Human Life Span & Evolution

Has it not been that human life span has been gradually increasing? Has gradually increased?The Bible gives life span in hundreds of years, but how can that be? With evolution at work, shouldn't life span generally increase over a period of time?Consider, Person A has a long life span, and person B has a short one. The life span of both people is determined by their DNA--it either determines their ability to survive longer, or in some other way the length of life they will be able to live. Because person A has a longer life span, he/she will be able to produce more children (all of which themselves have the genetics for a longer life span). Person B doesn't live as long, and so he/she can only produce a smaller number of children, who unfortunately for them all have the short-life-span genetics.So, eventually the person A lineage not only is able to outnumber, but outlast the person B lineage. Person B's lineage will dry and fade away. We go from having an average life span of A+B (long + short), to having one that is only A (long).If what's-his-face was living back in the land of God until the ripe old age of 400 something, then why am I not expected to keep kicking until the year 2956?Does any of this make sense? Is there any explanation a Bible-believer could give me as to why my time is limited to only a few dozen years? And please, oh God, do not tell me it's the Fall.This is all my hypothesis, and I have no solid evidence for it yet.JonEdited by Invictus, : added part about not having evidenceEdited by Invictus, : removed comment to admins

Okay, so my fanciful theory is flat-out wrong, and from the start I've believed the stories to be just that: stories. However, I've never seen a reason given by a Bible-believer to explain why people suddenly started living far shorter lives.Trék

I've heard similar, and that was always my understanding as to why human life was limited. The problem is that this is in direct conflict with the Bible.What can the Bible-believers say? Why did God suddenly decide to not let people live so long? In my opinion, it was just added by the writers so they could explain why we don't live that long.All the scientific explanations seem to do me fine... it's the Biblical one that doesn't make any sense.Trék

Precisely. I am trying to grasp this one. There isn't any physical evidence of longer-living people in the past. All the evidence seems to show that people lived longer in the past. So, if more sin = shorter lives, than why do Christians claim the world is so full of sin, yet lifespans are continuing to increase?Like Jar said, evidence evidence evidence... that's what it's all about. A little Bible scripture is perfectly fine with me as long as you put up enough evidence to support it.Trék

Yeah, sort of, but I'm also interested in hearing the evidence behind the claims.Trék

Precisely my point! Why do Believers insist on it being so without the evidence? I mean, even puting evolution aside for a second, 900-year spans don't make sense! Only if you're able to reproduce during that extra-long span. If not, you're almost in the way: using up resources that should go to reproduction-capable beings.I think I am understanding how only life up to reproduction (and perhaps successful child rearing after) matters in evolution.Trék

Wouldn't giving the knowledge over to someone else and letting the old woman die be more "efficient." It sounds like they did what they did out of concern and love for her.Trék

I'm just courious. If an early human was dated to have lived 800+ years by modern dating methods, would that date be scientifically accepted, or would it be thrown out as being incorrect. Would the archaeologists discard it because it's unreasonable compared to the majority of ages?

So even if the individual had lived an 800-year life, we may not be willing to admit it? So if the individual had been an extrememely healthy 800-year old man, we wouldn't see these signs. Would we then date the sample as being very young? So then the answer is "yes?" If we did date an individual to be 800 years old, we would look for other explanations instead of accepting the 800-year old number.Trék