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Christianity and Otherkin
Jul. 31st, 2012 08:14 amAbstract
At first glance, biblical Christianity may appear opposed to the concept of otherkin on many fronts. These include the existence or even non-existence of certain beings and the fate of souls. However there are aspects intrinsic to Biblical Christianity that can possibly allow for a wide variety of spiritual kin-types, others are simply not addressed. These concepts include traducianism the nephilim, and what exactly defines "man." In regards to the nephilim, this article accepts the interpretation of the divine mingling with the human rather than the Sethite interpretation.
Reincarnation
The explicit trouble with Christian belief concerning reincarnation, hinges on a couple of verses, one is in Ecclesiastes and the other is In Hebrews. So there is pan testament coherence.
Ecclesiastes 9:55 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
Out of the gate this verse seems to strike a blow to reincarnation. Problems with this verse can arise concerning the statement that the dead have no more reward. If it is taken to say that the dead simply have no reward, that conflicts with other biblical ideas concerning the afterlife. If it is taking that the dead can no longer accrue reward through actions in life, then there is no conflict.
The other problem is the notion that the dead know not anything. This conflicts revelations in that some of the dead ask the Lord how long they must wait for justice (those that came out of the great tribulation.) A possible answer is that Ecclesiastes refers to the spiritually dead.
So if one were to surmise that it speaks of the spiritually dead, perhaps that would leave room for the spiritually living to incarnate again.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
This is the biblical "nail in the coffin" concerning reincarnation.
Hebrews 9: 27 states that is is appointed unto MEN to die once, and then judgement. Well what is a "men?" This is a biblically valid question given the nephilim and their descendants. These were obviously different from regular "men," Though they are named the "men of renown." The question becomes, is the difference enough that they could not be taken to be wholly "men" and thus does Hebrews 9:27 apply??
As for the 1st generation nephilim, Isaiah seems to tell us that those are just plain dead and gone never to rise.
Isaiah 26:12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
This is taught as being a reference to the nephilim, but I am not sure why. I assume it is the "other lords" part, however, this is easily a reference to the Sons of God (Benei Ha Elohim) that caused the nephilim.
Traducianism
This is the concept that the spiritual component of a child is made, upon conception, out of the spiritual components of the parents and thus mirrors the biological process at least in a basic sense. A possible ramification of this concept is that reincarnation may not be required in order to result in the experiences that are often explained as past life memories. It is just as possible that these memories are being passed down spiritual lines as an artifact of being born from parents carrying anomalous spiritual make-up. To put this another way, instead of past-life memories, people may experience ancestral memory.
Kintypes
With the above information in mind, it is possible to arrive at a variety of kintypes. Earth's mythos are full of beings that fall somewhere in-between 'god" and man. Beings that resemble humankind and, according to said mythos, can interbreed with humankind. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Daoine Sidhe, Tuatha De Dannan, Alfar, and Nunnehi. it is possible that these beings found in the tales of man were/are real and it is possible that they owe their existence to rebellious divine beings that interbred with humankind. These beings could exist now, as otherkin, possibly via reincarnation or traducianism.
This same possibility can be applied to angels and demons. There is no way, in the christian paradigm, to rule out the possibility that some angels have been allowed to incarnate as humans in order to seek redemption or for some other reason. Additionally, the aprocryphal text of Enoch tells us that ancient Jewish tradition did in fact contain finite punishment for some angels. The point being that not all angels are either in heaven or cast out for all eternity. Also, as it is possible that some angels were long ago progenitors, traducianism may explain some memories of being an angel.
One angelic type in particular, the Seraphim, is sometimes described as being luminescent, serpentine, and winged. This body type resembles some ideas of the draconic. So here we have a possibility for something like dragonkin.
Discussion
While the above covers a few kintypes, it in no way covers all. As the main thrust was Biblical Christianity, I refrained from using apocryphal texts to derive certain kintypes, though it can be done. The main book in question is ENoch. Enoch is included in the Ethiopian bible, but not the bibles mostly used in the West today. From Enoch is is possible to derive Vampirism. Another text, the Book of Giants (part of the Qumran find) has a very vague possibility of having a cause for Therian kintypes.
Even including this particular apocrypha and this particular dead sea text, not everyone's kintype can be explained. However, it was not the aim of the article to provide a bible based explanation for every kintype.
The nephilim are a biblically controversial topic. Many christians do not buy into the idea that Angels or some other divine beings bred with human women. They cite Matthew 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. From this it is concluded that the Sons of God were of the Godly line of Seth, whereas the ungodly daughters of "men' were the children of Cain. I reject this interpretation on the following grounds.
-Why is it just the sons of Seth and not the daughters of Seth? why aren't the sons of Cain doing anything? the gender separation is odd, and has no basis.
-Why does the union of one line of human being with another line of human beings produce the exceptional off spring described in the passage? it makes no sense, they would just be normal humans if it was just normal human union.
-There is no biblical precedent to state that all the Sons of Seth were godly while all the daughters of Cain were base.
-"Ben ha'Elohim" along with "Ben Eluim" are phrases that, in the context of the Old Testament manuscripts, are only used for divine beings. To arbitrarily assign a different meaning to that phrase does not hold water.
The flood and the conquest of Canaan are also things that can appear as obstacles to lines from the nephilim being passed on. However the flood falls away immediately as the relevant passage states "in those days, and also after..." indicating that these beings were in the earth after the days being discussed, which were the days of the flood. Secondly, a global flood, while a common interpretation, is an interpretation wrought with linguistic flaws. The original Hebrew phrase, "face of the whole earth (eretz) can also be found in the book of Daniel in a description of Alexanders Empire. As it was known that the Grecian empire did not cover the entire globe, it can easily be concluded that the flood narrative was never meant to describe a global event.
The conquest of Canaan appears to be an obstacle because it can be shown that God ordered the Israelites to utterly wipe out anything connected to the nephilim or their clans. These include the Anakim, Avim, Emim, Horites, Amorites, Rephaim and others. However it is an integral part of the story that the Israelites failed to do this. Nothing is ever said of where the survivors of the nephilim clans went or what happened to them.
Conclusion
Being otherkin is not neccessarily opposed by having christian faith. One can actually believe both with a large degree of harmony.
At first glance, biblical Christianity may appear opposed to the concept of otherkin on many fronts. These include the existence or even non-existence of certain beings and the fate of souls. However there are aspects intrinsic to Biblical Christianity that can possibly allow for a wide variety of spiritual kin-types, others are simply not addressed. These concepts include traducianism the nephilim, and what exactly defines "man." In regards to the nephilim, this article accepts the interpretation of the divine mingling with the human rather than the Sethite interpretation.
Reincarnation
The explicit trouble with Christian belief concerning reincarnation, hinges on a couple of verses, one is in Ecclesiastes and the other is In Hebrews. So there is pan testament coherence.
Ecclesiastes 9:55 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
Out of the gate this verse seems to strike a blow to reincarnation. Problems with this verse can arise concerning the statement that the dead have no more reward. If it is taken to say that the dead simply have no reward, that conflicts with other biblical ideas concerning the afterlife. If it is taking that the dead can no longer accrue reward through actions in life, then there is no conflict.
The other problem is the notion that the dead know not anything. This conflicts revelations in that some of the dead ask the Lord how long they must wait for justice (those that came out of the great tribulation.) A possible answer is that Ecclesiastes refers to the spiritually dead.
So if one were to surmise that it speaks of the spiritually dead, perhaps that would leave room for the spiritually living to incarnate again.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
This is the biblical "nail in the coffin" concerning reincarnation.
Hebrews 9: 27 states that is is appointed unto MEN to die once, and then judgement. Well what is a "men?" This is a biblically valid question given the nephilim and their descendants. These were obviously different from regular "men," Though they are named the "men of renown." The question becomes, is the difference enough that they could not be taken to be wholly "men" and thus does Hebrews 9:27 apply??
As for the 1st generation nephilim, Isaiah seems to tell us that those are just plain dead and gone never to rise.
Isaiah 26:12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
This is taught as being a reference to the nephilim, but I am not sure why. I assume it is the "other lords" part, however, this is easily a reference to the Sons of God (Benei Ha Elohim) that caused the nephilim.
Traducianism
This is the concept that the spiritual component of a child is made, upon conception, out of the spiritual components of the parents and thus mirrors the biological process at least in a basic sense. A possible ramification of this concept is that reincarnation may not be required in order to result in the experiences that are often explained as past life memories. It is just as possible that these memories are being passed down spiritual lines as an artifact of being born from parents carrying anomalous spiritual make-up. To put this another way, instead of past-life memories, people may experience ancestral memory.
Kintypes
With the above information in mind, it is possible to arrive at a variety of kintypes. Earth's mythos are full of beings that fall somewhere in-between 'god" and man. Beings that resemble humankind and, according to said mythos, can interbreed with humankind. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Daoine Sidhe, Tuatha De Dannan, Alfar, and Nunnehi. it is possible that these beings found in the tales of man were/are real and it is possible that they owe their existence to rebellious divine beings that interbred with humankind. These beings could exist now, as otherkin, possibly via reincarnation or traducianism.
This same possibility can be applied to angels and demons. There is no way, in the christian paradigm, to rule out the possibility that some angels have been allowed to incarnate as humans in order to seek redemption or for some other reason. Additionally, the aprocryphal text of Enoch tells us that ancient Jewish tradition did in fact contain finite punishment for some angels. The point being that not all angels are either in heaven or cast out for all eternity. Also, as it is possible that some angels were long ago progenitors, traducianism may explain some memories of being an angel.
One angelic type in particular, the Seraphim, is sometimes described as being luminescent, serpentine, and winged. This body type resembles some ideas of the draconic. So here we have a possibility for something like dragonkin.
Discussion
While the above covers a few kintypes, it in no way covers all. As the main thrust was Biblical Christianity, I refrained from using apocryphal texts to derive certain kintypes, though it can be done. The main book in question is ENoch. Enoch is included in the Ethiopian bible, but not the bibles mostly used in the West today. From Enoch is is possible to derive Vampirism. Another text, the Book of Giants (part of the Qumran find) has a very vague possibility of having a cause for Therian kintypes.
Even including this particular apocrypha and this particular dead sea text, not everyone's kintype can be explained. However, it was not the aim of the article to provide a bible based explanation for every kintype.
The nephilim are a biblically controversial topic. Many christians do not buy into the idea that Angels or some other divine beings bred with human women. They cite Matthew 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. From this it is concluded that the Sons of God were of the Godly line of Seth, whereas the ungodly daughters of "men' were the children of Cain. I reject this interpretation on the following grounds.
-Why is it just the sons of Seth and not the daughters of Seth? why aren't the sons of Cain doing anything? the gender separation is odd, and has no basis.
-Why does the union of one line of human being with another line of human beings produce the exceptional off spring described in the passage? it makes no sense, they would just be normal humans if it was just normal human union.
-There is no biblical precedent to state that all the Sons of Seth were godly while all the daughters of Cain were base.
-"Ben ha'Elohim" along with "Ben Eluim" are phrases that, in the context of the Old Testament manuscripts, are only used for divine beings. To arbitrarily assign a different meaning to that phrase does not hold water.
The flood and the conquest of Canaan are also things that can appear as obstacles to lines from the nephilim being passed on. However the flood falls away immediately as the relevant passage states "in those days, and also after..." indicating that these beings were in the earth after the days being discussed, which were the days of the flood. Secondly, a global flood, while a common interpretation, is an interpretation wrought with linguistic flaws. The original Hebrew phrase, "face of the whole earth (eretz) can also be found in the book of Daniel in a description of Alexanders Empire. As it was known that the Grecian empire did not cover the entire globe, it can easily be concluded that the flood narrative was never meant to describe a global event.
The conquest of Canaan appears to be an obstacle because it can be shown that God ordered the Israelites to utterly wipe out anything connected to the nephilim or their clans. These include the Anakim, Avim, Emim, Horites, Amorites, Rephaim and others. However it is an integral part of the story that the Israelites failed to do this. Nothing is ever said of where the survivors of the nephilim clans went or what happened to them.
Conclusion
Being otherkin is not neccessarily opposed by having christian faith. One can actually believe both with a large degree of harmony.
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