So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. Gen 5:5
The first time I read that I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was reading it right. I cannot begin to imagine living to be 930 years old. I just had a birthday and it took me 55 years to get to where I am now. Though it has been 55 years it seems to have passed so quickly.
Methuselah lived to be 969 years and many others lived almost as long.
So is it possible or have we misunderstood what the Bible says?
I’ve heard many Christians explain it away by saying that we don’t know how long a day or a year really was.
But I much prefer to believe what the Creation Moments staff has to say on the subject.
Most of the effects of aging are due to genetic mistakes that accumulate over generations. This is in addition to the age limitations God imposed on human beings after the Genesis Flood. These early generations, so close to Adam and Eve, would have accumulated comparatively few genetic mistakes.
Before the Genesis Flood, the earth was probably a very different place. Many creation-scientists believe that the pre-Flood earth was surrounded by a canopy of water vapor or at least in some way had a greater atmospheric pressure – perhaps about twice what it is now. Medical researchers have been experimenting with the effects of higher atmospheric pressure. Tests in chambers that subject people to similar air pressures show that high atmospheric pressure gets more oxygen to the cells and speeds healing. Hospitals use a hyperbaric chamber for burn victims. Experiments have shown that such chambers can also reverse senility. And higher atmospheric pressure appears to reverse some of the effects of aging on the skin and hair and stimulates the entire body.
We can be sure that Adam and the others lived as long as they did because God’s Word says they did. However, science may be discovering some of the conditions in the pre-Flood world that may have helped make these long lives possible.