If he is an Adventist, and he does, then I guess some Adventists DO recognize that book as inspired.

I doubt its inspiration, but I'm open about it. It's worth considering even as a source of possibly-true Jewish tradition.

TWNolan - My main reference is the book of Genesis. I was only using the book of Enoch as helpful for interpretation. Yes the fallen angels were created by God, and were therefore "Sons of God."

I was raised in the SDA church. We belong together. Just because my beliefs differ some from standard SDA beliefs does not mean I want to give up on trying to change that which is wrong. EGW said that our church is feeble and defective. To correct this I want all SDAs to start reading the quotations of Jesus.

I think the best way to do this is to go to the Bible on line and copy and paste the first 5 books of the NT and the first 3 chapters of Revelation to your word processor. Then go through and group all His quotes into categories. It doesn't matter which categories. Make up your own. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. The first time I did this, I used the seven elements of the ancient Suzerainty covenants as categories. I have started doing it again, and this time I am adding another category, "conversion," to my list of chapters.

And another reason I read and post on this forum is that I find a lot of misinformation distributed here. I add my little bits to help SDAs with our faith. it is very discouraging at times, but the Lord refreshes me, and i stay.

Just as a tag on, we knew these men a few years back, they were from the middle east, and I sure wish I could remember which country, but I can't. Anyways, they told us that in there country there was an ancient cemetary and the graves were all 10 to 11 feet long, because the people were all that tall. Wasn't Adam himself supposed to be 18 feet tall? So if he was that tall his descendants wouldn't be getting shorter over night, that would take generations too. Then after the flood you would have some that would be tall they would marry tall women and have tall kids, and some shorties doing the same thing.

Just like today, you have some really tall people, like the Zulu warriours and then you have the pygmies.

The size of normal people from Adam through pre-history has nothing to do with the giants which were the children produced from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of man.

One is not allowed to go to references on this forum. Only 'original thoughts' are allowed. If one gets their thoughts from another source ... then the thoughts are not original.

I know I have read that before, so it could not be original.

MODERATOR POST -

Just to clarify, absolutely original ideas are not required, although strongly encouraged. (In fact, I am most delighted to hear something new and thought provoking...) However, the expression of any idea, even if from another source or even an old familiar topic, must be in your own words, expressed as your own original thoughts on the topic.

As a retired English professor, Alex could educate us on the fine art of using other sources without plagiarizing them. It requires some creative thought and writing. That is what I am after.

Tom

Thanks Tom. That helps.

the book of enoch is part truth and part legend.

since we are told by Jesus that the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage-that was pretty much a quote :( - then we cant believe that the fallen angels mated with humans.

doing a search on "son(s)of God" tends to bear out that those who follow God are considered His children.

besides that believing extraterrestrials intermated with man tends to do away with the "great controversy" theme to a large degree it seems to me.

Hi Tom et al,

I heard my name being bandied about. Not sure I can help you here. Discussions of religious ideas are always going to be precarious. The stumbling block for most Adventists in expressing their own ideas is the very strong omnipresence of the SOP. Even if they don't quote directly, their minds have been infused with EGW comments over the years.

To abide by Tom's one important rule, we can say things like, "I believe based on my Biblical studies that -________" or we can paraphrase important ideas/statements/quotes by simply putting them into our own words.

The antediluvian period has always been a fascination to me. When I asked Dr. Lawrence Geraty, a world renowned Adventist Biblical archeologist whether there was any archeological evidence that was clearly antediluvian in nature, his response was a simple "No."

I think the question should be asked if the Bible should be used for more than a moral code for living but rather as a scientific text? As for language, the very etymology of our word "babble" probably comes from "Babel" - a confusion of words. As for giants, I defer to anthropologists.

Alex