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IVAN - In the early chapters of Genesis and Moses it mentions that Adam live 900+ years and so on till Noah. How come they lived such long years? Are our years as long as those years mentioned?

JOEL - Many have suggested that time was counted differently back then than it is now, but there is at least no evidence in the scriptures that a year then was much different than what we call a year now. After the fall of Adam, the genetic line of his descendents would have been very pure, perhaps providing for very healthy long lives.

It is interesting to note that after the flood, the lifespan of people started to decline rapidly, as if the flood caused some alteration in the atmosphere that had an effect on the aging process. The theory goes that the rains that came during the flood destroyed the "canopy" or inversion layer of the atmosphere, permanently changing the earth's climate. This canopy had until this time caused a nearly uniform, warm climate over all the earth and had prevented moist air from rising and condensing to form rain: " . . . the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. . . ." (Genesis 2:5.). Rather, plants were watered by dew that formed "in the cool of the day." (Genesis 3:8.) Destruction of the canopy also allowed small amounts of ozone, formed from oxygen in the upper atmosphere by ultraviolet light from the sun, to reach the earth's surface, greatly shortening the lifespans of people born after the time of Noah.
This is all speculation.

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