Abstract: This essay presents and defends a hypothesis that our antediluvian ancestors looked quite differently from us.
Introduction
Let's face it: once people hit forty, our bodies begin to disintegrate. Our hips and knees begin to hurt due to bipedal locomotion, in extreme cases leading to eburnation. Our legs are prone to varicosity. Our teeth decay and begin to fall out. Our eyesight and hearing decline. Our bones turn fragile due to mineral loss, making us prone to bone breakage - and making it more difficult for bone healing. Our spine weakens, including problems such as slipped disks. We start to lose muscles by the pound (making the fat circles around our bellies that much more visible). Basically, the way we are now, we have been designed to live not much more than 50 years. Yet, the Holy Bible tells us that before the Flood, people lived hundreds of years. How do we explain this apparent contradiction?
Methods
My methods include reading the Bible carefully and making conclusions based on it.
Results and discussion
Despite what we see empirically regarding human longevity, the Holy Bible tells us that before the Flood, people lived for centuries. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5). His descendant Jared lived 962 years (Genesis 5:20). Later, Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27).
There are a few possible explanations, how is that possible that these ancient people lived so long:
1) God took time out of His busy schedule to miraculously fix every health problem of Adam and his descendants, including healing every slipped disk and regenerating every fallen tooth, for hundreds of years for each individual mentioned in the Bible. This is not very probable, since God has a very busy schedule and it would be difficult to expect of Him to be at the service of the first people all the time.
2) These ancient people aged just as we age - so basically past age 90 they were all blind, deaf, toothless, and bed-ridden, and continued to live another 800-900 years in such miserable condition. That possibility seems improbable as well, since it would have been a great burden for the young descendants, who would have to be taking care of their bed-ridden parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on.
3) Therefore, the most logical possibility is that our antediluvian ancestors were designed quite differently. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that several of the aforementioned individuals begat their offspring when they were well over 100 years old. For example, Adam was 130 years old when he begat Seth (Genesis 5:3), and he kept begetting more sons and daughters afterwards (Genesis 5:4). Jared was 162 when he begat his first son (Genesis 5:18). Methuselah was 187 years old when he begat his first son (Genesis 5:25). Therefore, they had to stay young much longer than people do nowadays, and had to have different bodies designed to stay young for hundreds of years.
Here is a sketch how they might have looked (source:
):

As this drawing suggests, our antediluvian ancestors might have been shorter and bulkier, with knees bending forward, some extra ribs, and overall bent forward. The ears would have been pointy to improve hearing (more info in aforementioned link).
Conclusions
While this hypothesis can be confirmed only when we find and excavate an antediluvian burial, I believe that I supplied enough Biblical support for the thesis that God designed our antediluvian ancestors quite differently from the current design of humans, which allowed them to live more than 900 years.
Bibliography:
The Holy Bible (obviously)
Olshansky, S. Jay, Bruce A. Carnes, and Robert N. Butler. "If humans were built to last." Scientific American 284, no. 3 (2001): 50-55.
Online: https://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/M...n%20design.pdf
Introduction
Let's face it: once people hit forty, our bodies begin to disintegrate. Our hips and knees begin to hurt due to bipedal locomotion, in extreme cases leading to eburnation. Our legs are prone to varicosity. Our teeth decay and begin to fall out. Our eyesight and hearing decline. Our bones turn fragile due to mineral loss, making us prone to bone breakage - and making it more difficult for bone healing. Our spine weakens, including problems such as slipped disks. We start to lose muscles by the pound (making the fat circles around our bellies that much more visible). Basically, the way we are now, we have been designed to live not much more than 50 years. Yet, the Holy Bible tells us that before the Flood, people lived hundreds of years. How do we explain this apparent contradiction?
Methods
My methods include reading the Bible carefully and making conclusions based on it.
Results and discussion
Despite what we see empirically regarding human longevity, the Holy Bible tells us that before the Flood, people lived for centuries. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5). His descendant Jared lived 962 years (Genesis 5:20). Later, Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27).
There are a few possible explanations, how is that possible that these ancient people lived so long:
1) God took time out of His busy schedule to miraculously fix every health problem of Adam and his descendants, including healing every slipped disk and regenerating every fallen tooth, for hundreds of years for each individual mentioned in the Bible. This is not very probable, since God has a very busy schedule and it would be difficult to expect of Him to be at the service of the first people all the time.
2) These ancient people aged just as we age - so basically past age 90 they were all blind, deaf, toothless, and bed-ridden, and continued to live another 800-900 years in such miserable condition. That possibility seems improbable as well, since it would have been a great burden for the young descendants, who would have to be taking care of their bed-ridden parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on.
3) Therefore, the most logical possibility is that our antediluvian ancestors were designed quite differently. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that several of the aforementioned individuals begat their offspring when they were well over 100 years old. For example, Adam was 130 years old when he begat Seth (Genesis 5:3), and he kept begetting more sons and daughters afterwards (Genesis 5:4). Jared was 162 when he begat his first son (Genesis 5:18). Methuselah was 187 years old when he begat his first son (Genesis 5:25). Therefore, they had to stay young much longer than people do nowadays, and had to have different bodies designed to stay young for hundreds of years.
Here is a sketch how they might have looked (source:


As this drawing suggests, our antediluvian ancestors might have been shorter and bulkier, with knees bending forward, some extra ribs, and overall bent forward. The ears would have been pointy to improve hearing (more info in aforementioned link).
Conclusions
While this hypothesis can be confirmed only when we find and excavate an antediluvian burial, I believe that I supplied enough Biblical support for the thesis that God designed our antediluvian ancestors quite differently from the current design of humans, which allowed them to live more than 900 years.
Bibliography:
The Holy Bible (obviously)
Olshansky, S. Jay, Bruce A. Carnes, and Robert N. Butler. "If humans were built to last." Scientific American 284, no. 3 (2001): 50-55.
Online: https://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/M...n%20design.pdf
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