DNA methylation and Eternity

In Genesis 6:1-7, the preamble to the deluge and Noah’s Ark, we read of the elohim having children by the daughters of men, God reducing the lifespan of humans to 120 years, the Nephilim resulting from these mixed marriages, and the near-universality of evil in human hearts. Evil was universal except for Noah’s family. Implicitly these trends were time-synchronized and causally connected. Michael Heiser provided insight into the elohim having children by human women in The Unseen Realm.

The reduction of human lifespan is a topic of considerable interest, since aging is a biological reality.  Drs. Adam Sturm and Tiber Vellai have proposed that their research has identified the progressive accumulation of N6-methyladenine as an epigenetic mechanism in mitochondrial DNA that effectively sets a clock for lifespan. 

The factors that influence the methylation of genes include healthy or unhealthy lifestyles (e.g.,  diet and exercise, drug and alcohol use and abuse, smoking, BMI, etc.),  and environmental factors.  If this is indeed the mechanism that causes the effects of aging, it still leaves open the question of how God activated this in the human race. Various events are mentioned in the timeframe of Genesis 6 that may contribute.

•      The contamination of the human genome with DNA from demons. (Genesis 6:4)

•      Eating animals and everything else on earth. (Genesis 9:3)

•      Normalization of excessive alcohol use (Genesis 9:20-21)

•      Opening the floodgates of Heaven, removing a barrier to radiation from outer space damaging human genes.  (Genesis 7:11)

 The important thing is not the mechanisms God uses to limit human lifespan, but the human choice of continuous evil, intermixed with demonic fraternization. Although God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world with a flood (Genesis 8:21), Jesus likened the time of the end to the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). The first three items above seem just as rampant today as in the antediluvian world. The exposure to man-made radiation instead of cosmic rays has become a routine medical procedure, as environmental radiation has been the norm since the days of Noah.

 In Psalm 90, Moses reflected on the shortness of life

Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:10-12)

 

He goes on to observe that we should take joy in God’s love and His deeds. In the context of a limited lifespan, having previously mentioned God’s judgment for sin, he is pleading for God’s mercy. And then he concludes with verse 17:

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)

As Moses saw it, our perspective should be that we ask God, co-labor with God, to create a lasting legacy. Not just in our lifetimes, but for the generations to come.

Effort spent on epigenetic research and possible lifespan extensions miss the point. Eternity awaits us, in God’s presence, and our priorities should reflect this. Do our actions and priorities exhibit an outworking of the nature and character of Jesus in our life, or the working of God in our life to prepare us for heaven by building the character of Christ into us?