Jan 9 2023
Episode 8- A Primer on Giants, Genesis 6 and Why This Even Matters
In this episode, our guest Doug Van Dorn provides a primer, explaining what the Nephilim are, how they fit into the Genesis 6 narrative, and why this topic is important for Christians to understand. He also discusses how the Nephilim may have impacted the world today and why Christians need to be aware of their existence. He also mentions that thinking about fantasy can help us better understand the history of the topic, which has been clouded by church history. The conversation discusses the importance of stories, and how they can change people's lives in ways that straight up theology cannot. The point is made that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is one big story, and that God wants us to learn from and use stories. The hosts and guest discuss how the Bible can be interpreted to support the idea of a divine council, and how this can help to get men involved in spirituality and church. Dr. Heiser introduced the idea to Doug, who then did his own research and found an article on the subject. The article blew him away and he realized that he had actually read about the divine council before but it had never hit his consciousness. Discussion continues with the idea that humans were given dominion over the Earth by God, while the angels were given dominion over the heavenly realms. The conversation then goes on to discuss the idea that the temptation for Eve was not to become the Creator, but to have the ability to know good and evil, which is something she already had. In the Garden of Eden, humans and heavenly beings were able to interact with each other freely. However, after the Fall, humans were banned from the mountain where the heavenly beings resided. The Fall created a rift between humans and the heavenly beings, who were jealous of humans. In the Bible, there are many stories of meetings between God and humans. The conversation covers the topic of man's attempts to reach God, starting with Cain and Abel. It is mentioned that Abraham was likely a moon god worshipper in the city of Ur, but God chose him anyway and to make a name for Himself. The conversation then moves to Acts chapter two, which is considered the reversal of Babel. In this chapter, many people are gathered together and hearing different languages, the preaching in their own tongues. This is the reversal of Babel, where they're all together, and so they're all speaking one language, and so God separates them into many languages. https://www.douglasvandorn.com/ https://www.rbcnc.com/ https://unrefinedpodcast.com/membership Timestamps0:00:03Doug Van Dorn on the Unseen Realm of Genesis 60:02:25The Importance of Imagination in Christian Thought0:04:08The Importance of Storytelling in Christianity0:07:52The Divine Council in the Bible0:10:01The Unseen Realm: Dr. Michael Heiser0:11:41The Nephilim: A Biblical Theology of Giants0:13:29The Sethite View: A Biblical Perspective on the End Times0:15:16The Nephilim: A Biblical Mystery0:16:53The History of the Nephilim0:20:59The History of the Sethite View of Genesis 60:23:55The Book of First Enoch and the Two Powers in Heaven0:27:08The History of the Supernatural View of Genesis 60:29:06The Bible and the Nephilim0:30:49The Flood and the Tower of Babel0:33:45The Significance of the Medical Symbol with Two Serpents0:35:30The Nephilim: A Biblical Perspective0:38:37The Flood: A Local or Universal Event?0:40:21The Bible and the Nephilim: 0:42:08The Nephilim: A Biblical Explanation0:46:24 Angels given Dominion over the Heavenly Realms0:47:06The Temptation of Eve: Dominion Over Good and Evil0:47:35The Divine Council and the Garden of Eden0:48:11The Divine Council in the Bible0:56:10The Reversal of Babel0:58:05The Power of the Bible0:59:08The Power of Story: How Our Story Can Change the Way We Think About the World0:59:19Three passages on How the Giants interact with Christ1:00:18Deuteronomy 32:7-8 and Dr. Michael Heiser’s paper1:03:10The Tower of Babel and the Inheritance of the Nations1:07:08The Messianic Prophecies of Psalm Two 1:08:12The Divine Council in the Bible1:09:16The Divine Council and the Giants1:11:40The Eschatology of the Nephilim/Giants1:14:08The Bible and the Nephilim1:16:07The Battle for Allegiance: The New Testament Approach to Spiritual Warfare1:16:19The Battle Against Evil Spirits1:21:48What the Nephilim Mean to Us Today1:23:00The Power of the Gospel to Dispel Darkness1:25:31The Importance of Masculinity in the Church