Noahs Ark - Impossible Fiction or Biblical Truth

Noah"s age: In the book of Genesis, the Bible routinely records human life spans which seem outrageously different from our experience today. Adam lived to 930 years; Noah even longer, to 950 years (see graph below). These long life spans are not haphazardly distributed; they are systematically greater before the Flood of Noah, and decline sharply afterwards. These great ages are not presented in the Bible as if they are in any way extraordinary for their times, let alone miraculous. Many people are quick to scoff at such ages, claiming they are "biologically impossible". Today, even if they avoid all fatal diseases, humans will generally die of old age before they reach much past 100. Even the very exceptional cases don"t make it much past 120 years. However, a look at the evidence related to aging suggests that the apparent upper limit on today"s average life spans is not something that is "biologically inevitable" as such for humans or other multi-celled creatures. Disease, diet, "wear and tear" and other environmental factors undoubtedly play a part in how long we live. However, it now appears that underlying all these are factors somehow written into our genetic code, which determine what our "upper limit" is. And although an average "upper limit" seems to be "programmed" into each species, breeding experiments have shown that this limit can be altered, even dramatically. Experiments with fruitflies and worms have shown that extra longevity can be bred into and out of these populations. Why is it that multi-celled creatures (like people) all eventually wear out and die? It is not enough to simply say that there are physical laws which dictate that all fixed structures will eventually wear out. This is true, but biological machinery has built-in "intelligence" (programmed into the DNA) which gives it the ability to repair itself. Our individual organs do wear out. The cells within them can multiply for a while, but not forever. After a certain number of times, they simply stop dividing. It is known that ordinary human cells will only divide some 80"90 times, then no more. It appears that there is, on the tips of each of our chromosomes, a structure called a telomere. The machinery by which cells divide is controlled by the instructions written on the DNA, the genetic code. So it looks as if some pre-programmed genetic limit, while not all there is to aging, could well be a big part of the story. In short, there is no known biological reason why lifespans of 900 years or more would be impossible if that genetic limit were set at a different point. And there is reason to think that there could indeed be great variation in this genetic "upper limit". We have already seen that simply reshuffling gene frequencies through breeding selection in fruitflies can drastically increase their lifespan. The real question then becomes not, "How could they possibly live for so long?", but rather, "Why don"t we live that long any more? The "capping" at the end of each chromosome (called a telomere, from Greek `4;^1;_5;_9;`2; telos = "end" and _6;^1;`1;_9;`2; mer_9;s "part") is, like the capped tips of shoelaces, necessary to prevent the ends fraying. The telomere shortens with each cell division"once the limit is reached, the cells can no longer divide. This is probably only one way in which our limited lifespans are "programmed" into us. There is no biological reason at all why people could not live much longer than they do at present, if they had the appropriate genetic makeup. It has long been known that there are human cells that can keep on dividing forever"cancer cells. These appear not to have the built-in "switch" which tells cells to stop dividing, so they keep on making copies of themselves. This is why medical labs, which need to use human cell lines in their work, can be continually supplied with cells which are all the "offspring" of one unfortunate person"s cancer. (Called HeLa cells, after Henrietta Lacks, the lady whose cancer it was). The HeLa cell line is effectively "immortal" (unless existing HeLa cells were to all be physically destroyed). Recently, laboratory results based on an enzyme3 that is involved with the replication of the telomere, have caused much excitement. Modified human cell lines have divided many times past their limit. Some speculate that such manipulations could cause people to live to much longer ages, providing they do not succumb to disease or accident in the meantime. Aging is certain to be much more complex than these simplified discussions, based on preliminary findings, might lead us to think. However, the evidence so far strongly suggests that genetics plays a major part. Looking at the drop in life spans after the Flood, it is natural to think that it must be related to the world having changed so drastically. Evidence from the fossil record does suggest that carbon dioxide (also possibly oxygen) levels were higher in the pre-Flood world. Many have suggested that an atmospheric canopy of water vapour sheltered the pre-Flood world from cosmic radiation. However, whether this is so or not, there is little evidence that aging is substantially influenced by any of these factors If such genetic loss were the reason for the decline in life spans, it may not be the only one. Harmful mutations accumulating at higher rates may have played a part. Some of these mutations may have caused a loss of the length of the telomere, for instance. Of course, the ultimate reason for all aging and death is the Curse on all creation recorded in Genesis chapter 3. Adam was told that if he disobeyed God, "dying, you shall die" [lit. Hebrew]. Adam immediately died spiritually, and began to die physically on the very same day, just as we are all dying today. Modern genetic research shows that we all inherit the inevitability of aging and death. When we look at our encroaching wrinkles in the mirror, it should remind us of the awfulness of sin in the sight of a holy God. And it should cause us immense thankfulness that God has provided a way of escape from His own righteous judgement on sin, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a well-known and simple phenomenon called "genetic drift", through which varying forms (alleles) of genes (stretches of DNA coding for various characteristics) can become lost in small populations. Genes come in pairs; you inherit one from your mother and one from your father. Therefore the possibility that none of the offspring will inherit a particlaur gene is not at all a remote one. (If they only have three children, the chance is 1 in 8). In a situation in which the entire human race was reduced down to Noah, his three sons and their wives, it is entirely feasible that some forms of the genes present in Noah were not passed on. Since it now appears that much of aging is under genetic control, loss of some of the genes for longevity may be the reason for the drop post-Flood. Perhaps subsequent population bottlenecks (at Babel) contributed further to this genetic elimination. The "capping" at the end of each chromosome (called a telomere, from Greek `4;^1;_5;_9;`2; telos = "end" and _6;^1;`1;_9;`2; mer_9;s "part") is, like the capped tips of shoelaces, necessary to prevent the ends fraying. The telomere shortens with each cell division"once the limit is reached, the cells can no longer divide. This is probably only one way in which our limited life spans are "programmed" into us. There is no biological reason at all why people could not live much longer than they do at present, if they had the appropriate genetic makeup. I have run out of space to complete this response, so I hope you wlll bear with me, and I will conclude it in my next response where I will also respond to the issue of 'How the animals migrated'