Long Life Spans in Genesis
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
For many skeptics the long life spans recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 seem absurd. Recent advances in the biochemistry of aging, however, make these long life spans scientifically plausible. Researchers studying the aging process have known for some time that calorie restriction can dramatically boost life expectancy for a wide range of organisms. Biochemists have shown that calorie restriction activates the enzyme Sir2, which minimizes wear and tear on the cell’s genetic material, among other things. In this study, researchers demonstrate that calorie restriction may also exert its benefits through pathways that don’t involve Sir2. They show that Sir2 activation in conjunction with calorie restriction extends life expectancy in yeast far beyond that observed for each one independently. This study indicates a plausible way that the Creator simultaneously could have made several subtle biochemical adjustments that additively permitted long life spans and, in turn, shortened them at the time of the Flood. In light of this discovery, long human life spans described in Genesis are scientifically reasonable.
- Matt Kaeberlein et al., “Sir2-Independent Life Span Extension by Calorie Restriction in Yeast,” PLOS Biology 2 (2004).
- https://www.plosbiology.org/
- Related Resource
- “Long Life Spans: Adam Lived 930 Years and Then He Died–New Discoveries in the Biochemistry of Aging Support the Biblical Record,” by Fazale R. Rana, Hugh Ross, and Richard Deem