Was the atmosphere's pressure much higher before the Flood, explaining longer lifespans and larger creatures?
Robert Sungenis says he does not object to the idea and that it could well have been so. He notes evidence that the body functions better under somewhat higher pressure, and points to the decline in lifespans from Adam at 930 years through Shem at 600 down to Abraham at 175 as a pattern that falling atmospheric pressure could explain.
A viewer asks whether Robert accepts the theory that atmospheric pressure on earth was 2.5 times higher before the Flood, which would explain why creatures grew much larger.
Answer
I do not object to it; it could have been. We do have some scientific evidence that, up to a point, the body functions better under somewhat higher pressure, and that could be why the men lived so long: Adam lived to 930 years, and after the flood Shem lived to 600, then Peleg, Eber, and the rest to about 400 for a while, then 200, down to Abraham at 175. What is causing that decline? One possibility is that the atmospheric pressure, once much higher, was dropping, and that is how God would begin trimming down the human lifespan. So scientifically it does work.