On his radio program today, Bryan Fischer made a passing remark asserting that God has limited the human lifespan to 70 or 80 years, as stipulated in Psalm 90, only to get some pushback from listeners who pointed out that figures in the Old Testament, such as Methuselah, routinely lived for hundreds of years.
Fischer, of course, had a logical way to explain all of this.
Echoing his theory that dinosaurs were really just 1,000-year-old lizards that existed prior to Noah's flood, Fischer explained that prior to the flood, there existed a "vapor canopy that surrounded the earth, this vapor canopy protected the surface of the earth and the people who lived on the surface of the earth from some of the harmful radiation that came from the sun and other sources."
During the flood, Fischer said, that vapor canopy "condensed and fell as rain" and "that protective shield dissipated and so now there were some genetic impacts, impacts on DNA from this radiation coming in with no protection" and "that began to impact the longevity of people."
23 comments
"On his radio program today, Bryan Fischer made a passing remark asserting that God has limited the human lifespan to 70 or 80 years, as stipulated in Psalm 90, only to get some pushback from listeners who pointed out that figures in the Old Testament, such as Methuselah, routinely lived for hundreds of years."
There are, and have always been, some lucky few who manage to live for a hundred years or more. No need to go for legendary Biblical ages*.
Although I read the passage as a "soft cap" and not as a "hard cap" (which, when Methusalem dies in the Deluge, is degreed to become a fairly accurate 120 -the record being 122 years, 164 days - , although that is ignored in other passages...).
* They still are mayflies compared to the early Sumerian kings, whose reigns supposedly lasted for ten thousands of years.
And apparently, 'giants' existed before the flood too.
Therefore the anime series "Macross"/"Robotech" - featuring the 50-80 foot high Zentraedi - are documentaries then, Bri. [/hyper-sarcasm]
And of course he never explains what this supposed vapor canopy was, or where it came from, or where it went, or why it did anything. What's the point? Why not just admit you don't know?
Of course, if Fischer really believed this, he would be advocating underground living.
As it is, he doesn't, but it keeps the money rolling in from the rubes.
If the canopy held enough water to cover everything on Earth, it would have been so thick no plants could live below it. No plants - no animal life either.
Where did the water go after the supposed Flood? Did it go back into a canopy?
Funnily enough, people are living longer and longer, with the advancement of modern medicine. Women living to well past 90 is nothing out of the ordinary, and quite a few men do it too. My paternal step-grandfather lived to 93 (he died over 10 years ago), and my dad's aunt is 98 and still going strong. Does that mean that the canopy is forming again?
This is old fundie. They've been saying this since the 60s at least.
EDIT: In the early 90s AIG got themselves a used 286 computer and free climate modelling sorfware. They modeled the effect of a water canopy in space. It was supposed to produce an edenic climate. Instead the temperature rapidly went to about 600F and stayed there.
@ Mister Spak
EDIT: In the early 90s AIG got themselves a used 286 computer and free climate modelling sorfware. They modeled the effect of a water canopy in space. It was supposed to produce an edenic climate. Instead the temperature rapidly went to about 600F and stayed there.
Interesting. In my mind, a vapor canopy like they're suggesting would block out all sunlight and create a nuclear winter on earth. However, it would appear on the other hand that it would either cause runaway greenhouse effects or cause incredible atmospheric pressure.
"...this vapor canopy protected the surface of the earth and the people who lived on the surface of the earth from some of the harmful radiation"
...And light .
How hard is it to get that if it's gloomy on a cloudy day, a much thicker layer of water would stop all light getting through. Which would probably - I'm no botanist - be bad.
@Doubting Thomas
"@ Mister Spak
Interesting. In my mind, a vapor canopy like they're suggesting would block out all sunlight and create a nuclear winter on earth."
It would block the sunlight but trap infrared. But this is just radiation balance. Another consideration not addressed by the climate software is how the water stays up there. It would either be blown away by the solar wind, or fall to earth, radiating the heat of re-entry in the process.
The creationists claim the the ocean water we have now is the flood water - the flood just filled up the ocean basins. However, I saw a calculation of the energy of an ocean worth of water falling from orbit. It would heat the water to boiling, plus the heat of vaporisation, plus a lot more.
End result - the water gets to 600C, which is worse than the 600F scenario.
Noah made the ark out of golpher wood. It must have been very tough stuff, to keep 30,000 animals alive while immersed in superheated steam for 400 days. If we can ever find a golpher tree we can make spaceships out of it.
Ignoring for the moment that a cloud cover would raise the temperature of the earth substantially, as others here have pointed out, what proof is there that a thick canopy of clouds extends life? I don't think there's any difference at all in the average life spans of people in Arizona and Northern England. Aging seems to be more of a function of the fact that cells are able to reproduce only a certain number of times before losing the capacity to do so any more, after which the organism dies.
Just put Bryan Fischite in a terraforming facility made by Weyland-Yutani Corporation - basically a big fusion reactor - then destabilise it's cooling systems, prior to withdrawing very quickly in a dropship, in the general direction of away.
As it becomes a cloud of vapour the size of Nebraska.
...it's the only way to be sure. [/"Aliens"] >:D
@Don
"what proof is there that a thick canopy of clouds extends life? I don't think there's any difference at all in the average life spans of people in Arizona and Northern England."
The creationist scenario is that lifespan decreased quickly after the flood, 5000 years ago. The people in new england and arizona are decendants of post flood populations, already pre-affected by lack of orbiting space-water.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.