Corruption of Humanity

         I have never actually directly quoted the Bible in my posts, so now I shall to be examine the text. "My spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." (v.3). The Youthwalk Devotional Bible New International Version states that the translation of mortal is actually corrupt. This means that God is already fed up with humanity. This is very different than earlier in Genesis, when "he saw that it was good." In addition, humanity's lifespan was shortened from hundreds of years to 120 years, possibly, due to corruption. Further this transformation transpired in less than five chapters. Therefore, it must be remembered  that this had actually transpired over thousands of years before Noah's birth. This evidence disproves the Creationist New Earth theory  that the Earth was created in 4,004 B.C. This theory would put Noah and the flood at the same time as Jesus, at its' earliest point. Christian and Secular scholars have proven that Noah had lived much earlier than Jesus. In addition, it should be mentioned that few Creationists believe that the Earth is only 6,014 years old. In Genesis verse 6 chapter 6 there is the quote, "The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the Earth, and his heart was filled with pain." He went from being joyful about the creation of Adam to grieved by the time of Noah. I would like to say now that I understand how God feels. He then decides to wipe out mankind and the animals.  What did the animals do? Was this an all or nothing plan? Did God have no other way to destroy humanity that would not involve the animals? Maybe God thought that the animals would only remind him how much humanity had grieved his heart. Basically, at this point, God is sick of everybody except Noah. Noah was a man who followed God. I guess it is good that God had spared Noah, otherwise, the rest of humanity would not exist. Or is it better for humanity to have died out back then? Finally, "God saw how corrupt the Earth had become, for all the people on Earth had corrupted their ways," (v.12) shows that it was the fault of humanity for their then-current state of corruption. Anyway, this leads us to the story of the Great Flood.

The Creation of the Nephilim

         Before We can discuss Noah, we must first discuss the time that Noah lived in. For those of you that are following along, this would be found in chapter 6 of Genesis. Now at this point in the story, humanity was spreading across the face of the Earth. The sons of God, who were never stipulated as being angels or demons, mated with human women who were supposedly so beautiful that these spiritual beings are drawn to them. (Gen. 6 v. 6) However, it is far more likely that these sons of God were demons due to the unlikelihood of angels who were loyal to God disobeying him to mate with mortal women. One explanation of this occurrence that I have heard is that Satan was trying to have active human agents to prevent the coming of Christ many millennia later. The idea was the human race would be contaminated with demonic DNA and prevent Christ's birth in a perfect body (from that theorist's perspective). However, I think God could work his way around those who were not affected. Although, it does state in verse 2 that they found the daughters of men to be beautiful. In addition, verse 4 does state that these children are the Nephilim. Why would demonic offspring be men of renown, as stated in that same verse? Why would Satan need Nephilim agents on Earth when he just as easily could have used human agents. It is possible that renown is references the Nephilim's great strength and not of virtue. God wouldn't have allowed his son Jesus to die by a giant's hand anyway. A possible explanation comes from the Oxford Study Bible. It states that this portion of the story might have been borrowed from a Canaanite story. Although, that would mean that this part of the story was fiction; it is important to remember that the Hebrew used an oral story tradition before those tales were written down. In addition, they were surrounded by Canaanites that could have influenced this addition to the narrative. The section about the Nephilim can be in truth neither denied or confirmed.

A Side Note on Lamech

       As a sort of side note, I would like to discuss the mentioning of Lamech. Words can not describe how much I despise this man. This man bragged that since Cain had killed one person and he had killed two and since Cain would be avenged seven times if killed; then, he would be avenged seventy seven. This statement implies that this was a terrible human being. He thought that by killing more people he would be greater than his ancestors. That is wrong on so many levels. Some people claim that he was instead planning to kill these people. This can not however be proven and can equally be assumed that he did. This statement shows intent more than anything else. This is why I have always disliked Lamech and read about him with disdain. It should also be mentioned that this Lamech was descended from Cain's line which means Lamech the father of Noah descended from Seth's line must be different people.