How did they live more than 900 years?

This subject may seem a little off topic for a blog that is generally about The Secret, but there is actually a subliminal bit in the movie that sheds some light on this subject.

There is a two frame flash of the title and author of a book early in the movie. The book is "Life Power and How to Live It" by Elizabeth Towne. Chapter One of this book is entitled "Methuselah and The Sun", and it begins with these words:

“There are people who declare that time was when a great canopy of vapor hung over the Earth and revolved with it, as Jupiter’s vapory canopies now do; and that this vapory canopy kept off almost completely the actinic (death-dealing) rays, while it admitted light and heat rays. Thus they account for Adam’s and Methuselah’s great ages. And they say that, unless this vapory canopy is again formed around our Earth, to ward off these death dealing rays, we shall never attain immortality in the flesh.”

Well this is certainly an interesting idea, and it is possible that it was postulated even before her book. If anyone knows an earlier source, please leave a comment.

But is there any support for this idea in the Scripture? Well there is this . . .

"But there went up a mist from the Earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."

That is Genesis 2:6 in the King James Version of the Bible.

OK, assuming that this is true for a second, does it fit in? Here is the computation.

Aligning with the Jewish calendar, it appears that the expulsion from Eden happened about 4000 BC. The timelines in the Bible seem to indicate about this time as well. We have record of the following people living with the following life spans:

Adam (4000-3070BC) 930 years.
Seth (3870-2958BC) 912 years.
Enos (3765-2860BC) 905 years.
Cainan (3675-2765BC) 910 years.
Mahalaleel (3605-2710BC) 895 years. (Hmmm, dies early :-) )
Jared (3540-2578BC) 962 years.
Enoch (3378-3013BC) 365 years. (Enoch was taken to Heaven and did not live his whole span).
Methuselah (3313-2344BC) 969 years. (Longest recorded lifespan that we know of).
Lamech (3126-2349BC) 777 years. (His father Methuselah outlived him).
(In the year 3070 Adam dies.)
Noah (2944-1994BC) 950 years. Flood came at 600 years, or about 2344BC.
(All the other patriarchs die except Methuselah and Lamech in this time frame)
Noah's Three sons are born in 2494-Japeth 2452-Shem and 2444-Ham.

Again the approximate date of the flood event is from 2-17-2344BC to 2-27-2343BC before they actually left the Ark. Noah still had the really long life span, half of it post-flood. But the days of men shortened gradually according to what we read in Genesis 10. The lifespans got to be around 500 years, then 400, then 300, 200 and finally just over 100.

So what happened? Well the Flood is what happened. But it appears that the mist was not all taken away at once, but the flood appears to have started the process where the mist slowly went away. The gradually shortening life spans seem to indicate that people at each new generation were exposed to more of the aging rays of the sun than the previous generation had been.

So can we ever live to be 900 years old in this mortal life?

Sure, if the mist comes back.

Otherwise, it's wait 'till the resurrection, and then of course we will live forever.

Rock on!

Joseph