J-M's History Corner

This is my monthly reblog of an older post. In the Bible, there are many stories of persons living for well over a hundred years – some for several hundred. [Note: I correct common translational errors in the Genesis 5 genealogy in Restored English Translation of Genesis: Chapter 5 ; the following list represents the true ages of the Genesis 5 patriarchs, which while sometimes shorter than traditionally given, are still pretty damn long!] Adam – 930 Seth – 912 Enos – 905 Cainan – 910 Mahalalel – 895 Jared – 847 Enoch – 365 (he would have been considered a spring chicken!) Methuselah – 720 Lamech – 653 Noah – 960 And there are many more examples one could give.  Many consider these as “proof” that the Bible is a bunch of fairy stories.  After all, how could anyone live so long? Read the rest at https://jmshistorycorner.blogspot.com/2018/08/longevity-stories.html .

Jeanne Calment on her 121st birthday in 1996 Jeanne Louise Calment (1875-1997) is widely considered the oldest person in history – at least, the oldest verified by Guinness’ World Records’ stringent standards.  (There appear to be others who are/were older , but there usually isn’t enough documentation to absolutely prove it.)  She lived for an impressive 122 years, 164 days . However, a theory has been making the rounds in the media recently – and gaining in popularity – is that the French supercentanarian was a fraud, that she was really Calment’s daughter Yvonne (1898-1934).  The theory goes that Yvonne didn’t die in 1934, but her mother did instead, and that she took her identity, dying at the age of 99.  This theory is nothing new, but has been largely dismissed until recently.  Her age is one of the most well-documented in history.  The new proponent – Nikolay Zak – has presented an interesting case; but gets some of his fa...

   In the Bible, there are many stories of persons living for well over a hundred years – some for several hundred. [Note: I correct common translational errors in the Genesis 5 genealogy in Restored English Translation of Genesis: Chapter 5 ; the following list represents the true ages of the Genesis 5 patriarchs, which while sometimes shorter than traditionally given, are still pretty damn long!] Adam – 930 Seth – 912 Enos – 905 Cainan – 910 Mahalalel – 895 Jared – 847 Enoch – 365 (he would have been considered a spring chicken!) Methuselah – 720 Lamech – 653 Noah – 960 And there are many more examples one could give.  Many consider these as “proof” that the Bible is a bunch of fairy stories.  After all, how could anyone live so long? Science, however, has found that there is theoretically no limit to how long a human may live.  In fact, there is a gene present in humans that, when “turned on”, would allow humans to live fo...