Featured Genesis 6 — sons of God married took as wives human women who gave birth to “giants” and “men of renown” ? ! ?

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 6 - King James Version

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for...

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1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

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The Bible has a lot of stuff which just isn’t true.

 

[selkie]

Yep, right out of the starting gate the Bible, which is supposed to be the inerrant word of God, begins telling tales that sound so much like fiction that one would be hard-pressed not to consider them thus. The Bible is and has been for over three decades my biggest barrier to Christian belief. I just do not find much of it credible at all, despite many years of a genuine desire to seek God and understand his nature. With the Bible being the primary source of this information, there is much to be desired. This particular tale always intrigued me and if there is some historical truth from which it sprang, I would love to know what it is. I love a good mystery and I think this will always be one of them. That being said, I no longer attempt to make sense of religious literature and have been much happier since that ship has sailed. I find religious truths unknowable and the stories unfathomable and am ok with that.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The Bible is and has been for over three decades my biggest barrier to Christian belief. I just do not find much of it credible at all, despite many years of a genuine desire to seek God and understand his nature.

Hi, Welcome to the Agnostic Forum!

Now, I’m an atheist. Just to lay it on the table and all. I do believe in spirituality and try to stay open to these experiences.

For example, I remember a nature book which included a photo caption with the sentence— “To a bear, a Summer’s afternoon is eternal.” [or something very similar to this! ] I liked the poetry, and I think it’s true in a deep way. It’s a snippet of Zen where I least expected it!

PS I also want to help give a soft landing to those leaving a too-strict religion. And maybe you’d like to help with this as well.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

“and they took them wives of all which they chose.”

And notice how the abuse of women is woven into society. It’s almost tedious to point this out each time, but I think we should try to call it out most of the time.

“and they bare children to them”

So, she’s having a child only for the man? (meaning, one of the “sons of God”)

 

[AgnosticBoy]

The Bible has a lot of stuff which just isn’t true.

The Nephilim story in the Bible is one of my favorites. It's also recorded in several old writings that weren't accepted in the Bible canon. The best one out of those is the Book of Enoch which goes in even more detail than Genesis 6.

Is it true?
Well some myths/legends might be completely invented out of thin air. Some might also be based on a true event but it's later colored and added onto. Just like Jesus of Nazareth. He could have been a real historical figure, but did he really perform all of those miracles? Myths and legends could've been added on later on.

The real story behind the Nephilim may just be mundane. Just some tall stature humans that were able to scare away a lot of other humans. These giant humans are certainly talked about later on in the Bible.

Numbers 13:31-33
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
.......

Not sure about the angels sleeping with women part to produce these giants. I'd like to think some alien visitation was involved but ultimately that's just some fun curiosity.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

I'd like to think some alien visitation was involved but ultimately that's just some fun curiosity.

This certainly is a fun idea!

In fact, I used to kind of believe in it. But then I decided “The Chariots of the Gods” guy was a huckster.

But now I kind of think, that for me to turn away from sone idea because the guy is a huckster, is giving entirely too much power to hucksters!