Evidence for God from Science

jenwat3 wrote:Six feet, six inches tall? That may be taller than the average man, but it still isn't really tall enough to be considered a "giant". Has man gotten taller through the years? How could this be considered a giant?

Gman wrote:

jenwat3 wrote:Six feet, six inches tall? That may be taller than the average man, but it still isn't really tall enough to be considered a "giant". Has man gotten taller through the years? How could this be considered a giant?

Well, from what I know about that, people are gradually getting bigger.. Who knows what the average height of a normal person was back then. Abraham Lincoln at 6' 4" was considered a giant among his peers at the time of the civil war. Now 6' 4" is becoming more of an average height.

zoegirl wrote:Pituitary gigantism has been around. I wouldn't necessary discount the nine feet estimate, given the mystery of these characters...

RTB: wrote: "In addition to the enormous weight of weapons and armor the Nephilim were able to carry, their great stature, if our values for biblical cubits are accurate, supersedes human capabilities and the limits of biological engineering. The bone mass necessary to support the muscles and resist the effects of gravity rises geometrically with height Gust as the weight of a building's supporting beams goes up geometrically with the length of the span they support). This ratio implies an increasingly severe loss of mobility and stamina once human height exceeds about eight feet.
We see verification of this loss in the case of the tallest documented modern human, a victim of a growth-hormone malfunction who reached eight feet, eleven inches. This man moved so slowly and with such difficulty that he could not participate in sports. He died at age forty from physical exhaustion.
The sport of basketball provides further verification. The ease with which a player can score a basket goes up with the square of his height (because the range of shooting angles that will score increases with the square of the height from which the ball leaves the player's hands). Thus, even a one inch height advantage is huge. This explains why seven-foot tall players tend to be much higher scorers than six-foot tall players. However, basketball players who are seven and a half feet tall tend to move, jump, and dodge with less strength, quickness, and fluidity than those only seven feet tall. Evidently, the shooting advantage gained from the extra half foot of height is not enough to overcome the loss of mobility, agility, and stamina as a result of the increased height.
Given human physiological limits, the Nephilim must have been in some way superhuman. Strictly human bodies cannot manifest this combination of size, power, agility, and endurance. One way to maintain a strictly human interpretation for the Nephilim would be to call into question the weights and measures of David's and Moses' time."

jenwat3 wrote:Ok, I had a post here but it has now been deleted and for anyone that saw it I apologize in a big way and hope you did not take offense. May God forgive me for posting it on a Christian forum.

zoegirl wrote:Gman,

you're absolutely right about the loss of mobility. I guess my point was that that height was at least possible. I doubt pituitary gigantism was the actual cause, but certainly things were pretty unusual and something was going on with the physiology. It could be that 6 or 7 feet were considered gigantic.

frankbaginski wrote:Just a couple of notes on nephilim.

Since nephilim are hybrids we have to assume the DNA is different. So we don't know if the increased height would effect their movement as much as normal humans. Giraffes are pretty tall and seem to run just fine.

The cubit is probably around 17.5 inches although in Roman times it was 21 ft 6 inches. For the size of Goliath I have to believe he was substantialy bigger than the average guy.

frankbaginski wrote:The Septuagent was written around 280 BC and was the text that was in use during the times of Christ. The old Testament from the Jews was changed around 90 AD by the council of Jamnia. It appears that all of the old scrolls were gathered and burned at that time. Some Torahs did manage to escape. The dead sea scrolls are in two groups, those written prior to the council of Jamnia and those after. They clearly show the change to the scripture. The older scrolls support the Septuagent. Oh by the way one of the members on the council thought that he was the messiah. Some very interesting history around this time.