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What were the Nephilim?


Hermai

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The Nephilim  were the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" before the Deluge, according to Genesis 6:1-4 of the Bible.

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

— Genesis 6:1–4, New Revised Standard Version

The word is loosely translated as giants in some Bibles and left untranslated in others. The "sons of God" have been interpreted to be fallen angels according to some classical Judaic explanations. Others have interpreted the former translation as evidence of an ancient race of large humanoids who predated modern homo sapiens.

What do you all think? Numerous cultures and religions have their own version of Nephilim, who were wiped out in a flood myth. What could it all mean?

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15 minutes ago, Invisig0th said:

The Nephilim  were the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" before the Deluge, according to Genesis 6:1-4 of the Bible.

 

So, antique heroes like Hercules or Dionysos were Nephilim.... Interesting. Old  Hindu Krishna was Nephilim .... etc. And what about Jesus? ,

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51 minutes ago, Invisig0th said:

The Nephilim  were the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" before the Deluge, according to Genesis 6:1-4 of the Bible.

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

— Genesis 6:1–4, New Revised Standard Version

The word is loosely translated as giants in some Bibles and left untranslated in others. The "sons of God" have been interpreted to be fallen angels according to some classical Judaic explanations. Others have interpreted the former translation as evidence of an ancient race of large humanoids who predated modern homo sapiens.

What do you all think? Numerous cultures and religions have their own version of Nephilim, who were wiped out in a flood myth. What could it all mean?

Who knows, but certainly interesting subject.

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1 hour ago, Lumpino said:

So, antique heroes like Hercules or Dionysos were Nephilim.... Interesting. Old  Hindu Krishna was Nephilim .... etc. And what about Jesus? ,

I've never read anything about Jesus being physically remarkable in appearance.  Goliath was thought to be Nephilim.

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Alien/human hybrids is the best theory in my opinion.

Edited by nephili
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14 minutes ago, nephili said:

Alien/human hybrids is the best theory in my opinion.

The story goes that 200 angels came down from a certain mountain and mixed themselves with women whichever they chose, and their offspring were giants.Who knows how to interpret that.

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3 minutes ago, Illyrius said:

The story goes that 200 angels came down from a certain mountain and mixed themselves with women whichever they chose, and their offspring were giants.Who knows how to interpret that.

I know the story well. I hear more advanced beings mated with humans in the stories and I think extraterrestrials.

It's just a theory, but the idea of some angels swooping down while "God" had his back turned and knocking up the humans without "God's" knowledge is preposterous. If "God" is real and knows all, how can this happen?

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1 minute ago, nephili said:

I know the story well. I hear more advanced beings mated with humans in the stories and I think extraterrestrials.

It's just a theory, but the idea of some angels swooping down while "God" had his back turned and knocking up the humans without "God's" knowledge is preposterous. If "God" is real and knows all, how can this happen?

Depends how you view god, and what god is, and what angels are. Much of misunderstanding about monotheistic god is the product of thinking that god is some sort of bearded guy who can do anything and is all-loving, omnipresent blah blah. Dunno, that sort of notion about a supreme intelligence of universe is a bit strange to me too.

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maybe god is just set of rules and laws at work  that create as well as destroy everything in the universe,  as in not a thinking entity watching over us and judging when we die.

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1 minute ago, aztek said:

maybe god is just set of rules and laws at work  that create as well as destroy everything in the universe,  as in not a thinking entity watching over us and judging when we die.

Dunno, i believe in supreme being but dont have a clue what is it about. If i have to give it 2 keywords those would be power and life.

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57 minutes ago, aztek said:

maybe god is just set of rules and laws at work  that create as well as destroy everything in the universe,  as in not a thinking entity watching over us and judging when we die.

God is entropy, perhaps?

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Why is it that supposedly intelligent beings still place so much stock and value on the scribblings of a small, insignificant group of nomadic desert dwellers, but totally ignore the folklore and fables of all the other primitive tribes that roamed the Earth?

 

FFS, look at the tales of the Polynesians, the Celts, the Amerinds, the Hindu, the Russo-Siberian sagas. Not to mention the culturally rich tales of the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, as well as the Mayan, Aztec and Inuit.

 

Gods, monsters, demi-gods, beasts,and non-human (elves, dwarves and others) races abound in these stories, but no one gives them as much credence as the myths of the Hebrews.

If the Nephilim were "real", the what about the Firbolgs? The Fey? Baba Yaga? The Tuatha de Danaan?

 

When will people realize that ALL of these tales were just primitive man's way of explaining what they couldn't rationally explain? Exaggerations of deeds done by MEN and WOMEN, who were as mortal, as fallible, and human as the people living today?

 

It is the bloody 21st century, we should be exploring the vastness of space, not debating about the ghosts, ghoulies, and hobgoblins that haunted our ancestors dreams. :td:

Edited by JMPD1
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29 minutes ago, JMPD1 said:

Why is it that supposedly intelligent beings still place so much stock and value on the scribblings of a small, insignificant group of nomadic desert dwellers, but totally ignore the folklore and fables of all the other primitive tribes that roamed the Earth?

 

Because it's a Judeo-Christian universe. 

 

 

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4 hours ago, JMPD1 said:

If the Nephilim were "real", the what about the Firbolgs? The Fey? Baba Yaga? The Tuatha de Danaan?

All real.

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4 hours ago, Will Due said:

 

Because it's a Judeo-Christian universe. 

 

 

How can one say that when about 30% of the world's population are Christian and under 1% are Jewish.

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4 hours ago, Will Due said:

 

Because it's a Judeo-Christian universe. 

 

 

hahaha hybris?

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1 hour ago, danydandan said:

How can one say that when about 30% of the world's population are Christian and under 1% are Jewish.

Inhabitants of all other plantes and galaxies are all Christians, tho i heard of some atheists having communes on qusars.

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18 hours ago, Lumpino said:

So, antique heroes like Hercules or Dionysos were Nephilim.... Interesting. Old  Hindu Krishna was Nephilim .... etc. And what about Jesus? ,

Indeed.  Jesus was the Son of God.   So presumably the earlier Sons of God were the same?

In other words, normal humans .....  

Meanwhile, we do know for absolute fact that the strange and distant land of Newyorkcity is inhabited by giants :)     But they probably can't reproduce with normal sized humans.

All we can say about the Biblical account is that, biologically, the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men must have been the same species (or very closely related sub-species) in order to produce viable offspring.   So the Nephilim couldn't have been much bigger and certainly couldn't have been aliens.   They might however have been from another tribe ;) 
 

 

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3 minutes ago, Illyrius said:

Inhabitants of all other plantes and galaxies are all Christians, tho i heard of some atheists having communes on qusars.

I don't know how to comment on this.

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6 hours ago, JMPD1 said:

Why is it that supposedly intelligent beings still place so much stock and value on the scribblings of a small, insignificant group of nomadic desert dwellers, but totally ignore the folklore and fables of all the other primitive tribes that roamed the Earth?

 

Just another thing the Romans did for us that I really wish they hadn't .....  

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4 hours ago, Essan said:

All we can say about the Biblical account is that, biologically

You're actually applying a branch of science onto a myth?

4 hours ago, Essan said:

So the Nephilim couldn't have been much bigger and certainly couldn't have been aliens.   They might however have been from another tribe ;)

How can you be so certain of anything on a subject like this? I don't see enough evidence anywhere to make certain of anything with religion. What evidence makes you certain?

 

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1 hour ago, nephili said:

You're actually applying a branch of science onto a myth?

How can you be so certain of anything on a subject like this? I don't see enough evidence anywhere to make certain of anything with religion. What evidence makes you certain?

 

Aye, biology 101 ;) 

And isnt implying they were aliens also applying a branch of science onto a myth?
 

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3 hours ago, Essan said:


And isnt implying they were aliens also applying a branch of science onto a myth?
 

Good point.

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19 minutes ago, nephili said:

Good point.

Not really. The whole thing smells of fantasy to me.

Edited by danydandan
made spelling boom boom
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