God’s News In The News

Week One Hundred Fifty

Giants, Fallen Angels And Other Weird Stuff

The National Enquirer Has Invaded The Church

For those of you who don’t know about the newspaper called The National Enquirer it is a tabloid news source that specializes in reports of the outlandish and absurd to get people to buy it. The cover stories are over-the-top and bring up scandals involving famous people and also throw in sensational claims that are often not supported by much more than hearsay. They are always derided by the mainstream press as what we now call fake news or misinformation, but until people quit buying the tabloid, it will exist. Gossip rags are always popular because people enjoy a good story whether it is true or not. However, since the dawn of the Internet such stories are more prevalent and easier to find, again regardless of their veracity. Dare I also mention professional wrestling or soap operas that both get a lot of followers as well? I will leave that for another day if I actually need to address them at all. For now, I am more concerned about the Body of Christ doing the same thing, which is to believe things either not in the Bible or tangentially mentioned. Living in what many believe to be the last of the last days, we simply don’t have a lot of time to waste on theories or tall tales.

But We Do Need To Address Them From Time To Time

Since I’ve been a Christian for 50 years, I’ve seen a lot of fads come and go. And I’ve heard even sermons broaching topics that are a tad outlandish, farfetched, and sometimes very unbiblical. So when asked what I think about the things mentioned, I feel obliged to respond. Saying I don’t know more than once is poor exegesis since I always say that Bible can provide answers to any question we come up with. But I certainly don’t want to make responding to these things the main thing I do. Also, unbelievers are interested in them and knowing what the Bible says can also allow us to segue to the real truth found in the Word of God, especially about Jesus, a man who came outside of time to die for our sins.

We Believe Some Hard To Accept Things, Too

The Bible is full of what some call tall tales like a talking serpent, a worldwide flood and a man swallowed by a big fish for starters. Then stopping the movement of the sun to give an army more time to win their fight and how about the Red Sea parting? Ten plagues used to bring the most powerful nation in the world to its knees and city walls falling down on command can be added to the list of the weird or bizarre and, if we are honest, would likely make the cover of the aforementioned National Enquirer. The Word of God is chock full of miraculous stories that defy natural explanation and so when we tell someone who believes in UFOs, Alien life on other worlds, and a myriad of other unexplained things, we should be ready to address their beliefs as well as our own. And with that, I will try and do just that on a few areas floating around on the interwebs.

Giants On The Earth

Now it came about, when mankind 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 mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 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 mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Gen 6:1-4, NASB)

There are those in and outside the Church that are getting more than their 15 minutes of fame by raising the thought of extremely tall people roaming the earth, and if you talk to some, still living in remote areas of the globe. If you want to really sound Biblically smart, you can even give them a name as they are called the Nephilim. This Hebrew word is only found in three places in the Bible and all are in the Old Testament. The word really only means “giants” and in the context of all three accounts where the word is used is really hard to figure out. Most of what people think about these men is found in extrabiblical sources and, in my thinking should remain just that, not found in the Bible. But to humor the theories, I will bring up more. I fully admit that these verses have stirred up more than their fair share of controversy of the years and they are doing so now as well.

They Were Big, Very Big

Of all the possible interpretations of the word Nephilim, they all agree that they were large as in physical stature. The other mentions of the word in Numbers 13:33 only mentions that these giants made the Israelites look like grasshoppers in their sight. It was the primary reason the 10 spies didn’t think they could fight them. I don’t think that is up for debate really. David killed one such giant, Goliath and it catapulted him to one day be king over all of Israel. So on this point we can all agree. However, it is how they existed that opens the pandora’s box of theories and, in my mind, unbiblical beliefs. You see there are those who believe they are the product of demonic interactions with human women, fallen angels as it were that made these large men. Once you start going down that road, well a lot of things become possible. When the UFO bunch starts pointing to alien inbreeding and then we say that these were the product of angelic breeding, we can’t dispute them at all. It is only a matter of distinction between who and not how.

Tortured Interpretations

This is where we need to keep the whole of Scripture in mind and not let a few verses lead us down who only knows how many supernatural rabbit holes. Can angels, fallen or not procreate with women? Again, staying with just the Bible and not adding in extra-biblical sources no matter how prestigious they may be, it is a hard premise to support. Most commentators I read land on the belief that the wording in most translations is unclear and, in some cases twisted to support their conclusion and not to allow it to read naturally. Saying that we need to believe that fallen angels could and did have relations with mortal women just from a few verses is road too far for me. Especially when Jesus Himself said it couldn’t happen in this verse:

Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. (Matt 22:29-30, NKJV)

Giving angels who are spirits and not human flesh the ability to procreate is not found anywhere in the Bible apart from Genesis 6 and even there it is not expressly and clearly stated since the phrase sons of god can refer to men or angels. In context with the whole of Scripture, it is best to keep things simple.

But What About All Those Huge Skeletons?

I know that is the other thing coming up a lot now on social media. How did people get so big if there weren’t aliens or demons involved? I even heard a short video saying the Abraham Lincoln mentioned such giants observing Niagara Falls in a speech. I am not going to address the many examples of literal bones that imply very big people existed. But I will say we come up with all these crazy theories when we have modern day examples of people who were quite tall and very much very human. It can happen and apparently did happen in ancient times. The Bible doesn’t dispute this, but again, the how is the issue. We must remember that the pre-flood world was rich in oxygen and protected from a lot of harmful radiation from the sun. When these conditions are replicated in experiments, the results are astounding and telling. Examples of extremely tall tomato plants and large tomatoes are seen. And then there is the healing powers of hyperbaric chambers where increased amounts of oxygen are used to treat all manner of illnesses with very good results and there exists the very real possibility that people simply not only lived longer but grew much bigger before the flood of Noah. The fact that giants existed after the flood can be attributed to simple DNA found in the sons of Noah and nothing more.

Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing

You see, there are simple answers to things like giants and we can use the Bible to support them without going down all manner of conspiracy theories to find them. As long as we keep the Bible at the forefront of our discussions and always do our best to point to the main theme of it, we’ll do well. Am I saying we can’t talk about the hard issues? Not at all, as long as we do our level best to extend the talk to God and His Son Jesus. People are curious because God put that in them and we need to lead them not only to truth but The Truth. To only engage in fanciful chat and leave it there is a disservice to evangelism and the Great Commission. And on that point I think we can all agree.