# People living hundreds of years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933 "2005-01-27T16:04:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chefurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@chefurbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefurbo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/1 "2005-01-27T16:04:10Z")
Did people really live to be hundreds of years old in the “Biblical times” or was this mearly a misunderstanding due to our calendars being out of sync? (i.e. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old - How is that possible??) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/2 "2005-01-27T16:11:33Z")
Not possible. It is a story meant to teach something more important, and exaggerations are meant to drive home some sort of point. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/3 "2005-01-27T16:38:42Z")
Also, the idea of considering the ages expressed in months rather than years doesn’t work, because the passage also gives the age at fatherhood, which, when similarly divided by 12, gives an age of early childhood for some of the names. Incidentally (in case you were wondering), dividing the age at death by twelve and leaving the age at fatherhood alone makes it so that some of the people listed became fathers long after they died. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/4 "2005-01-27T17:06:32Z")
There is zero archaelogical or biological evidence that ancient humans ever lived longer than our modern lifespans; in fact, the opposite is far more likely. As for the Bible, well, treat it as the myth that it is and all is well. Maybe God is real, and maybe the Bible has something to communicate about the nature of God, but to insist that is must be a historical accurate document is ludicrous, and is in fact something the Bible doesn’t even claim for itself. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/5 "2005-01-27T18:03:20Z")
**Chefurbo** , you asked this same question [a few days ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=298124&highlight=lifespan) What’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/6 "2005-01-27T18:32:05Z")
I was bored and scanning channels on a long drive a few weeks ago and came across a creationist preacher talking about this very issue. I laughed for 15 minutes straight. His theory was full of holes but went something like this: Dinosaurs and humans coexisted in biblical times as proved by bohemoth. Dinosaurs were just really big reptiles Reptiles continue to grow as they get older Dinosaurs started out fairly small and got really big They must have lived for hundreds of years to get this big This proves that things lived for longer times in those days humans therefore could have lived longer in those days The ignorance is staggering. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/7 "2005-01-27T19:02:23Z")
> [@Grant](#): > > I was bored and scanning channels on a long drive a few weeks ago and came across a creationist preacher talking about this very issue. I laughed for 15 minutes straight. > > The ignorance is staggering. I think this is offensive to ignorants. Ignorance is not knowing something… this guy is making up stuff in order not to think… its much worse ! IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/8 "2005-01-27T21:41:03Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > I think this is offensive to ignorants. Ignorance is not knowing something… this guy is making up stuff in order not to think… its much worse ! IMO. Agreed! ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/9 "2005-01-27T23:04:02Z")
Yeah the worst part about the whole thing is that somebody was listening to that going “I wondered how they could have lived 900+ years but now it all makes sense.” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![rorty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@rorty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rorty)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/10 "2005-01-27T23:48:06Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > I think this is offensive to ignorants. Ignorance is not knowing something… this guy is making up stuff in order not to think… its much worse ! IMO. Thanks! Self-respecting ignoramuses around the world, myself included, applaud you. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-living-hundreds-of-years/286933/11 "2005-01-28T02:28:07Z")
[porgy & bess] It ain’t necessarily so It ain’t necessarily so Them things that you liable To read in the Bible They ain’t necessarily so Methusaleh lived nine hundred years Methusaleh lived nine hundred years But why call that livin’ When no gal will give in To no man what’s nine hundred years? [p&b] 🙂