we get, the lower life expectancy became.
  
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  blondie

  I heard the same thing maksutov did. Some jws personally surmise that there was some special food value in the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and bad. Officially, the WTS does not support that view.
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  millie210

  What I remember was what AgentSmith wrote about although I thought that illustration was in the "Truth" book (the little blue one). Perhaps it was in both places since they recycle ideas in order to be prolific.

  Great question sowhatnow! I wonder how Bible scholars that are non JW address this.

  I will be interested to read this thread
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  OnTheWayOut

  Man has been slowly expanding his lifespan. Historically, the oldest person ever lived to 122. It is possible that some lived longer than that without being part of recorded history,but statistics don't make it likely.

  Statistics are tricky on this one. Life expectancy at birth was very short in ancient times, but those that did live past infancy and childhood could have lived to grow old. So it seems that some have virtually always managed to live past 70, but now many more do so and many of them live into their 80's and 90's.

  As far as the Bible goes, the same book that says people lived nearly 900 years says that man started out only a bit over 6000 years ago and that a global flood happened some 4300 years ago, give or take, and wiped out all animal and human life except for a tiny gene pool.

  And don't forget that the story forgot that dinosaurs existed. That's evidence enough for me that the writings were based on what people believed at the time of writing and that no supernatural power helped them with the story.