The bones of the Nephilim

Genesis 6:4 'There were giants in the Earth in those days...'

To those who know me, even a little, it must be surprising to hear me quote scripture.

Well, I had the whole book drummed into me from an early age. So forcefully that I ended up rejecting its teachings. Now I doubt everything, believe nothing.

That's an ideal mindset for a scientist. It's a pity there are so few who adopt it.

Nevertheless, I remember, and I will not hesitate to use whatever information I have at my disposal. That, after all, is what information is for.

So, why quote this one? Because of the neanderthals.

Science tells us that there was once a race of humans, or human-like creatures, called neanderthals. Bigger than us, stronger, potentially able to beat us in a fight although that sort of information cannot be gleaned accurately from a few bones. Besides, they died out, we didn't.

What can be gleaned accurately from these bones is that the neanderthals were not our ancestors. We are not related to them. They are not the 'missing link'. It's still missing.

So who were they? Does any religious text mention them? They did, after all, coexist with early humans.

The King James bible refers to 'giants' in the quote above. The Revised Standard Version refers to 'nephilim'. They are considered to be fallen angels, or the half-human product of those fallen who mated with human women. Although, having met a few, I find it hard to believe any woman would willingly go with any of them.

So, were neanderthals and nephilim one and the same? Does the biblical text refer to a race memory, perhaps, of these larger, stronger 'giants' of men who were not genetically human at all? Science can't prove they aren't, I'll bet, although I'm sure science is willing to try. Or at least deny, which is unscientific behaviour at its worst.

Science goes to extraordinary lengths to discredit religion. I, for one, would find it intensely amusing to hear that the neanderthal specimens in our haughty museums were in fact the bones of the nephilim, and that some scribe, thousands of years ago, recorded their existence.

By the way, they crop up again in Numbers 13:33, so they survived the Flood. A Devil's Ark, perhaps?