So, I'm subscribed to a YouTuber named "Pixels and Papyrus," he's a student of Hebrew who does pretty excellent videos - from a scholarly analysis - of trying to analyze and explain some of the weird, seemingly mythological elements of the Old Testament, and his latest video is on the "Nephilim."
The Bible verse in reference is Genesis 6:4.
"In those days were the giants on the earth, and also afterwards, when the sons of God had come in to the daughters of men, and they had borne [children] to them; these were the heroes, who of old were men of renown."
And the question is: "What does 'giants' and 'sons of God' refer to?" Is this referring to a race of giants which were genetically formed from human beings? Or is this actually a reference to the "offspring" produced from "angelic beings" and "women"?
And while we might have an immediate intuition that it's the former, this video argues - pretty convincingly might I add (considering I'm not in stream with scholarly debate) that it's the latter.
So, after seeing this video, multiple questions enter into my mind:
1. Does the Orthodox Church have an official position on this matter?
2. If the "angelic beings" view is the more legitimate view, what do we make of the idea of the War in Heaven before all creation, and the nature of demons - Have demons always been immaterial? Can demons have intercourse and produce offspring with humans? And what do we make of Hell / Hades? Are there some demons in Hades right now, with some roaming the Earth?
3. If the "human beings" view is correct, how do you the argue against the evidence contradicting this view, especially with the fact that the Book of 2 Peter or the Book of Jude seem to quote almost verbatim the Book of Enoch, the Book which seems to accept the "angelic beings" view and is canonical within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church?
4. In light of the Syncretism with Babylonian religion, what does this say about how we ought to view the Book of Genesis in it's literalness?
Thanks.