Before the Fall of Man

[White Knight]

Alright everyone, we all know the Creation Story from Genesis we all know that Adam and Eve fall to Sin by disobeying God's Command about the Tree of Good and Evil, however, the Bible doesn't say, extactly how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before the fall.


So I guess this is left, Do you think its possible that there could be some left out history in this era? I mean we dont know, how long it could have been It could have been 10,000 thousand years or under 1 year, we just dont know.


However I'd like to think that Adam and Eve were in there for a good while before falling.

[phatcatholic]

[quote name='White Knight' date='Sep 11 2005, 02:54 AM']So I guess this is left, Do you think its possible that there could be some left out history in this era? I mean we dont know, how long it could have been It could have been 10,000 thousand years or under 1 year, we just dont know.[right][snapback]719056[/snapback][/right][/quote]
yes, i think this is possible.

[StColette]

Oooooooooh that's an interesting thought

*starts ponderin*

[Laudate_Dominum]

That's a cool question.. I'm not sure.. *pondering*...

[cmotherofpirl]

Considering its a teaching story, no one could have a clue.

[Jake Huether]

Except that Adam only lived 900 + years...

Genesis 5:5
Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
Genesis 5:4-6 (in Context) Genesis 5 (Whole Chapter)

And of course Adam had Seth when he was 130 years old.

Genesis 5:3
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Unless the story is meant to say that Adam lived for a very very long time, in which case, why didn't the writer just say he lived for 1000 years... or "a very very long time..."

Anywho...

There is debate as to whether or not Adam might have been some sort of animal before God "breathed" life into him. But once that life was there, I don't think we can say that 930 years means anything other than 930 years.

I could be wrong though.

Good question.

[cmotherofpirl]

Jews did not always use numbers literally.
Adam had the longest life because he had seen God.

If you notice after him everyone's lifespan shrinks as sin creeps thru the world. The culmination of the sin was the flood.

[White Knight]

Well think about this, there was no death before the Fall of Man, and Adam would have stayed the same age as he was probally from the beginning when he was created, and he probally didn't age at All until after the fall, therefore he could have stayed in whatever age he was until after the fall, and then He lives another 930 years as stated in Genesis 5:5.


Because there was no death, there probally wasn't such thing as aging, until after the Fall as well.

[Jake Huether]

[quote name='White Knight' date='Sep 12 2005, 06:30 PM']Well think about this, there was no death before the Fall of Man, and Adam would have stayed the same age as he was probally from the beginning when he was created, and he probally didn't age at All until after the fall, therefore he could have stayed in whatever age he was until after the fall, and then He lives another 930 years as stated in Genesis 5:5.
Because there was no death, there probally wasn't such thing as aging, until after the Fall as well.
[right][snapback]721170[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]


True... but it says he lived for 930 years, not aged for 930 years. Living and aging could be seen as two different things. Time began ticking as soon as material things were created.

Granted, now that I think about it, before the fall material creation was on par with spiritual creation (angels for instance), and therefore, it can only be assumed that eternity was ours as well. Therefore, if eternity was our lot before the fall, then time would have been irrelevant. But you would still count the years of life from the moment of creation. Though time would have been irrelevant in terms of aging, time would have been useful for other things... like I'm sure Adam didn't like to be away from Eve for to much time... see what I mean. Or Adam probably would have needed some way of gauging how long his fillet mignon had cooked.

Then again, we aren't required to take the "6 days" literally, so who's to say that Adams 930 years are. But the 6 days reflect a division of work which was performed over them - the "6 days", as such, aren't the primary focus of the story, rather, it is what went on during those days - whereas the 930 years seam only to serve as a means to place a time reference on the life of Adam - those years are not placed in conjunction with work or teachings or such other than to say that Adam lived for 930 years.

Now the definition of "year" also may be debatable, but I think we must believe that from the moment of Adams existence he "lived" for 930 years...

cool discussion.

God bless.

[White Knight]

I somewhat agree with your states, Jake Huether, but if we fell from eternal life in the beginning, since there was no death, you wouldn't even worry about how long you aged at all even at 930 years, that must be how long he lived after he fell.


I still believe he and Eve could have lived for a very long time in the Garden before the fall.