Deacon Nikolai wrote:They were giants, not men of a different color. This is where we get Goliath, one of the kin of giants from the fallen angels and women. Totally different creatures.
They were hybrids, the result of interracial marriage, that's my point. Nobody knows what skin color they were - as if skin color is the only thing that defines race. Skin color itself is an rather insignificant aspect of race.
My feeling is that if skin color was important than it would have ben mentioned. These were angels and human. Different creatures, while no matter our color we are all homo sapiens. According to science there are only 3 true 'races' and all other comonly considered 'races' are just mixtures of the three.
Deacon Nikolai wrote:My feeling is that if skin color was important than it would have ben mentioned. These were angels and human. Different creatures, while no matter our color we are all homo sapiens.
So far in my readings, Orthodox writers don't have very much to say about this particular part of Genesis. One writer whose name I unfortunately can't recall, remarked something to the effect that the episode could have various meanings and that the Church has no defined teaching on it.
According to science there are only 3 true 'races' and all other comonly considered 'races' are just mixtures of the three.
I've heard five - Causcasian, Asian, Australoid, Negroid, and Pacific Islanders. Some break it down even more or assign different names to the racial groups. Maybe with the advancements on DNA testing this will be conclusively determined, but in any case, race is not just a matter of skin tone.
I'm convinced that God intentionally created the various races and if they had no purpose in His plan for mankind, He would have made everybody the same and we wouldn't even be dealing with this issue.
For what its worth, although exceptions and a few debatible instances can be cited, such as Ruth the Moabitess, the general tone of the OT is generally negative on inter-racial/inter-ethnic marriages. Today, of course, the Church disapproves of interreligious marriages regardless of race, but in the OT I can point to at least one instance where ethnicity took precendence over relgion.
As you will recall, Rachel was a pagan, but taking her as a wife was preferable to Jacob marrying into the Canaanites, since although a pagan, Rachel was an Israelite by race. And apparently she remained a pagan even after becoming Jacob's wife, since the Bible describes how she took her father's idols when she and Jacob left to return to Jacob's homeland.
George wrote:Dear in Christ Brendan,
Pacific Islanders are Asian (if you want to use generic terms for race). Their forebears were the aboriginals of Taiwan. Australian aboriginies are also genetically considered Asian - by outside appearances you might not think so, but genetically they are.
George
I'm not an physical anthropologist, so my personal opinion has little credibility. IOW, your disagreement is not with me. I was merely telling you how some anthropology books I've read categorize the various races. If you have another system or accept someone else's classifications, that's up to you.
Deacon Nikolai wrote:Of course in the OT the Israelites were the chosen 'race', but when Christ came he came for all and there were no longer Greek nor Jew but Christian. So if 'race; mattered before, in the New Covenant it ceased to it appears.
The various races existed in OT times and still do. How can we just assume that race is suddely meaningless in every way? Of course, we know the races are equal before God, but race still exists as a reality in this world, so race may still have a role in the plan. After all, as we know from Revelations, the "nations" will still exist at the end of time. Words meaning nations, tribes, and races are sometimes used interchangebly in the Scriptures. So it seems Revelations is telling us that the races will still exist in the end times? Personally, I'm not ready to rule that possibility out.