Dyz

Diogenes that was kind of what I was looking for. Yet another thing for me to research. I see Wiki has some info to start with. Thank you.

Elijah your philosophy sounds a lot like what was written in the Christ Letters. Interesting read that gives an entirely different perspective of Jesus by someone who claims to channel Christ today. Inspired writing no doubt. If that interests you might want to check out What the Bleep? on Google video. It touches the surface of current Quantam Physics thoughts on the mind in relationship to the universe and the "mental jumps" we might be experiencing now.

Schmoikel Thank you for the links. I have for the most part though, concluded that if God had written the Bible there wouldn't be much need for apologetics.. my eyes hurt too. Heh

Gamera

Since the Hebrew scriptures are a pastiche of narratives by different authors with different purposes directed at different audiences at different times, I don't think one can derive a uniform theory of what any particular denotation of time appears in these stories.

Sometimes 40 years, for instance, may just mean "a long time" not 40 years. Sometime a day may mean something utterly different from a day, as Genesis 1 must, given there is no day or night at the time.

In other words, you have to look at the context. I'm not saying philology doens't help. I just don't think it's determinative.

I'd note that this isn't unusual. The philological discussion of colors in OE poetry has fits since the poets seem to be from a different planet. For instance, the sea is often described a "yellow." The problem is in context, OE follows a different color register, and the word that become yellow in ModE meant something like "real shiney" in OE. Indeed, OE apparently organized colors based on hue not chroma (I may be getting these terms mixed up), making mince meat out of translations.

The same may be happening in the Hebrew scriptures as to time.

Ender_Wiggin

The one theory I havent heard expressed would be genetics. If things happened as scripture described then the shortening of life spans could or would happen with each generation as the gene pool gets muddied a little. Assuming that Adam's DNA was designed perfect then each generational recombination would diverge from there. If you look at the numbers they tend to get shorter with each generation and childbirth at a younger age.

Schmoikel

I've heard that line of reasoning before too. But the math just doesn't work out. If (and it's a big f@#king IF) Adam existed and was perfect and lived to a ripe old age of what 900ish? Jump ahead to today. Average life span is somewhere around 82. Man's life span has decreased 800 + years in 6,000 years. And using this same 'logic', our life span will continue to decrease over time since we are all 'imperfect' creatures filled with sin. Someone help me with the math here. How much longer do we have until our life span resembles that of a house fly?

This of course goes against what we can actually observe, and that is the average life span is acutally increasing and has been since at least 2000 years ago. Hmm...2000 years ago we started to live longer. I wonder what could have happened 2000 years ago to account for such a change? Hmm:huh:

douglas

Hi Dyz!

You might consider reading Asimov's Guide to the Bible. Try reading a chapter in the bible, then read Asimov's commentary on that chapter. Most libraries carry both volumns. Just a thought. Enjoy the ride!

Ender_Wiggin

Actually it was much shorter than 82 in the middle ages. Science and health have caused it to expand again. I never said it was a linear decline or stable, only that multiple generations corrupted. It didn't take many generations for it to slip quite a bit.

Schmoikel

Ah yes. We almost died off there for a bit huh? 900+ in the days of that kick ass garden with the apple tree. Down to an average of around 28 around the Roman times. Now back up again. Are we getting more perfect (bad grammar I know)? Did we do something to appease the invisible surveillance camera in the sky? I thought we are all born of sin and imperfect. Couldn't be something as simple as advancements in technology, medicine, etc....

And for those out there that need proof instead of assumptions....Life expectancy

Roller

You might also find it interesting to delve into two creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2. Researching that might shed more light on you question about patriarchs.

In other words, people already covered your question and I don't have anything to add.

John Kesler

Even The NIV Study Bible acknowledges a relationship between the Sumerian king lists and Genesis. On page 5, with the heading "Ancient Texts Relating to the Old Testament," is this entry:

The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary On The Bible (or via: amazon.co.uk), page 7, notes the following regarding Genesis 5:

I think that it's no coincidence that Moses dies at 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7), exactly the maximum age that Yahweh said he would allow (Genesis 6:3).