for TC

[QUOTE][b]Hey, did you know if you convert the number of years the long-lived patriarchs survived to months that it turns out to be within natural human lifespans (75 years of age)?[/QUOTE][/b]Remember Abraham's wife Sarah, who was 90 years old when she had a son? We were told that Sarah had grown old and out of the "ways of women" before reaching 90. If we divide 90 by twelve as you suggest we have Sarah reaching menopause before age seven and a half.We are told that Sarah is old at 90, but still attractive enough at that age to get the attention of Abimelech. (Abraham told him she was his sister rather than his wife so he wouldn't murder him for her; by the way, he was eight years old by your reckoning when he was told to expect a son within the year's end) and Sarah lived on to the ripe old age of 127, or about 11 by your reckoning, after having finally given birth to a son. Abraham died at the ripe old age ("full of years") of 175, or nearly 15 by your reckoning. By then his son Isaac was already seeking a wife (born to Abraham when he was 9), meaning Isaac was courting Rebekah at age 6.Enough of that family history, let's look at another convenient example from Genesis. Shem was five hundred years old (42 by your reckoning) when his son Arpachshad was born two years after the Flood. So far, so good. But Arpachshad had a child at 35 years of age according to the Bible, that is, when he was almost three years old according to your interpretation.

You're missing my point. You said that some girls hit puberty at 7, I said that Sarah would have hit menopause by 7, and further, that 7 was generally considered to old to have children (she laughed at the idea when God told Abraham what would happen).

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[This message has been edited by gene90, 02-28-2002]

Good. Do you concede that quicksink's argument is invalid?

We can establish a lower limit on how long a "year" was in the patriarchs' society using Shem (500 years old at Arpachshad's birth) and Arpachshad (35 years old when his first son was born). Just decide what is the minimum age at which Arpachshad could father a child and see if the "year" (to them) / year to us ratio is small enough to make Shem's age reasonable. You might find a middle ground, but 1 month in our calender = 1 year in theirs is not reasonable.I'm afraid I find the literal interpretation more reasonable than John Boy's interpretation.

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[This message has been edited by gene90, 03-01-2002]