Beyond Believing to Knowing God Is With You

The Untold Truth Of Fallen Angels

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Commencement, a fleck of a disclaimer: Religion is as complicated as the people who follow it. Taking on even a small section of theology is a massive undertaking, and honestly, it's but a mess of different versions of all kinds of stories and beliefs. Then that existence said, permit's talk near some of the bad boys of several religions: fallen angels.

Anybody knows what angels are — wings, halos, all kinds of vivid light and grace. Fallen angels started out non-so-different at all, and at that place's a lesson to exist learned there. The first — and often, the simply — fallen angel most people think of is the Christian version of Lucifer, who took on God, barbarous from heaven, and went on to run a nightclub and consult with the LAPD.

But he's definitely non the only ane, and dissimilar religious traditions even have their own and very dissimilar pantheons of fallen angels. They're a fascinating glimpse into what mere mortals fearfulness most, and looking at just who fallen angels are and what they practise tells just u.s.a. just equally much about ourselves as it does nearly them.

What makes a fallen angel, well, fallen?

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So here's where things get complicated. Fallen angels are basically angels that take given up on the good and righteous path and turned to evil, anybody knows that, correct? Simply in some religions, there'southward more than to the story. Co-ordinate to Whitney Hopler of George Stonemason University's Eye for the Advocacy of Well-Being, the Jewish and Christian traditions believe that fallen angels were originally simply every bit holy as whatever of the other angels, only cruel when the near beautiful of them all — Friction match — decided to rebel and enticed others to go with him. The rebellion and their loss to Michael and his angelic regular army turned them evil, and a lot of them — about a third of all angels — barbarous with Lucifer.

In Hindu traditions, information technology's a lilliputian different. They believe that the creator god, Brahma, really made some celestial beings good and some evil from the very offset. Why? Considering information technology's meant to illustrate the natural society of things, and balance in the universe.

And fallen angels don't exist in Islam, where traditions say that all angels are practiced — including the ones tasked with overseeing those whose evil souls who have landed them in hell. They're lording over hell, yes, just they're notwithstanding doing divine work. In that location'southward another explanation for Satan there, too, and it basically says he's not an angel, he's a jinn: a animal fabricated from fire and free will.

Where most of our knowledge of fallen angels comes from

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Whitney Hopler of George Bricklayer University'due south Center for the Advancement of Well-Being says those who believe in fallen angels typically believe them to exist responsible for things like tempting mortals into sin. And they're catchy nigh it, too, sometimes masquerading as good angels as they torment and tempt.

How do we know all this? A lot of our cognition of fallen angels comes from the non-canonical Book of Enoch, which was written about 350 B.C. and was establish with the Expressionless Sea Scrolls. It's pretty heavy stuff, as well, co-ordinate to the Biblical Archaeology Society Library. The texts merits to be the revelations of Enoch, who was taken up to heaven and told the universe'southward deepest secrets, and then shown merely what would happen during mankind's ultimate judgment.

Enoch shows up in other texts, and according to the Gnostic Society Library, there are a ton of stories about him. He lived to be 365 years old, eventually telling his tales to his son, Methuselah, who achieved an impressive 969 years on Earth. Strangely, even though the stories of Enoch were influenced by the mythology of places like Babylon and, in turn, influenced Judaism and Christianity, the only place that all 100 chapters of the volume survived was Federal democratic republic of ethiopia. Amongst those chapters was a fascinating caption of fallen angels.

Animalism destroyed the angels of the Book of Enoch

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One of the most widely told tales of fallen angels says it was Lucifer who rebelled confronting God and brought a bunch of angels downwards with him, only the story told in the Book of Enoch is very, very different.

According to the Gnostic Society Library, the Book of Enoch tells the tale of angels who are destroyed past animalism. (The story also shows up in Genesis, but in less detail.) Earlier the Great Flood, angels and humans met and mingled pretty commonly, and the inevitable happened: children. Those children were the sons and daughters of 200 angels, and they were a race of 450-human foot-tall giants. The angels started teaching their giant offspring evil ways, and God non but imprisoned them, but subjected them to judgment and sent the inundation to hit the reset button on his creations. (It's also worth noting that Les Enluminures says Noah is the great-grandson of Enoch.)

Enoch, the story says, tried to speak on behalf of the angels and their giant children — simply sadly, a lot of the texts are missing. We exercise know that Enoch was the one God selected to deed as an intermediary to the fallen angels, instructing him to tell them what their penalization would exist for their transgressions. They were to be condemned to the ends of the globe, and penalty was definitely going to exist a large part of their version of eternity.

Fallen angels were disobedient to God in other traditions

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According to Les Enluminures, Enoch was considered a prophet to early Jewish writers. When Christianity started to adopt his teachings, he largely roughshod out of favor with Judaism. Christian writers took the Book of Enoch with them when they converted the rather isolated areas of Federal democratic republic of ethiopia in the fourth and 5th centuries, preserving the text in that location, where it stayed before existence brought to Europe in 1773. Meanwhile, Christian scholars and writers were doing some serious interpreting of the version of the Bible canonical by the church, and the thing is, it'due south never said that Satan is a fallen angel.

How he became one is a bit of tricky logic, says Live Science. The reasoning went like this: God created everything in the universe, and therefore, God created Satan. But the only things God creates are good things, so therefore, Satan must have been practiced at i point. He needed to take the free volition to turn bad, so he became a fallen angel.

To get technical about it, the outset Biblical character given the moniker "friction match" wasn't a fallen angel at all — information technology was Jesus. He was called "Lucifer" in an old translation of the Bible, and the name was only subsequently applied to the world'south least favorite fallen angel when, in Luke 10:18, Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky" (via Franciscan Media).

The kickoff of the fallen angels

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Co-ordinate to the Book of Enoch, each one of the commencement of the fallen angels was responsible for instruction mankind something that led them to sin. Take Asbeel. He'south the one who gave the evilest of counsel to the "holy sons of God," and introduced them to the wonders — and basest evils — that came with hooking up with women. Kasdeja was the one who brought mankind knowledge about spirits and demons, and who showed them "the smitings of the embryo in the womb" and "the smitings which befall through the noontide rut."

The creation of a race of giants (half-angels, half-human) was said to have been the work of ane angel in particular: the leader of the fallen, Shernihaza (via the Gnostic Guild Library). Other sources cite variations of the name, like Samjaza, but he was the one that led to the ultimate imprisonment of the fallen and the finish of the world with the Flood. The Volume of Giants tells the story of some of his children — like Ohya and Hahya — merely sadly, much of the manuscript has been lost.

Peradventure the strangest of all was Penemue, the fallen angel credited with giving mankind something that led to all kinds of evil: the written linguistic communication. With writing came the knowledge of devastation, and writing was supposedly responsible for widespread death and descent into darkness.

The 1 yous know? That's Gadreel

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There'south one fallen affections in detail that warrants talking near on his own, and that's Gadreel. According to the Book of Enoch, Gadreel was responsible for a lot of problem on his own and even though near might non recognize his name, they're familiar with his work. He's the one who's credited with enticing Eve with the forbidden fruit and leading otherwise unsuspecting, holy humans down the path of sin in the first identify. He'southward likewise the i who gave mankind "all the weapons of death," along with shields and armor, and he beginning showed people how to kill each other.

That's completely different than the pic many have about but what went down in the Garden of Eden, an human action of temptation that'south commonly credited to Satan in the guise of a snake. But co-ordinate to the Biblical Archaeology Society, that absolutely wasn't on anyone'southward mind when information technology was first written, by and large because at the time in that location was no concept of the devil every bit we think of him today. Personification of the snake started with Enoch and Gadreel, but it took a few centuries before the fallen angel morphed into i much more well-known.

Fallen angels originally looked quite different

Quick, describe a fallen angel. At that place are probably some scowly faces, bat-like wings, perchance even some horns or cloven hooves. But National Geographic says it wasn't e'er like that. In early Christian art, fallen angels looked pretty much the same as their holier counterparts. One of the earliest representations of the idea that there were angels and fallen angels opposing each other in an otherworldly battle is featured in a mosaic (above) in the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy. Jesus is in the middle, and on one side are an angel in ruddy with some sheep. The sheep are the faithful, and red was originally used to depict the holy kingdom. (It didn't become associated with brimstone and hellfire until later.)

On the other side is a figure idea to be Lucifer or Satan, just he doesn't look very Satanic. He stands side by side to goats instead of sheep, and he'southward wearing blue, which was the color of the damned. The mosaic also suggests fallen angels kept their iconic halos, which were a symbol of power, non holiness.

Co-ordinate to the British Library, this epitome of fallen angels started to morph into something much more grotesque in the Middle Ages, and they were designed to be an evil interpretation of a traditionally angelic form. Still, fallen angels retained the ability to disguise their truthful course, and that's extremely creepy.

Our ideas most fallen angels were largely created by fiction writers

If fallen angels started out looking like, well, angels, why exercise we think of them every bit horrible, twisted, demonic creatures? The answer, says National Geographic, involved John Milton'southward Paradise Lost and his depiction of Lucifer. But it's more than complicated than that. Milton — who was writing in the 17th century — tapped into what was substantially a pop culture delineation of a fallen angel who wasn't described in the Bible at all.

Throughout the Middle Ages, a foreign matter started to happen. Creatures from aboriginal Babylonian texts — chosen Lilitu — started to take on a new life as these winged seductresses became associated with Adam's get-go married woman, Lilith. At the same time, parallels were drawn between Satan and the ancient Canaanite deity Beelzebub, and the ancient Roman half-caprine animal, half-man god of nature, Pan.

Then, in the 14th century, Dante described Satan every bit lording over the deepest depths of hell, and gave him his bat wings. Milton hopped on board a chip later on — when Satan had been transformed from a passive antagonist into an agile evil — and wrote the descriptions of the fallen angels that we now think of today, existing in "Adamantine Chains and penal Fire." (Above, Milton's fallen angels are illustrated getting totally wrecked in battle.)

Fallen angels were a huge trouble for theologists

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The existence of fallen angels has presented theologians with some serious problems; namely, how could they even exist? Since God created everything, that likewise meant God had created something evil or with the capacity to exist evil, and that but wasn't going to fly with about Christian scholars. The implications of that were terrifying, so at that place had to exist some other caption.

Until the 12th century, "pride" was the typical respond as to why fallen angels fell. But that meant God would accept had to create something with a crippling, all-powerful amount of pride, and that didn't wing. So scholars came up with the thought that angels had been created with a natural love that allowed them to beloved God, themselves, and each other. Part of that dear was involuntary, and some other part was voluntary. That voluntary love was further divided into the idea of friendship and the idea that some dearest exists considering information technology makes someone happy.

It was further argued that angels' dearest of God was the involuntary kind, and all was fine. Until, that is, 1 affections realized that he loved God because God made him powerful, and that made information technology voluntary. Once that angel — Lucifer — realized how nice it was to love and be loved for selfish pleasure instead of simply for dear's sake, well, that's when all the problems started.

Subsequently Friction match, the other angels brutal because they were alone

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The idea that Lucifer kicked off the fall of the angels because he started experiencing love for a selfish reason is all well and expert, and information technology kind of makes sense. It's some other side to the pride coin, but a twisted, dark, selfish honey ... that'due south something most people can understand. That may accept made information technology possible for that Friction match to autumn, but what about the other angels that went with him?

That presented another theological problem because other angels merely weren't on the same level as Lucifer, God's almost cute cosmos. Scholars thought information technology was a petty unbelievable that lesser angels could possibly dearest in the aforementioned way, and so what'due south up with that? The explanation is actually pretty heartbreaking.

The theory developed by thinkers of the Eye Ages says those angels fell not considering they hated God but because they loved Lucifer. God was largely an absent-minded, distant figure, after all, and Lucifer was their friend. Rather than condemning themselves to struggle for the credence of an unreachable male parent, perhaps they followed their blood brother into exile.

Fallen angels' lack of lust for men was used to condemn anyone who was gay

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Religion impacts the cloth, man world in strange ways, and one of those ways, says scholars from the Mirabilia Journal, is that the idea of fallen angels impacted just how homophobic the world was for a long time. Scholars take long debated about whether fallen angels and demons are capable of love, and some described it non as a love like most know it, but as a desire for other creatures equally a sort of stepping stone in the creation of their own evil ends.

Since Christian writers every bit far dorsum every bit Paul warn women of attracting the lusty gazes of fallen angels, it's safe to say they believed at that place was something going on in that location. Only information technology'southward not and so much beloved as it is lust, and the male demons and fallen angels seem to simply have these angel for women. Early scholars declared that since non even fallen angels would lust after their own sexual practice, at that place was something very fundamentally wrong with humans who did that. The part of fallen angels is to tempt in the most horrible and basest of ways, and even they wouldn't tempt other men. Cue centuries of persecution.

Other angels are tasked specifically with punishing fallen angels

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If you think most it — really, really think nearly information technology — there's goose egg in our gimmicky version of things that suggests at that place's really any kind of punishment for the fallen angels that joined Lucifer from his descent from the heavens. Certain, at that place's a hell, only they're not exactly at the mercy of all the demons there ... they are the demons. Correct?

Not quite. Co-ordinate to the Jewish Virtual Library, the 7 archangels counted the punishing of the fallen angels among their heavenly duties. Each ane of the archangels was in charge of item facets of the otherworldly life: Jeremiel, for case, keeps picket over the souls in the underworld, while Michael protects Israel, Gabriel is the overseer of Paradise, and Uriel leads the host. They're the ones with direct access to God, and they're also in charge of punishing the fallen.

Punish how? Take Azazel, who was the one who taught mankind how to make weapons. According to the Watkins Dictionary of Angels, he was punished by Raphael, who put him in bondage, threw him in a pit total of sharp rocks in the centre of the desert, and brought the darkness down on him while he waited for his condemnation after the final judgment. Sounds like a 1000 ol' time.

Birds of paradise were one time idea to be fallen angels

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Birds of paradise are a species from New Republic of guinea and the nearby islands, and they're and then breathtakingly beautiful, they don't look real. Merely beauty in the animal world comes with a devastating cost — National Geographic says their feathers were and so prized that hunters nearly drove them to extinction. When those birds were starting time seen past European eyes, they were already dead and dried, with legs and wings removed. The Public Domain Review says it wasn't until the 16th and 17th centuries that explorers and traders brought the birds to Europe, so unsurprisingly, people had a tough fourth dimension trying to make up one's mind just what these lifeless things were.

They had no doubts that they were something special: the earliest arrived in 1522, and were said to have come from a "terrestrial Paradise" and, in spite of the feathers, they supposedly never flew. It's no wonder that it didn't have long before the birds were described as angels — fallen angels that had lost their power to fly, and instead lived in the magical, mystical earth that was the Far East. They became mythologized in religious texts, works of fine art, and allegories as cute, ethereal beings who had conspicuously done something terrible to lose their wings.

In the early on 17th century, naturalists got a agree of other birds, ones with their wings and legs intact. The fallen angel mythology faded a bit, merely they've long remained a symbol of the flightless fallen.

The fairies of Irish mythology were actually fallen angels

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Few modern-solar day cultures are every bit closely tied to their ancient traditions as Republic of ireland, and consequently, everyone's familiar with the idea of the fairies and the fae folk that have inhabited the Emerald Isle since time began. Merely Irish gaelic fairies aren't of the typical flowers-and-glitter sort — and one of the theories as to where they came from is that they were originally fallen angels. W.B. Yeats cataloged old Irish gaelic beliefs in Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, and he wrote of the fairies: "Who are they? 'Fallen angels who were not skillful plenty to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost,' say the peasantry."

Legends say that these detail fallen angels were less guilty than the ones that actively opposed God, and were sentenced to an eternity in the nigh remote places on world: some were cast into the ocean and became merfolk, some went underground to become goblins and trolls, while others were sent to the harshest areas of the countryside, and became leprechauns (via Texas State University).

The other theory of fairy origin is that they were once ancient heroes and deities who ceased to be worshiped and began to fade into creatures of lesser power, only Yeats says there'southward a lot of support for the thought that fairies could trace their lineage back to fallen angels. Nearly telling of all was their behavior: they were always said to exist proficient and kind to those who were good to them, but would unleash hell on earth to those who were evil or disrespectful.

Why have they always been and so of import?

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Fallen angels are something of a consequent, running theme throughout numerous religions, which brings up a question: why accept nosotros and so regularly told stories of them, and why accept nosotros been so fascinated with them? Dr. Miryam Make of the WF Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem attempted to answer that question (via The Torah), and says there's a few things at work. First, they requite us an reply to why we sin, and why human evil exists. It'due south not our error, not entirely, at least, but information technology's the fault of the fallen angels we were corrupted by. And it's overnice to have a scapegoat.

They too explained why mankind continues to sin — because we're withal being tempted by them — and at the aforementioned time, they present usa with something surprising: promise. If sin and evil is the cause of the fallen angels, when the ultimate battle betwixt expert and evil comes, there's going to be a redemption. Anybody loves a good redemption story.

And, there's just one more thing. The presence of these angels gives God an out because now, He'southward not the one that's behind sin and temptation, disease, hate, or any of the other approximately one one thousand thousand evils present in the world. It's those pesky fallen angels, and having them take a prominent place in religious beliefs ways people have someone as well God to blame for all that's bad.

How fallen angels condemned mankind by showing them their beauty

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Ever kickoff to think that it'due south mankind's vanity and sense of cocky-importance that'south going to be the stop of us? That's not a new thought and in fact, one of the first things fallen angels taught the states to kick-start our own fall from grace was vanity.

Originally, New Dawn Magazine notes, information technology was said that there were 200 fallen angels that headed to earth to cause some serious havoc. At their caput was an angel called Match, Azazel, or Lumiel, and he's the 1 that taught men how to make armor so that, y'all know, information technology took a little more than effort to kill each other. But he taught the women something as well: how to utilize cosmetics and specifically kohl, a black heart production popular since ancient times. He also introduced them to the idea of jewelry like bracelets and rings, and how to use their finery and their feminine wiles to seduce men.

And this, says Dr. Miryam Make of the WF Albright Found of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (via The Torah), was considered forbidden knowledge that started flesh on the road to corruption. Information technology'due south as well the reason for an age-old practise in numerous religions: the tradition that women needed to cover themselves, lest they tempt the men effectually them. Even St. Paul was a huge supporter of the idea that women needed to cover their hair, and we can all give thanks fallen angels for that one, too.

The eternal punishment of 1 fallen angel

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Surely, fallen angels will have to pay for all this trouble they've caused mankind... correct? There's one fascinating tale that says at least one already has — and we see him all the fourth dimension.

Shemyaza is another name given to the leader of the fallen angels, although researcher Andrew Collins notes that at some point before the Volume of Enoch, Shemyaza and Azazel (or Lucifer) became 2 unlike angels. At any rate, information technology was Shemyaza who taught men the fine art of magic, and along the manner, he also meets a mortal woman named Ishtar. The story varies in the telling — sometimes, it's said Ishtar was already a Babylonian deity when he cruel in love with her (via New Dawn Magazine) — but either way, she promised him a little bedroom action if he would simply let her in on one little hush-hush: God's true and hidden name. (Other versions, according to The Manitoban, say that she pestered him until he allow her attempt on his wings.) He, of course, caves to her demands and she uses her newfound noesis — sometimes she uses information technology to ascend into the heavens, sometimes she uses it to plough from a mortal woman into a deity.

Whatever the details are, Shemyaza pays the same price: he's sentenced to hang for an eternity, upside-down, amid the stars. He's nonetheless there, as a constellation in the nighttime heaven, although we more commonly telephone call him Orion.

The fallen angels that sort of accidentally fell

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Take a deep swoop into the various religions of the earth, and you'll find they have a lot in common — and every bit Harvard notes, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts all characteristic the story of twin angels who fell and were punished for eternity.

Take Harut and Marut, fallen angels Britannica describes as "unwittingly" becoming evil. Their story is a little different than that of, say, Lucifer, as they didn't consciously make up one's mind, "Hey, the heck with Heaven, this evil stuff seems pretty fun." Instead, they were part of a group of angels who laughed at mankind for their apparent inability to resist sin and temptation. God overheard it and, declaring that angels would fare no amend in the face of the same temptation, selected Harut and Marut to go to World and attempt to resist. They absolutely couldn't: They were immediately seduced by a homo woman and then killed the man who'd seen them with her. Harut and Marut were forced to admit that they'd been wrong, and they were immune to choose their penalisation.

The story says that they're trapped on Earth until Sentence Day — in Jewish sources, they're confined to the Mountains of Darkness (along with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and Gog and Magog), trapped behind a barrier put up by Alexander the Cracking. Still, humans occasionally visit them in search of knowledge: It's said they gave Genun the Canaanite musical instruments, beer, and iron weapons, although near of the people who go to see them are looking to acquire magic.

The belief that God and fallen angels are working together

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Fallen angels are unremarkably rebelling against God, right? But here'southward the weird thing — according to Founding Gods, Inventing Nations, that's not always the case: Sometimes, they vicious with God's permission.

Qur'anic texts propose that God and the fallen angels are essentially in cahoots, working to show which humans are proficient and which are evil. And it started way dorsum with Iblis: When God casts him down, he asks for permission to lure humans away with the promises of evil and sin. God 100-percentage gives it — Iblis is the i that's ultimately also known as Satan, and in spite of the fact that Iblis is total of constant mockery and backtalk, he's simply allowed to practise what he does because God says it'due south okay.

And he does a lot — even convincing flesh that the worship of idols is a proficient idea is all his doing ... nonetheless with God's permission. Other fallen angels — like Harut and Marut — pass on knowledge of magic and gifts that promote sinful beliefs to flesh, but they, too, are doing so with God's go out. What's in it for God? It'south a handy manner to separate the true believers and the faithful from the wicked and sinful.

The fallen angels ... according to Dante

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Dante's view of the world we're all destined for is nix curt of terrifying ... if you're a sinner, at least.

Every bit Dante is escorted deeper and deeper into the circles of Hell by his guide, Virgil, he sees the punishments that await sinners of all kinds. And the fallen angels are there, too — they're guarding the walls of the Urban center of Dis. They slam the gates shut on Dante and his guide, and that'southward nearly the time that the Furies and Medusa show up to crusade some more chaos. Virgil assures Dante that an affections — a real, heavenly sort of angel — is going to come and open the way for them, and one does. Clearly, he'south the i in charge here: He opens the gate and reproaches the fallen, reminding them what happens when someone steps out of line.

Dante and Virgil pass and go to see what the angels were guarding. The city beyond is the sixth circle, and immediately across the gates guarded by the fallen angels are the heretics. They're the leaders of cults and their followers, and their punishment is an eternity confined to tombs engulfed in flames, heated blood-red-hot. Further on are other groups of sinners, including the violent and fraudsters (flatterers, false prophets, alchemists, and the like).

One of the about famous descendants of the fallen angels: Goliath

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When it comes to Bible stories, the tale of David and Goliath is i of the nearly famous, the story of an underdog coming out on acme in spite of facing insurmountable odds. Those odds get fifty-fifty steeper if you subscribe to the theory that Goliath is a giant because he's descended from the fallen angels.

It's compelling stuff, and it starts with the Nephilim. According to Answers in Genesis, when angels fell, they hooked up with mortal women, who gave birth to a race of giants chosen the Nephilim. (As a side notation, it's worth mentioning that this is but 1 theory best-selling as having Biblical back up — when it comes to Biblical tales, at that place's e'er more one version.)

The Nephilim then, in plow, bred as well and split into different lines. One of those lines was the Anakim, a group of giants living in Canaan during the Exodus. Concur that thought, and let's jump over to Goliath. Goliath, Joshua tells us, was from a identify chosen Gath, and Gath was one of three places where the Anakim lived. Given his stature and his hometown, scholars say it's entirely possible that he could trace his lineage back to the fallen angels. Mentions of other giants in the Bible tin can also be interpreted every bit supporting the idea that they were built-in of the Anakim, who were, in turn, function of the Nephilim.

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Source: https://www.grunge.com/159512/the-untold-truth-of-fallen-angels/

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