V.
Tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run.
Bruce Springsteen
"Born to Run"
"Born to Run" tells to story of an industrial society where the individual is torn to pieces trying to keep up with society's demands and yet they people in the society crawl onto their cycles and into their cars and race like demons into the night running from the thing that has infected them pretending there is an Eden somewhere. That sex and a little human contact can quench the emptiness of the machines, that they can master their own machine and are therefore masters of their fate. A generation that has risen without God, or with a diluted God who maybe is there when you want him, has to make up it's own ideals and identity. The record was released in 1975 and has come to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time. This the value the world places on music. It also includes "Jungleland" where the Magic Rat tries to find his soul with "a barefoot girl sittin' on the hood of a Dodge drinkin' beer on a warm summer night." But "the Rat's own dream guns him down." "Shots echo in a night so tender." "No one watches as the ambulance pulls away."
"Outside the street's on fire with a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothin' at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night
They reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded and not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland"
The time closes in on us. This may well describe the human race when God looks down before the Flood. Searching desperately for a god anywhere but the real God. Reaching for their own answers because there was no Law, Because God gave them all a chance to be Enoch.
His song was more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8TP9uvapUQ
Ge 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
(NKJV)
Moses stops here to sum up. I will, too.
Adam and Eve had the one works doctrine of all humanity. They were innocent, without sin so seemingly not in need of grace. Or, more precisely, already walking in it. They were given the perfect home, perfect food, all they could eat, Sexual fulfillment. Peace and quiet. The perfect companion. A relationship with the Earth and the animals. A relationship with God. The social psychologist would say they had no reason to commit a crime and would go on happily forever. Oops. Many of our clergy would see the constant availability of God and say they had heaven on Earth and could not fail. Oops. They had a works doctrine. Don't eat from the tree. Muslims and Mormons and Buddhist, anyone who believes you can work your way to God, would say they had it made. One lousy dietary rule...Oops.
Then God let them have this time. No written rules, nothing listed as sin, They had to merely seek Him out and He would personally be there for them. Ask Enoch. One might call it the deist approach. God there but not putting his hand on things visibly except through nature. They had to only seek to walk with Him and it was there for them. No book telling the failings of others. They all knew the First Flesh failed. They knew Cain failed because he had no "feeling" for the pleasure of God, but for what Cain knew would please himself. This identity of self apart from God. God did not make any fences around Himself as He set an angel to guard Eden. The Creator was there for them. Reach out to Him and He would be there. But only one reached.
Now we come to the nephilim, the giants. The Sons of God and the daughters of man. This is a hard one. There are three explanations for this. I have a fourth idea, but it's as much speculation as the others, maybe more so, Here goes.
The Nephilim (Hebrew: נפלים, Nefilīm) were a race that came to dominate the antediluvian (pre-flood) world, and are referred to in the Bible as the heroes of old, men of renown. They were reportedly the children born to the "Sons of God" by the "daughters of men", and are described as giants. It is also most important to note that they are mentioned almost simultaneous to God's statement that He would destroy the earth by flood, and it seems from this association that their effect upon mankind was one of the primary justifications that brought the destruction.
Were children in Eden? Did God keep the garden for them to have a home since they had not fallen for the fruit. I suggest they fell for the sexual attraction of the women outside Eden. I suggest those women and men outside kept hovering around Eden, trying to find a way in, a way to that precious immortality. I suggest legend of gods coming down from their mountains to mate with mortals derive from these moments.
Tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run.
Bruce Springsteen
"Born to Run"
"Born to Run" tells to story of an industrial society where the individual is torn to pieces trying to keep up with society's demands and yet they people in the society crawl onto their cycles and into their cars and race like demons into the night running from the thing that has infected them pretending there is an Eden somewhere. That sex and a little human contact can quench the emptiness of the machines, that they can master their own machine and are therefore masters of their fate. A generation that has risen without God, or with a diluted God who maybe is there when you want him, has to make up it's own ideals and identity. The record was released in 1975 and has come to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time. This the value the world places on music. It also includes "Jungleland" where the Magic Rat tries to find his soul with "a barefoot girl sittin' on the hood of a Dodge drinkin' beer on a warm summer night." But "the Rat's own dream guns him down." "Shots echo in a night so tender." "No one watches as the ambulance pulls away."
"Outside the street's on fire with a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothin' at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night
They reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded and not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland"
The time closes in on us. This may well describe the human race when God looks down before the Flood. Searching desperately for a god anywhere but the real God. Reaching for their own answers because there was no Law, Because God gave them all a chance to be Enoch.
His song was more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8TP9uvapUQ
Ge 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."
(NKJV)
Moses stops here to sum up. I will, too.
Adam and Eve had the one works doctrine of all humanity. They were innocent, without sin so seemingly not in need of grace. Or, more precisely, already walking in it. They were given the perfect home, perfect food, all they could eat, Sexual fulfillment. Peace and quiet. The perfect companion. A relationship with the Earth and the animals. A relationship with God. The social psychologist would say they had no reason to commit a crime and would go on happily forever. Oops. Many of our clergy would see the constant availability of God and say they had heaven on Earth and could not fail. Oops. They had a works doctrine. Don't eat from the tree. Muslims and Mormons and Buddhist, anyone who believes you can work your way to God, would say they had it made. One lousy dietary rule...Oops.
Then God let them have this time. No written rules, nothing listed as sin, They had to merely seek Him out and He would personally be there for them. Ask Enoch. One might call it the deist approach. God there but not putting his hand on things visibly except through nature. They had to only seek to walk with Him and it was there for them. No book telling the failings of others. They all knew the First Flesh failed. They knew Cain failed because he had no "feeling" for the pleasure of God, but for what Cain knew would please himself. This identity of self apart from God. God did not make any fences around Himself as He set an angel to guard Eden. The Creator was there for them. Reach out to Him and He would be there. But only one reached.
Now we come to the nephilim, the giants. The Sons of God and the daughters of man. This is a hard one. There are three explanations for this. I have a fourth idea, but it's as much speculation as the others, maybe more so, Here goes.
The Nephilim (Hebrew: נפלים, Nefilīm) were a race that came to dominate the antediluvian (pre-flood) world, and are referred to in the Bible as the heroes of old, men of renown. They were reportedly the children born to the "Sons of God" by the "daughters of men", and are described as giants. It is also most important to note that they are mentioned almost simultaneous to God's statement that He would destroy the earth by flood, and it seems from this association that their effect upon mankind was one of the primary justifications that brought the destruction.
"Nephilim" is rendered fallen, or possibly feller: a tyrant or bully. Several English translations, such as the King James Version rendered the word "giants". In the Greek Septuagint the word "nephilim" was also translated as "gigantes" (gigantic). This translation is undoubtedly used because the Nephilim later became known as giants to the ancient Hebrews, as illustrated by the manner in which they were referenced when the Israelite spies were sent into Canaan (Numbers 13:33)
- Main Article: Sons of God
It is unclear what the Sons of God were, but they are distinguished from the daughters of men. The most obvious interpretation is that the Nephilim were a hybrid race between two distinct beings. There are at least three schools of thought regarding the Sons of God.
The older view, held nearly unanimously by ancient writers prior to Augustine of Hippo, is that the Nephilim were a hybrid race between certain fallen angels, called the Benei Ha'Elohim ("Sons of God") or The Watchers in extra-Biblical traditions, and human women. While there has always been a minority of churchmen who followed this view, it has been promoted recently by popular writers such as Stephen Quayle [2].
| “ | The only obvious and natural meaning without such clarification is that these beings were sons of God, rather than of men, because they had been created, not born. Such a description, of course, would apply only to Adam (Luke 3:38) and to the angels, whom God had directly created (Psalm 148:2, 5; Psalm 104:4; Colossians 1:16). The actual phrase bene elohim is used three other times, all in the very ancient book of Job (1:6; 2:1; 38:7). There is no doubt at all that, in these passages, the meaning applies exclusively to the angels. A very similar form (bar elohim) is used in Daniel 3:25, and also refers either to an angel or to a theophany. The term “sons of the mighty” (bene elim) is used in Psalm 29:1 and also Psalm 89:6, and again refers to angels. Thus, there seems no reasonable doubt that, in so far as the language itself is concerned, the intent of the writer was to convey the thought of angels - fallen angels, no doubt, since they were acting in opposition to God’s will.[3] | ” |
The more recent view which has been the majority position in the church since St. Augustine in the fourth century is that the Sons of God refers to the god-fearing line of Seth; and the daughters of men refers to the daughters of the unbelieving line of Cain. Variations on this theme include the idea, proposed by Meredith Kline, that the Sons of God were kings or priests who took any woman they chose to be their wife.
Still others hold that the Sons of God were other created men. It is argued that the Bible does not describe every person that was created, but only key individuals or situations are included within the text. Those holding to this position call into question the origin of Cain's wife or those whom he feared would kill him Genesis 4:14-17 . However, this view falls into conflict with Genesis, which states that Eve is the mother of all the living.
Controversies
Some argue that the Sons of God could not be angels because:
- A major theme of the Old Testament is the negative outcome of believers intermarrying with unbelievers.
- Angels are spiritual beings, and therefore not reproductively compatible with human women.
Advocates of the Angel-hybrid position hold that:
- Angels are recorded on two occasions in Scripture as eating food, therefore they have some ability to interact with the material world.
- Angels can at times be indistinguishable from human beings, and "some have entertained angels unawares," (Hebrews 13:2)
- The sexual immorality of Sodom and Gommorah is described as "likewise" in comparison to the actions of the angels that "left their proper dwelling" and that Jesus has chained in darkness until Judgment(Jude 6 & 7).
- We really don't know what angels can and cannot do, as we lack the ability to capture and study them, and Scripture says little about them.
- The question should be decided by the context and evidence rather than a preconceived idea about the nature of angels.
- The Augustinian position fails to explain the production of gigantic offspring from the union of believers and unbelievers.
- The unanimous position of Jewish and heathen authors prior to Philo of Alexandria is that the angels came down and sired children with women.
http://nwcreation.net/nephilim.html
We do not know for sure if angels can have sexual relations with women because the Bible doesn't tell us. Nevertheless, some Christians think it is possible, and others do not. Various scriptures are used for both sides of the argument. Let's take a look at some of them.
- Matt. 22:30, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."
- Luke 20:34-36, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; 36 for neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."
- Gen. 6:1-4, "Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.' 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."
We can see from Matt. 22:30 and Luke 20:34-36 that angels do not marry, but this does not mean they can't take human form and have relations. I am not advocating that they do have sexual relations with people, but I am simply stating that we cannot assert either position from this passage especially when the Bible tells us that people have entertained angels without even knowing it (Heb. 13:2). This means that angels can take on human appearance to such a convincing state that they can't be distinguished from people. If this is the case, then it would seem logical that an angel (a fallen one) could imitate a human physical form including the sexual organs. On the other hand, I see no biblical support for such a manifestation of fallen angels in human form. Therefore, we are still left without an absolute answer.
Gen. 6:1-4 above is a more controversial passage. The question is: Who are the sons of God? Are they angels or people? Some commentators think that the Sons of God were the descendents of Seth:
"By the former is meant the family of Seth, who were professedly religious; by the latter, the descendants of apostate Cain. Mixed marriages between parties of opposite principles and practice were necessarily sources of extensive corruption. The women, religious themselves, would as wives and mothers exert an influence fatal to the existence of religion in their household, and consequently the people of that later age sank to the lowest depravity."1
Other commentators teach that the Sons of God were angels since the term "Sons of God" is used elsewhere to refer to angels as the following scriptures suggest:
- Job 1:6, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them."
- Job 38:7, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
However, the term "sons of God" also refers to Christians in the New Testament, as Gal. 3:26 states, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Since the question at hand deals with an Old Testament scripture, we must examine the context of that particular scripture to see how it is used.
Whichever the case, we do not know the abilities of angels. Given that they are very powerful and intelligent creatures, it is possible that they could manifest themselves as humans. This has been verified in scripture as we see from the following passage: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Heb. 13:2). Since they can appear in human form unbeknownst to people, it seems that a fallen angel manifesting itself in human form would be able to have sexual relations with a person.
- 1.Jam
It becomes clear that there is much argument. Let me offer a couple things which fall more in line with the third doctrine but take it in a different direction.
1) Why did God close Eden to man and not destroy it? He could simply have snapped his fingers or spoken the word and it was gone. Instead He kept the Garden with the tree of life available inside. Why would He do that? Adam and Eve were thrown out for discovering the difference between good and evil and must not eat of the tree of life. But it lingered long enough to have it become instilled in human legend. Ambrosia, the food of the Gods. The Fountain of youth. Immortality for a bite.
2) The argument for fallen angels is the use of the term "Sons of God" that it must be created beings. Yet, if Adam and Eve had children in an unfallen state, they would be of the same perfect flesh, First Flesh as their parents, They could also be called "sons of God" if they were men. The argument for that name as fitting for Adam make it equally fitting for his children. Also the idea of it applying only the created beings has to do with the way we see the usage of the word. It could apply to born beings easily since it was applied to Christ, who was not created but birthed supernaturally.
3) The implication of the passage is that the Sons saw the women from afar, from some place not quite with them, that they made a decision to leave where they were and go to them. That's why the angel theory seems so enthralling. but if the unfallen children were in the Garden still and saw the women from behind the wall of angelic protection, then they too were far off but near. And if humanity still lingered outside trying to reach for that tree...
4) We mentioned earlier that God took stringent measures to keep the Jewish race pure for the arrival of his genetically perfect and spiritually ready woman. She would also have children after Jesus who would be vulnerable to being giants if my theory fits. Note He also kept Joseph's line pure. Jesus had a ruling right because of that lineage, but his brothers and sisters had a ruling right also. That lineage may have been stated so we could also see none of the genetic mixes that led to the nephilim were there. It also helps explain James' leadership of the council and his trying to get the Jews converted with such zeal since he would have had a claim on a Jewish Earthly throne. Also explains the willingness of the Jews to hear him and not stone him as quickly as they did Paul.
Were children in Eden? Did God keep the garden for them to have a home since they had not fallen for the fruit. I suggest they fell for the sexual attraction of the women outside Eden. I suggest those women and men outside kept hovering around Eden, trying to find a way in, a way to that precious immortality. I suggest legend of gods coming down from their mountains to mate with mortals derive from these moments.
Surely if it were angels, this would be true also. Nothing precludes that being true unless they can't have sexual relations with humans.
But my speculation raises the idea that a marriage of a genetically pure Mary and a human Joseph could result in a "giant" Jesus, despite any effort to keep it clean.
My thesis seems to fail and everything points more and more to the idea of fallen angels perverting the "line". Much more so than a human human mating resulting in "giants".
And God closing Eden merely to keep it out there, to offer it as a physical memory of what was lost and what was available to those who would return to Him. The Forever Eden of heaven.
But my speculation raises the idea that a marriage of a genetically pure Mary and a human Joseph could result in a "giant" Jesus, despite any effort to keep it clean.
My thesis seems to fail and everything points more and more to the idea of fallen angels perverting the "line". Much more so than a human human mating resulting in "giants".
And God closing Eden merely to keep it out there, to offer it as a physical memory of what was lost and what was available to those who would return to Him. The Forever Eden of heaven.
And creation science keeps denying fossil evidence of another race existing with us at that same time: the Cro Magnon, which resembles a larger race or the Neanderthal. Now all you have to do is read these articles and understand the way they see it as evolutionary evidence to be denied. However, it can be seen also as evidence of other races on the planet.
Moreover, genetics research has shown humans and Neanderthal (if they were indeed a distinct species) had sexual contact:
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-11-ancient-dna-europeans.html#jC
Note: that 45,000 years seems a bit iffy since we have no real records of modern man and civilization of some sort before about 4,500 years ago. Yeah, that's a zero short of the dating system used.
Then there's this:
*Keep the passage in mind for our later discussions.
*We haven't changed a bit, have we?
Could it be that what we refer to a Cro Magnon or Neanderthal were what became known as the mighty men and giants? Could they have been the results of a cross-breeding?
(I would point out the heavy prejudice in referring to either "species" as a humanoid. Genetic researchers seem intent on ignoring that tests showed both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal had only 50% human DNA when they actually did the research. However 50% would be the exact amount of a human-whatever breeding. And we have no idea what the DNA of an angel aping a human would look like.)
Whether that fits or not doesn't matter so much as the fact an alien race was introduced to humanity, I think it plays a larger role than we often see. More on that in a later installment.
Whatever caused the nephilim, they existed.
But something else hovers in that statement: the lure of sexuality.
We touched on the abysmal possibile depths the Fallen Flesh misuse of sexuality can go, but something else looms in at first fallen civilization.
Researchers found the earliest stone idols. They existed for a time before what was evident about them dawned on those researchers. Most of the idols have exaggerated genitalia. This led the scientists to conclude they were actually charms meant to enhance the sex life of the owners. Perhaps fertility gods and goddesses. One source even referred to them as "primitive marital aids." We can give them the cheapness they deserve by calling them the earliest pornography.
Our key is that the sight of the women seduced the Sons. Humanity became hooked on the vision of itself. Women became the idols to men. Men the idols to women. Sexual gratification grew into the idea of a man having more than one woman to satisfy his needs. No birth control meant women getting pregnant and having children after sexual contact and humanity having to deal with not getting their immediate needs fulfilled. So the idea of multiple "marriage" took hold. Lamech then became the role model.
But the immediate need of fulfillment also generated the idea of needing that man's land, that woman's cave, that person's water supply. Murder came in with Lamech, too. In the space of a few generations, the land seemed too limited, the water too valuable, the ground special to the person of that time and place. Settling generated the idea of possession and possession generated the idea of protection, of the wives, of the natural resources, all linked to the self. The personal godhood.
And anything that enhanced the person, anything one could ask God for, suddenly became the god itself, Became the means to the end. Perhaps someone prayed to a star and it came true.
Max Lucado in Come Thirsty:
"The lack of God-centeredness leads to self-centeredness. Sin celebrates it middle letter-sIn. It procalis, "It's your life, right? Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your night with pleasure." The godless lead a me-dominated, childish life, a life 'doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it'." (Eph. 2:3, MSG)
And the depths of their sin led to that little sentence sandwiched in here:
3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
We think of the Spirit acting now, but it was striving even then, with no laws, with only nature as its prod. God was reaching to those who were Fallen and would not listen. They used that longer life to engage in that self-centeredness Max Lucado wrote about. Fallen Flesh dominated. They indulged themselves, And the sexual indulging became that which could pervert the racial genome so badly there was no way Jesus could be born into it. Consider if that gene ran rampant, no human would have been able to go back to First Flesh. Think on it. No disease anywhere caused God to wipe out a people. Sexual immorality. breeding with anyone and, apparently, anything, led Him to Flood the Earth and take everyone. Later the Bible will tell us some descendants of Ham, Noah's son, were giants. (Deut. 3, Gen, 14) Each time they came from that Noahic line. Noah's wife or Set's wife must have concealed the gene. This means that every line of humans then must have been polluted save for Noah's other sons and God knew if it went on any longer the Fallen Flesh would have been so degraded, all humanity would have to be destroyed. Nop biological hope would remain. The Flood was because of human sinning, yes, but because that sin endangered God's plan of Salvation in a genetically perfected woman and her son. But keep in mind, God gave this group every opportunity to show humanity didn't need the law to reveal its sin, to turn from its sin and follow God.
It really doesn't matter the exact origin of the genome. What matters is that it was introduced through seduction to end all hope of redemption. When someone says how cruel God is for destroying people in the Flood, consider that He allowed us to error for as long as He could, that His Spirit was calling all the time and fallen humanity ignored it.
A Spurgeon summation from his point of view:
Ge 6:5-22; 7:1-5,11-23; 8:1-22; 9:8-17; Ps 91:1-16; Isa 54:4-10
At first men lived for hundreds of years, but a few generations of long-lived men sufficed to make the race very wicked; and, when the holy seed of Seth intermarried with the graceless race of Cain, the people of God degenerated, the salt lost it savor, and the whole earth became corrupt.
What a charge against man, and it is true of us all still.
http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2016/05/try-christians-for-sedition-says-madhya.html
Moreover, genetics research has shown humans and Neanderthal (if they were indeed a distinct species) had sexual contact:
Apart from what his genome tells us about European origins, the Kostenki 14 genome is also fascinating because it contains the genetic record of a period shortly after the ancestors of Europeans hybridised with Neanderthals.
We now know that humans and Neanderthals mixed early in human history, sometime before 45,000 years ago. This is shown by the fact that the genome of Kostenki 14 had slightly more Neanderthal DNA than do Europeans and Asians today, perhaps as much as 1% more.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-11-ancient-dna-europeans.html#jC
Note: that 45,000 years seems a bit iffy since we have no real records of modern man and civilization of some sort before about 4,500 years ago. Yeah, that's a zero short of the dating system used.
Then there's this:
|
*Keep the passage in mind for our later discussions.
*We haven't changed a bit, have we?
Could it be that what we refer to a Cro Magnon or Neanderthal were what became known as the mighty men and giants? Could they have been the results of a cross-breeding?
(I would point out the heavy prejudice in referring to either "species" as a humanoid. Genetic researchers seem intent on ignoring that tests showed both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal had only 50% human DNA when they actually did the research. However 50% would be the exact amount of a human-whatever breeding. And we have no idea what the DNA of an angel aping a human would look like.)
Whether that fits or not doesn't matter so much as the fact an alien race was introduced to humanity, I think it plays a larger role than we often see. More on that in a later installment.
Whatever caused the nephilim, they existed.
But something else hovers in that statement: the lure of sexuality.
We touched on the abysmal possibile depths the Fallen Flesh misuse of sexuality can go, but something else looms in at first fallen civilization.
Researchers found the earliest stone idols. They existed for a time before what was evident about them dawned on those researchers. Most of the idols have exaggerated genitalia. This led the scientists to conclude they were actually charms meant to enhance the sex life of the owners. Perhaps fertility gods and goddesses. One source even referred to them as "primitive marital aids." We can give them the cheapness they deserve by calling them the earliest pornography.
Our key is that the sight of the women seduced the Sons. Humanity became hooked on the vision of itself. Women became the idols to men. Men the idols to women. Sexual gratification grew into the idea of a man having more than one woman to satisfy his needs. No birth control meant women getting pregnant and having children after sexual contact and humanity having to deal with not getting their immediate needs fulfilled. So the idea of multiple "marriage" took hold. Lamech then became the role model.
But the immediate need of fulfillment also generated the idea of needing that man's land, that woman's cave, that person's water supply. Murder came in with Lamech, too. In the space of a few generations, the land seemed too limited, the water too valuable, the ground special to the person of that time and place. Settling generated the idea of possession and possession generated the idea of protection, of the wives, of the natural resources, all linked to the self. The personal godhood.
And anything that enhanced the person, anything one could ask God for, suddenly became the god itself, Became the means to the end. Perhaps someone prayed to a star and it came true.
Max Lucado in Come Thirsty:
"The lack of God-centeredness leads to self-centeredness. Sin celebrates it middle letter-sIn. It procalis, "It's your life, right? Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your night with pleasure." The godless lead a me-dominated, childish life, a life 'doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it'." (Eph. 2:3, MSG)
And the depths of their sin led to that little sentence sandwiched in here:
3 And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
We think of the Spirit acting now, but it was striving even then, with no laws, with only nature as its prod. God was reaching to those who were Fallen and would not listen. They used that longer life to engage in that self-centeredness Max Lucado wrote about. Fallen Flesh dominated. They indulged themselves, And the sexual indulging became that which could pervert the racial genome so badly there was no way Jesus could be born into it. Consider if that gene ran rampant, no human would have been able to go back to First Flesh. Think on it. No disease anywhere caused God to wipe out a people. Sexual immorality. breeding with anyone and, apparently, anything, led Him to Flood the Earth and take everyone. Later the Bible will tell us some descendants of Ham, Noah's son, were giants. (Deut. 3, Gen, 14) Each time they came from that Noahic line. Noah's wife or Set's wife must have concealed the gene. This means that every line of humans then must have been polluted save for Noah's other sons and God knew if it went on any longer the Fallen Flesh would have been so degraded, all humanity would have to be destroyed. Nop biological hope would remain. The Flood was because of human sinning, yes, but because that sin endangered God's plan of Salvation in a genetically perfected woman and her son. But keep in mind, God gave this group every opportunity to show humanity didn't need the law to reveal its sin, to turn from its sin and follow God.
It really doesn't matter the exact origin of the genome. What matters is that it was introduced through seduction to end all hope of redemption. When someone says how cruel God is for destroying people in the Flood, consider that He allowed us to error for as long as He could, that His Spirit was calling all the time and fallen humanity ignored it.
A Spurgeon summation from his point of view:
Ge 6:5-22; 7:1-5,11-23; 8:1-22; 9:8-17; Ps 91:1-16; Isa 54:4-10
At first men lived for hundreds of years, but a few generations of long-lived men sufficed to make the race very wicked; and, when the holy seed of Seth intermarried with the graceless race of Cain, the people of God degenerated, the salt lost it savor, and the whole earth became corrupt.
What a charge against man, and it is true of us all still.
http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2016/05/try-christians-for-sedition-says-madhya.html
Try Christians for sedition says Madhya Pradesh member for minority welfare department
A member of the Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes and Minority Welfare Department who enjoys minister of state status, Laxmi Yadav, was present when Bajrang Dal activists stormed into a church in Satna on April 27 and stopped a wedding alleging the couple had converted.
As the Bajrang Dal insists Arun Kushwaha and Subhadra Kushwaha can marry only in a temple, Yadav said, “This is the first case in the country when Christians were caught red-handed converting and marrying OBCs. We will reconvert them, purify them after sprinkling Gangajal and hold a Hindu marriage for the couple. I am seeking legal opinion on whether sedition charge could be invoked against the Christians for waging a war against the country.”
Bajrang Dal leader Rajkumar Mishra, who has spearheaded campaigns against conversion, love jihad and cow slaughter and claims to have “saved hundreds of Hindu girls”, led a protest two days after the Church attack where an effigy of the Pope was burnt in front of a leading Catholic school of Satna. The protesters tried to enter the school premises too but were stopped by police.
As the Bajrang Dal insists Arun Kushwaha and Subhadra Kushwaha can marry only in a temple, Yadav said, “This is the first case in the country when Christians were caught red-handed converting and marrying OBCs. We will reconvert them, purify them after sprinkling Gangajal and hold a Hindu marriage for the couple. I am seeking legal opinion on whether sedition charge could be invoked against the Christians for waging a war against the country.”
Bajrang Dal leader Rajkumar Mishra, who has spearheaded campaigns against conversion, love jihad and cow slaughter and claims to have “saved hundreds of Hindu girls”, led a protest two days after the Church attack where an effigy of the Pope was burnt in front of a leading Catholic school of Satna. The protesters tried to enter the school premises too but were stopped by police.
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