Genesis 6 - sons of God, daughters of men?

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TemperanceOfGod

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I read the USCCB explanation and I’m still in-the-dark as to the meaning of this chapter.

My thought is that Angels can’t have sex. How would Nephilim come to be?

They were the heroes of old, the men of renown. Gen 6:4 All I can think of here are the Egyptian, Greek and Roman “gods”. Were they really ‘‘gods’’ that people saw, other forms of human/animals…even hybrids?

USCCB says: The sons of God: other heavenly beings. This confuses me even more. Are there other heavenly beings that can have sex with humans and create something evil?

I want to learn the Catholic meaning of this. So much Gnostic teachings on this.

Please Discuss.
 
There is a recent thread on this "Nephilim’ in the back fence board, it has some great information.

Briefly, you are right, fallen angels cannot have sex with human females, BUT they can possess human males and those men had sex with the females, and along with the human ‘seed’, there was also some ‘demonic material’ passed into them, thus, they gave birth to half human, half fallen angel hybrids, who happened to be very big. How this all happened is beyond any of us, we can not even begin to speculate the logistics of this). It was Satans attempt to corrupt the human seed so Jesus could not be born, but God bested him with the virgin birth! (I can imagine satan saying D’Oh) lol

Personally I believe they were around 10-20ft tall, but a particular verse in Enoch says they are something like 350 cubits tall, which would make them over 450ft tall, I dont believe they were THAT big though. Its said they all had double rows of teeth, and some say red hair.

What I find curious about this, is the bible says they existed before AND AFTER the flood, Im not sure why God didnt kill them all off…??

one bible verse gives the dimensions of one of their beds, (it was 9ft long).

You will find this topic is debated though, as some do not believe giants actually existed

Here is the verse…

Enoch chapter 7:12-15
Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labor of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them;.
 
TemperanceOfGod said:
I read the USCCB explanation and I’m still in-the-dark as to the meaning of this chapter.

My thought is that Angels can’t have sex. How would Nephilim come to be?

They were the heroes of old, the men of renown. Gen 6:4 All I can think of here are the Egyptian, Greek and Roman “gods”. Were they really ‘‘gods’’ that people saw, other forms of human/animals…even hybrids?

USCCB says: The sons of God: other heavenly beings. This confuses me even more. Are there other heavenly beings that can have sex with humans and create something evil?

I want to learn the Catholic meaning of this. So much Gnostic teachings on this.

Please Discuss.
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“sons of God” = descendants of Seth/good men
“daughters of men” = descendants of Cain

Here is a quote from the Catholic Navarre Bible on Genesis 6:4:
…Jewish tradition and some ancient Christian writers read it as meaning fallen angels; but that explanation does not fit in with the spiritual nature of angels. **Therefore, it has been interpreted as meaning good men, the descendants of Seth who indiscriminately took as wives descendants of Cain, here called “daughters of men”. ****** This is the explanation given by St. Augustine (De civitate Dei 15,23), St. John Chrysostom *(Homiliae in Genesim, 22, 4), *St. Cyril of Alexandria (Glaphyra in Genesim 2,2) and other Fathers. …

Here is a link to Chapter 15 of Augustine’s “De civitate Dei” (The City of God). Just scroll down to Chapter 23.
 
TemperanceOfGod said:
I read the USCCB explanation and I’m still in-the-dark as to the meaning of this chapter.

My thought is that Angels can’t have sex. How would Nephilim come to be?

They were the heroes of old, the men of renown. Gen 6:4 All I can think of here are the Egyptian, Greek and Roman “gods”. Were they really ‘‘gods’’ that people saw, other forms of human/animals…even hybrids?

USCCB says: The sons of God: other heavenly beings. This confuses me even more. Are there other heavenly beings that can have sex with humans and create something evil?

I want to learn the Catholic meaning of this. So much Gnostic teachings on this.

Please Discuss.
Click to expand...
D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 2. The sons of God. The descendants of Seth and Enos are here called Sons of God, from their religion and piety: whereas the ungodly race of Cain, who by their carnal affections lay grovelling upon the earth, are called the children of men. The unhappy consequence of the former marrying with the latter, ought to be a warning to Christians to be very circumspect in their marriages; and not to suffer themselves to be determined in choice by their carnal passion, to the prejudice of virtue or religion. (Challoner) — See St. Chrysostom, hom. 22, &c. Some copies of the Septuagint having the angels of God, induced some of the ancients to suppose, that these spiritual beings (to whom, by another mistake, they attributed a sort of aerial bodies) had commerce with women, as the pagans derived their heroes from a mortal and a god. But this notion, which is borrowed from the book of Henoch, is quite exploded. (Calmet) — The distinction of the true Church from the synagogue of satan, here established, has been ever since retained, as heretics are still distinguished from Catholics. (Worthington) (St. Augustine)
 
Nita said:
“sons of God” = descendants of Seth/good men
“daughters of men” = descendants of Cain

Here is a quote from the Catholic Navarre Bible on Genesis 6:4:
…Jewish tradition and some ancient Christian writers read it as meaning fallen angels; but that explanation does not fit in with the spiritual nature of angels. **Therefore, it has been interpreted as meaning good men, the descendants of Seth who indiscriminately took as wives descendants of Cain, here called “daughters of men”. ****** This is the explanation given by St. Augustine (De civitate Dei 15,23), St. John Chrysostom *(Homiliae in Genesim, 22, 4), *St. Cyril of Alexandria (Glaphyra in Genesim 2,2) and other Fathers. …

Here is a link to Chapter 15 of Augustine’s “De civitate Dei” (The City of God). Just scroll down to Chapter 23.
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If you look at many different bible verses, ‘sons of God’ are always angels.
 
mikekle said:
If you look at many different bible verses, ‘sons of God’ are always angels.
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We are children of God,sons and daughters,yet we are not angels.

I believe Baruch has a good reference to these giants.They were mighty men
who were very skilled at war and destruction. God chose them not and so they perished.

Angels and humans cannot mate though there are many bizarre theories floating around the net based on the non canonical book of Enoch. I believe the book of Enoch is a gnostic fable explaining good and evil and the progression of the human intellect.
 
mikekle said:
The demons (spirits) possessed human males…the males then had sex with the females.
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I read what you wrote and that may be a feasible answer. I was responding to the poster who asked why demons could not have relations with humans.
 
Dorothy said:
I read what you wrote and that may be a feasible answer. I was responding to the poster who asked why demons could not have relations with humans.
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Baruch 3:26

There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war. [27] The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish. [28] And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly. [29] Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? [30] Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?
 
mikekle said:
The demons (spirits) possessed human males…the males then had sex with the females.
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Any progeny resulting under those circumstances would still be a human person because their physical body came about from the union of the physical cells & chromosomes of the human who was possessed and from the other person. The devil has no physical cells & chromosomes.

The spiritual soul of the progeny is directly created by God and infused into the embryo.
The devil has no part in this either.
 
SAVINGRACE said:
Do you have the CCC reference for that? I have never heard of the Church teaching this…
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CCC 328: The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

Non-corporeal means they do not have a body. Without a body they would not have the parts necessary to perform the act.
 
oliver927 said:
CCC 328: The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

Non-corporeal means they do not have a body. Without a body they would not have the parts necessary to perform the act.
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Thank you Oliver. New Catholic here learning every day. 😃
 
oliver927 said:
CCC 328: The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

Non-corporeal means they do not have a body. Without a body they would not have the parts necessary to perform the act.
Click to expand...
OK, than how did angels eat when they came down at certain times?, bible verse says they ate a meal at a mans house…spirits dont have mouths or stomachs either, yet the verse still says they ate. There was also a verse where 2 angels were almost raped…if they did not have bodies, how would/ could a human even think about raping them?
 
cjforJesus said:
. God chose them not and so they perished.

.
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If God killed them off in the flood, why did it say they were here before and AFTER the flood? If they were here after the flood, than their particular ‘lineage’ is still around…right?, I cant think of any other mention of them after the flood, seems strange if not all of them were killed off, why were they not mentioned anymore?
 
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