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If the bible is true and can be taken literally then before the flood of Noah people (and likely plants and animals) experienced long life spans.  There are a few theories out there that attempt to explain why this would be.  And if the Bible account of these long lives is true, then there are some interesting things that may shed light on the integrity of the book of Genesis - especially the story of creation. 


At the time of Adam there was clearly and intelligent language spoken as God spoke to Adam and Eve and they answered.  God spoke to Cain as well and conversations among people would have no doubt have occurred using the language God had given Adam and Eve.

 

Looking at the chart below (the red line representing the lifespans may be slightly off as I created it in an old program and didn't worry about the line matching perfectly with the dates - also I used the Masoretic dating system which many of our modern bibles use compared to the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch dates which vary but the point is still the same.)

 

We can see Adam lived over 900 years.  He was alive at the time of Noah's father Lamech.  So the creation story would be available from Adam throughout the ages just prior to the flood.  The story would be no doubt told over and over again by Adam and passed on down to his descendants.  So at the time of Noah this story would still be relatively fresh information IF Adam actively shared it with each generation or at least corrected any error occurring over the time he was alive. If a question arose they could still ask Adam personally. 

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So if you hear someone saying there is no way the creation story could have been accurately passed down from the time of Adam to Noah and then on to the generation where written language was developed you can explain to them that the story was passed from one generation to the next with an eye witness.  See next chart for the same principle with Noah as he lived at least until the time of Abraham's father when writing was being used.  So then Noah could have relayed the creation story as well as the flood story to all until the time of Abraham's father.   

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Bible Study - Lifespans from Adam to Noah2.jpg
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