The God Principle: Author's thoughts

Noah:

Who was he and did he look anything like Russell Crow?

All contents copyright © 2014 by M.L. Wilson. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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We are in a season of Biblically themed films. Both a repackaging of the TV mini-series, Son of God and Noah are hitting the big screen this year. Obviously there is much which can be mined for a good tale in both of these characters, but there is also much lore surrounding both men and their times. Numerous books have been written about Christ and no doubt more will be written in the years to come. Less has been written about Noah and the world he grew up in, however. His world before the flood is a strange one and not much is widely known. This commentary is about the Darren Aronofsky movie, Noah and my thoughts.

Readers of my books or my blog are already well aware that my book series, The GOD Principle is peripherally about the story of Noah and the Ark. There is much more to the tale, of course, but it winds up predictably for anyone vaguely familiar with the Biblical story. The orthodox explanation goes: Because of man’s evil, God decides to destroy the earth with water. Noah is commanded to build a large Ark, gather animals and his family and climb onboard to ride out the storm. It is upon this premise which writer/producer/director Darren Aronofsky created his epic, Noah.

I had no idea this movie was being considered when I began to write the outline for my series. I conceptualized my novel, The GOD Principle, back in the summer of 2004 after giving many years of thought to writing a book concerning my beliefs of the end times. At that point, I was wrestling with many conflicting doctrines and beliefs supported by orthodoxy.  I had come to some different conclusions and decided to write a story as to how I thought the “Great Deception” (Matthew 24:24, and the Book of Revelation) would be perpetrated. This became the framework which is The GOD Principle. As I began to do research for the book, the entire premise began to change. It did remain essentially a book on eschatology, but I realized I needed to paint a picture as to how I concluded the ending I visualized. This brought me back to a pivotal point in human history; it brought me back to an almost unknown piece of scripture found in Genesis 6:1- 4.

I was raised primarily as a Baptist and my understanding of God was primarily shaped by their theology. There are many paths I have chosen in my life as a result of their teachings which I have struggled with mightily since my teen years. I often wonder whether I would have been better off simply remaining immersed in my formative Baptist theology, or whether the struggles I have endured since leaving those teachings has been the better path. But you can’t unring a bell. What I have learned since beginning my journey over twenty years ago has led me to conclude that my Baptist brethren might be well meaning, but they are very wrong as to the identity of God Almighty. My commentaries illustrate the many differences in belief quite adequately, so I’ll not waste time going over them here.

As I began my research, I was brought back to this point in human history whereupon it appears a particular type or class of angel came down to earth in human form for a specific purpose. This purpose appears to be to create a race of beings who would regard these angels as god, rather than God Almighty. Of course you won’t expressly read this in Genesis, but when the Bible is taken as a whole, it is clear there was a creation which was far more powerful than a typical human being and that this creation subjugated humanity for a time. These were the creations which gave rise to the Grecian mythological creatures called Titans. The entire hierarchical structure of the heavenlies was mirrored in not only Greek mythology, but Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Norse, Chinese—even Native American histories contain this hybrid spiritual-human structure.

As part of my research, I read quite a bit on these mythological histories. I was struck by how easily much of it fit into the Biblical narrative once the orthodox bias was “washed away.” What bias in specific am I talking about? Well in Christian Orthodoxy, the incident outlined in Genesis 6:1 – 4 is dismissed as being misinterpreted. Instead of spiritual beings having come to earth to take human females as mates and have children with them, orthodoxy decided that a better story is that the “Sons of God” (Genesis 6:2) are actually those people who were born from the line of Seth. The “Daughters of Men” (genesis 6:2) are those who were born of the line of Cain.

A bit quick bit of Biblical history: Cain killed his brother Abel early on in the narrative and was banished to a far off land called Nod. Now interestingly enough, Nod was evidently already populated because Cain was concerned the people there would learn of his evil act and seek to kill him. (Genesis 4:15 – 16) God promises Cain that he will not come to harm and places an unknown mark upon him to ward off any malevolent attack. Cain goes to Nod, takes a wife (it is a presumption that Cain took one of his sisters to Nod with him; the Biblical account does not say that) and raises a family. Sometime after Cain and Abel’s birth, Adam and Eve also have a son they name Seth. The Biblical account seems to place this birth chronologically long after Cain’s expulsion, but it is difficult to tell. Since Seth remained “good” and Cain was already demonstratively “bad,” orthodoxy paints the Sethian line as that which is of God and the Cainian line as that which is of men.

I researched this theory to the best of my ability and found that it first gained widespread acceptance after Constantine the Great had usurped Christianity. For Constantine to succeed in his goal (reunification of the Roman Empire under his rule), a clear hierarchy had to be established. Thus any scriptures which gave the impression something else was going on in the spiritual realm were excised. One such book which I relied on heavily for my research was the Book of Enoch. This book discussed the situation which is only hinted at in Genesis 6:1 – 4 in great detail. It not only explicitly states the angels came down to earth, but it gives their names, their spiritual station (Watchers or Grigori) and outlines their reasoning. It also described a spiritual world which would have left Constantine struggling to marry his empire were he to have allowed knowledge of this book to become widespread and accepted. No Old Testament book outside of Isaiah describes Christ with such clarity as does the Book of Enoch. I could not dismiss this book simply because my Baptist brethren had deemed it “as a work of Satan.” It was clear few of them had even read Enoch much less studied it.

When I concluded the Line of Seth-Cain explanation was not only flawed, but simply not tenable when one looks at Peter’s and Paul’s writings. The Sethian line contained some of the most barbaric human specimens recorded in the Bible. How can such behavior by Seth’s offspring even remotely be considered Godly? Paul wrote much about Powers and Authorities in the heavenly realms. He seems clear on the fact that we are not dealing with just one malevolent spiritual entity, but rather several. In the book of 2^nd Peter and in Jude, these Powers and Authorities are referred to as Celestial beings. (2^nd Peter 2:10, Jude 8)

One by one I researched the origin of various bedrock beliefs held by orthodoxy and came away with the fact that a great deal of it was either poor understanding of the scriptures, or was simply made up. From a “Young Earth Creationist” model to the “Line of Seth,” I kept finding out that what I had been taught as immutable truth was wrong. Were the people who taught me these errors aware of what they were doing? Not all; most were merely teaching what they had been taught. None ever thought to question the source. It is difficult to look at the Bible and decide that in order to really understand it, the entire book needs to be held up to the most strident critical review. Those who have done so in the past have either been deemed heroes by Christian orthodoxy because they side on the side of orthodoxy, or regarded as degenerate heretics because they find fault with orthodoxy.

I found myself in a nether world when I did my research. I wasn’t coming up with the answers which either side had ever come up with. What I discovered seemed to be completely new, except I knew that it wasn’t. I was merely uncovering what had been hidden over for thousands of years. None of what I found out were mistranslations of scripture or made up theology; it is what I discovered.

In my series, I make it clear which I regard as truth and where I take literary license. My series was designed to make the reader aware that the story of Noah they had learned was only a small portion of the whole story and even at that was not the truth. By writing the story the way I did, I wanted to educate people as to the events I believe are closer to the actual truth of the situation. This has placed me at odds with not only my Christian brethren, but surprisingly with the Atheist community as well. Let me explain:

As I researched my book and found out that many of the “truths” I had learned were not actual truths, I also found out that many of the arguments which my atheist friends had embraced dissolved. When I removed these arguments from the equation, they suddenly found themselves without a foundational basis for NOT believing. Rather than please my atheist friends, it enraged them. Thus in their hatred of my conclusions, I managed to place the Fundamentalists Christians and the Atheists on one side of the aisle opposing me on the other. It may be irony at its finest, but was not my goal.

This refusal to explore theology outside of what was codified by the Ecumenical Councils, led Darren Aronofsky to consider none of what I discovered in the making of his film. He borrowed bits and pieces from the Book of Enoch, but doesn’t understand the significance of the bits he used. He remains as clueless to the truth as do many of my longtime Christian friends. Even schooled pastors and Doctorates in Theology have frowned on my conclusions, but refuse to point out to me why they believe them to be in error. If anyone has ever worked hard on a particular project, presented it for vetting, told it was incorrect, but NOT told why it was incorrect, one can appreciate my present position—and frustration.

In the tale of Noah and the Ark, Noah is a surprisingly peripheral character. I did not realize this at first. As I learned more about the antediluvian world in which Noah was born, I came to the realization that there were more important characters in this drama who have been forgotten by history. Noah came along more or less as part of a “mop-up crew” after the fact. Noah’s name means, “Rest.” His sole role in this drama was to provide his people rest from the hundreds of years of misery which had been visited upon them by the errant actions of the Watchers and their hybrid offspring. Now to be clear, there is also symbolism in the structure of the Ark and how the entire situation foreshadows Christ. However much of this symbolism is lost if one does not regard the Watchers and their offspring as a part of the equation. This brings me to my next point.

Orthodoxy has laid the entire failure of humanity at the feet of mankind. In short, mankind was such a wretched creation that on their own, they screwed things up so magnificently God was forced—once again like the old man power washing the mold off of his driveway—to destroy the earth with water. How obtuse must God be to create something so flawed that He has to wipe the slate clean after only a couple of thousand years? One would think that Omniscience would mean just that with God. Evidently such is not necessarily the case. This seeming conundrum is a favorite of my atheist friends, by the way. From the early days of the Epicurean Riddle, atheists have loved pointing out how much God is either a clueless buffoon, or a malevolent bastard to treat humanity in the manner He has. By realizing that none of what occurred with the destruction of the earth was by God Almighty’s hand, I have enraged both camps; believers and non-believers.

If one reads the Gospels and truly understands Christ, one can see very clearly that the Old Testament god and Jesus Christ seem to have different goals and methodologies. Orthodoxy has fought valiantly to keep most of humanity from seeing the truth of this structure, but more and more people are becoming aware of the truth. My commentary on the Holy Trinity explains this in greater detail and is very much worth the read. Whether one agrees with my conclusions or not, the questions need to be asked and the orthodox answers need to be explored without fainting away. You can find that commentary here:

http://thegodprinciplebook.blogspot.com/2014/03/theholy-trinity-when-did-we-split-god.html

The essential reason the earth was destroyed in that antediluvian time was not because “Mother Earth” was upset at the flea-like human beings disrespecting the planet; it was destroyed because the true rulers of this realm—the Celestial beings—were trying (emphasis on TRYING) to rid their world of a pestilent creation called the Nephilim. The Nephilim were the “heroes of old, the men of renown.” spoken of in Genesis 6:4. Perspective is everything and if one understands the narrative, one becomes familiar with the fact that by the time of the great flood, most of the Nephilim had become larger than life figures which were worshipped and adored by most of humanity. These Nephilim—especially the first generation Nephilim—were incredibly powerful figures. They were not only physically stronger than an average human, but they were more intelligent; more cunning and shrewd.

But these creatures were oversized in other aspects of their personalities as well. Reading through mythology, one can see the Titans being given over very easily to their base passions almost without thought or care. This proved to be the weakness of the Nephilim. These were beings that were creatures of this realm. Humans, by contrast, are not. We are merely sojourners on this planet. Whether one wishes to believe in the spiritual realm or not, it is without argument that as humans we are here for only a brief period of time. A human being is essentially spirit. We belong to God Almighty. We are not a creation of this realm and that is what began the schism between the two creations. It also illustrated the strength the humans had over the Nephilim. Humans could listen to the whisperings of the Spirit for guidance from their God whereas the Nephilim could not.

Aronofsky squandered the opportunity to explore these conclusions. I cannot help but think that had he sought out those who knew just a little more about the subject matter than he did, his movie could have been so much better than a mere special effects display. I will applaud his choice of Russell Crow as Noah, however. Someone like Crow is visually what I imagined as I wrote my series. The Noah often portrayed as a bent over old man is not accurate and Aronofsky chose Crow wisely.

Writers may be maligned in Hollywood, but there is no movie without a script, and there is no script without a writer. Aronofsky wrote on a subject in which he had little knowledge. His epic Noah will suffer as a result. I realize that writing this commentary before the movie’s release puts me in a precarious situation. I could wind up looking like a fool if Noah becomes a block buster movie, but I don’t think it will happen. After you strip away the special effects, what have you got? No one who sees this film will walk out of the theater afterward having learned anything new. In this day of CGI, even the special effects—spectacular as they are certain to be—aren’t so special any longer.

I am not yet decided as to whether I will see the film. Having worked so many years to research my series and knowing that because of my particular station in life, I will most likely never have the opportunity to present it to the masses as has Darren Aronofsky, I find seeing yet another tedious telling of Noah and the Ark uninteresting. Perhaps once it is out on DVD I will rent it and take a look, but I highly doubt I will be one of the throng sitting in the darkened theater.

My point of writing this commentary is not to keep any from going to see Noah; people want to be entertained and will go and see it regardless anything I say. My point in this commentary was simply to make people aware of the fact that the story has so much more to it than anything Christian or Jewish orthodoxy is willing to reveal and far more than the atheist community is aware. Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised and Aronofsky’s Noah will spur people to search more on the subject; to seek out the truth. That may lead them to me and my conclusions. Perhaps I may have my opportunity yet. That is largely up to all of you.