Originally posted by GriBiT
I've always been intersted in the long life spans spoke about in the bible. Life spans of 100's of years. Over 900 in the case of Adam. Then they
slowly decrease over time. After "Noas flood" they decreased even more until they reached the average age that we have now (70 years give or take).
Kent Hovind has a theory about this which I find pretty interesting, however dubious I am of his credibility. He (and others, actually) believes that
prior to the flood the earth was covered by a mantle of water high in the atmosphere. The temperature was always a certain degree, and the earth was
protected from solar radiation. The atmophere was more dense as well, and everything had a tendancy to grow larger and live longer.
He says that humans grew to be at least 12 feet tall and that lizards would grow into dinosaurs.
After the flood, the mantle was gone (the mantle was part of the water God used in the flood, the rest came from underground resevoirs) and its
protection lost. Man began to live shorter and shorter lifespans.
If you're interested, you can download the MP3s from his Creation seminar
here.
You'll want to download number six, the "Hovind Theory".
I don't know how credible the guy is, but he's at least entertaining and he's got some neat ideas.