Age and Down Syndrome?

Quick answer: We are suffering the effects of the Fall, the disobedience of Adam and Eve that brought death and disease into the world, and there is Biblical reason to believe that it has cumulative effects down the generations.That is, right after the Fall people still lived hundreds of years although they eventually died, and even after the Flood they still lived over a hundred years apparently healthy. That's the cumulative effect showing up in diminishing longevity.They were simply a lot more healthy than we are, so their babies were also healthier. We have accumulated a lot of genetic diseases as well as susceptibility to contagious and other diseases they didn't have.So I think it's just a matter of understanding the whole context of the Bible.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

It IS the effect of the advances in medical science, which I regard as a blessing from God due to the Christian history of Western civilization. Jesus came to reverse the Fall in and through those who believe in Him, and that's what's happening. Nevertheless as the OP suggests, we are still a long way from reversing all the Fall's effects.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

No gain in genetic material, just degeneration, which I tend to attribute to mutations, all part of the legacy of the Fall. I simply meant to emphasize that the general health of all was higher than ours today. I know quite a few women who had babies after 40 and worried about having a Down's baby but happily didn't I also know a few who had Down's children. It's not about the health of the mother, it's about our inheritance from the Fall and it can show up in different people in different ways.

Modern medical science is a Western achievement.

Built-in healthy genetic info damaged by mutation. I didn't, you misread me. The only thing I can find that you must have taken that way is in Message 5: "They were simply a lot more healthy than we are, so their babies were also healthier." I wasn't specifically talking about the mothers of the babies, I was talking about the whole population in general and ALL their babies in general, a general statement about the general inheritance of genetic factors, which in their time I believe were healthier than ours. No, I said it is a genetic problem we've inherited due to the Fall. Diseases and death itself are our inheritance from the Fall.