Nephilim

[IrishTiger]

Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Who do you think the "sons of God" were? Why is this situation mentioned right before God declares the people of earth wicked enough to totally destroy?

[The Top Crusader]

Who do you think the "sons of God" were? Why is this situation mentioned right before God declares the people of earth wicked enough to totally destroy?

Fallen Angels.

Because earth's population had to be wiped out was because it was full of super-powered weird half angel/half human things.

At least it gave us lots of cool Greek/Roman/Norse mythology.

[Whitty Whit]

Who do you think the "sons of God" were? Why is this situation mentioned right before God declares the people of earth wicked enough to totally destroy?

Fallen Angels.

Because earth's population had to be wiped out was because it was full of super-powered weird half angel/half human things.

At least it gave us lots of cool Greek/Roman/Norse mythology.

[The Top Crusader]

I literally believe that, yes.

[The Mysterious]

So there are two ideas, angels or Sons of Adam. This is a puzzling topic for me.

[The Top Crusader]

A popular criticism of the Old Testament (and thus Christianity in general) is the many mass genocides that God called for... He did it himself with the flood, but often told his people to do it. It puts it into perspective a little if you accept the assumption that they were half human/half angel/demon hybrids that simply couldn't be left alive. David wiped out a number of giants (Goliath gets all the attention, but he had an entire family of giants back home mentioned later). When Moses and the Israelites were traveling in the wilderness, they ended up battling giants with six fingers on each hand (not just one hand like the guy in Princess Bride). Genesis 6 has the most detailed account of such things, but it is limited. The book of Jude discusses it as well with some minor specifics. Beyond that the Bible isn't overly clear beyond "Oh yeah... and giants were there." (oh, and the reason the Israelites didn't take Jericho sooner was because the men there made them look like GRASS HOPPERS.)

That is all we get directly from scripture, but if you look at other ancient text, it's a common theme. The Book of Enoch goes into some detail. A lot of the famous Greek/Norse/Roman mythological figures were brought about by a human mother and "god" father. Hercules, Thor, etc. So there could easily be more to those stories than simply myth.