Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Nephilim (giants)


Nephilim (giants)
There were giants (nephilim) 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.    ~ Genesis 6:4
In the 1968 horror movie, Rosemary’s Baby, the plot had a woman conceiving the offspring of Satan. So, in the movie Satan was able to impregnate a human. It was the antithesis of the incarnation of Jesus Christ through the virgin birth. 

There is a disturbing thought that is passing through Christian circles. It is that somehow fallen angels or Satan are able to procreate with human women. The scriptures referring to the Nephilim are given the status that the sons of God found the daughters of men attractive and they bore giants in the land. Some have taught or speculated that these were the cross breeding of angels and humans. The Nephilim appear before and after the flood. 
Here are some of the issues that concern me with these thoughts and speculations. First of all, there is no indication in scripture that this is true. It is not expressly stated anywhere. Secondly, there is no statement that angels can reproduce.  Jesus indicated that they are neither given or taken in marriage. They are created beings and their number seems to be fixed. Lucifer led a third of them in rebellion. Demonic beings can inhabit and control, but there is no indication anywhere in the word that possession causes any form of procreation. 
Thirdly, it is important to pay attention to such conspiracy theories and speculations. If you say that angels can procreate, you open the door to all forms of heresy and undermine some of the key beliefs of the faith.
If you believe Satan can procreate, then he is a being with creative power; whereas the Bible says that he is a created being. He is subservient to God and not an equal power to God. If you believe he can have children with human women, then, knowing his approach, he would have filled the earth already with his fallen, mutated beings.
If you believe there are mutated human/demonic beings, then it is impossible for you to believe in the creation as God describes it in the Bible. The Bible expressly states that everything is created and procreated after its own kind. If you hold to human/demonic creatures, then it is plausible for evolution to be true. While you as a Christian would fight evolution, you fully support it if there is the ability for such mutations as proposed by those who believe the Nephilim were angel/ human mixes. 
Yet, in all of the studies done by Christian and non-Christian scientists who question evolution, there has never been found any record of mutational transitions. Everything has produced according to its kind from the beginning. Even the virgin birth is substantial in that God said, “let us make man after our own image.” So, God overshadowed Mary for the conception of Jesus would still hold true to the “after their own kind” mandate of the Scripture.
Is the purpose of all this conjecture to just add to the aura and mystic of Satan and darkness? Does it really explain anything or does it just add confusion? The fact there were giants does not make them demonic. Even today we have cultures that are larger than others. The Dutch are the tallest nation. There are tribes in Africa that are extremely tall and then there are pygmies and small Asian peoples. But they are all human, after their own kind.
I do not know exactly what the Nephilim were or why they were to be destroyed. They were considered evil. But to assign crossbreeding is dangerous conjecture.