JONES Versus GENESIS: Chapter 4 - On to Methuselah
The focus of this fourth chapter is the ageing process, lifespans and death.
And once again we find that science and evolution have more questions than answers.
First up is Methuselah who lived to the age of 956, some thirty-five years longer than Adam.
However, his father Enoch, a righteous person and prophet who 'walked with God' (Genesis 5:21-24, Hebrews 11:5, Jude verse 14) lived a mere 365 years before he was mysteriously 'taken' by God so that he would not see death.
The genealogies show that Enoch was an exception, and that most people apparently lived much longer.
Jones tells us that at some stage, God became 'alarmed' by man's desire to live so long on the earth and so decreed: 'His days shall be 120 years.
' Noah's Flood Clearly, something very odd was going on - but I think Jones has missed the point.
The events spoken of build up to the great flood or Noah, the great-grandson of Enoch.
Commentators point out the wicked were warned of impending doom several hundred years in advance of the flood by the preaching of Enoch, Methuselah and Noah, but took no notice.
It is interesting that the name Methuselah means 'when he dies, then it will be sent' - and sure enough, the flood came the year he died.
The fact that Methuselah lived longer than any person before or since is taken as an indication of the patience of God (2 Peter 2:5).
The 120 years Jones refers to (Genesis 6:3), was not a new reduced lifespan of man, but a final warning of how much time man had left to repent before the flood came.
However, as we read in the Psalms, after the Flood, the standard lifespan soon reduced to the famous threescore years and ten (Psalm 90:10).
Jones does not mention this specifically, simply saying that: 'There has been a further falling away from His commands since then.
' The Fire of Life Aristotle, we are informed, compared life to a fire that would eventually burn out, unless doused sooner by the cold water of accident or disease.
When all the statistics relating to premature death are removed, the yardstick of threescore years and ten still seems to apply, despite the best efforts of medical science to extend it by means of better diet, hygiene and the eradication of poverty.
Jones then describes how each day our bodies replace a billion cells and manufacture thousands of miles of DNA - with skin cells lasting two weeks and red blood cells four months.
As a result, our bodies are not actually as old as think they are.
These incredible events are of course credited to evolution and Darwin's miraculous machine.
Strange also is the fact than no matter how old a donor is, the sperm and eggs used to create a new child have their internal ageing clocks set back to zero.
Therefore, old bodies create brand new bodies with their own lifespans.
How amazing.
Equally amazing is the fact that when cells multiply and the DNA is copied, a team of enzymes check it over and correct virtually all the numerous mistakes that are made.
However, that amazing machinery apparently becomes less efficient with age.
How could such mind-boggling copy-correction technology have ever made itself by the accumulation of fortuitous DNA copying errors? Evolution cannot start to begin to commence to explain such incredible complexity.
The Real Nemesis Jones then informs us that no matter how well we take care of our bodies, eating lots of fruit and vegetables and glugging red wine, we will eventually die 'for evolutionary reasons, some of which we understand'! He does not enlarge on that claim.
Meanwhile, as a result of some evolutionary oversight, chimps only live about 24 years, and gorillas five less than that.
It seems that each member of the ape family has 'evolved its own strategy' for dealing with these matters.
But never mind, because 'in evolutionary terms the process is quite flexible.
' Goody, goody! Perhaps they will catch up! Given enough time, of course.
However, he concludes: 'The real nemesis' for all apes is 'the enemy within' - 'the inevitable decline of the body's machinery.
' Even though our 'external foes' may have been defeated.
And once again we find that science and evolution have more questions than answers.
First up is Methuselah who lived to the age of 956, some thirty-five years longer than Adam.
However, his father Enoch, a righteous person and prophet who 'walked with God' (Genesis 5:21-24, Hebrews 11:5, Jude verse 14) lived a mere 365 years before he was mysteriously 'taken' by God so that he would not see death.
The genealogies show that Enoch was an exception, and that most people apparently lived much longer.
Jones tells us that at some stage, God became 'alarmed' by man's desire to live so long on the earth and so decreed: 'His days shall be 120 years.
' Noah's Flood Clearly, something very odd was going on - but I think Jones has missed the point.
The events spoken of build up to the great flood or Noah, the great-grandson of Enoch.
Commentators point out the wicked were warned of impending doom several hundred years in advance of the flood by the preaching of Enoch, Methuselah and Noah, but took no notice.
It is interesting that the name Methuselah means 'when he dies, then it will be sent' - and sure enough, the flood came the year he died.
The fact that Methuselah lived longer than any person before or since is taken as an indication of the patience of God (2 Peter 2:5).
The 120 years Jones refers to (Genesis 6:3), was not a new reduced lifespan of man, but a final warning of how much time man had left to repent before the flood came.
However, as we read in the Psalms, after the Flood, the standard lifespan soon reduced to the famous threescore years and ten (Psalm 90:10).
Jones does not mention this specifically, simply saying that: 'There has been a further falling away from His commands since then.
' The Fire of Life Aristotle, we are informed, compared life to a fire that would eventually burn out, unless doused sooner by the cold water of accident or disease.
When all the statistics relating to premature death are removed, the yardstick of threescore years and ten still seems to apply, despite the best efforts of medical science to extend it by means of better diet, hygiene and the eradication of poverty.
Jones then describes how each day our bodies replace a billion cells and manufacture thousands of miles of DNA - with skin cells lasting two weeks and red blood cells four months.
As a result, our bodies are not actually as old as think they are.
These incredible events are of course credited to evolution and Darwin's miraculous machine.
Strange also is the fact than no matter how old a donor is, the sperm and eggs used to create a new child have their internal ageing clocks set back to zero.
Therefore, old bodies create brand new bodies with their own lifespans.
How amazing.
Equally amazing is the fact that when cells multiply and the DNA is copied, a team of enzymes check it over and correct virtually all the numerous mistakes that are made.
However, that amazing machinery apparently becomes less efficient with age.
How could such mind-boggling copy-correction technology have ever made itself by the accumulation of fortuitous DNA copying errors? Evolution cannot start to begin to commence to explain such incredible complexity.
The Real Nemesis Jones then informs us that no matter how well we take care of our bodies, eating lots of fruit and vegetables and glugging red wine, we will eventually die 'for evolutionary reasons, some of which we understand'! He does not enlarge on that claim.
Meanwhile, as a result of some evolutionary oversight, chimps only live about 24 years, and gorillas five less than that.
It seems that each member of the ape family has 'evolved its own strategy' for dealing with these matters.
But never mind, because 'in evolutionary terms the process is quite flexible.
' Goody, goody! Perhaps they will catch up! Given enough time, of course.
However, he concludes: 'The real nemesis' for all apes is 'the enemy within' - 'the inevitable decline of the body's machinery.
' Even though our 'external foes' may have been defeated.
Source...