… would be the worst thing ever for organized Christianity in the US.
Here is the passage from Genesis that I was referring to. This is from the Authorized version (a.k.a. the King James version) and can be found in every decent translation, such as the New Oxford Annotated Bible.
6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
This comes immediately after a list of Adam’s descendants who are said to have lived to ages that are, um, hard to believe.
5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
5:6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 5:7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
5:9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 5:10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
5:12 And Cainan lived seventy years and begat Mahalaleel: 5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
5:15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 5:16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
5:18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 5:19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
5:21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
5:25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.
5:26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
5:28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 5:29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
I could go on. I suspect that it’s a lot easier to think you take the Bible literally if you haven’t read it, or haven’t read it carefully. I’ll let David Hume have the last word.
I am the better pleased with the method of reasoning here delivered, as I think it may serve to confound those dangerous friends or disguised enemies to the Christian Religion, who have undertaken to defend it by the principles of human reason. Our most holy religion is founded on Faith, not on reason; and it is a sure method of exposing it to put it to such a trial as it is, by no means, fitted to endure. To make this more evident, let us examine those miracles, related in scripture; and not to lose ourselves in too wide a field, let us confine ourselves to such as we find in the Pentateuch, which we shall examine, according to the principles of these pretended Christians, not as the word or testimony of God himself, but as the production of a mere human writer and historian. Here then we are first to consider a book, presented to us by a barbarous and ignorant people, written in an age when they were still more barbarous, and in all probability long after the facts which it relates, corroborated by no concurring testimony, and resembling those fabulous accounts, which every nation gives of its origin. Upon reading this book, we find it full of prodigies and miracles. It gives an account of a state of the world and of human nature entirely different from the present: Of our fall from that state: Of the age of man, extended to near a thousand years: Of the destruction of the world by a deluge: Of the arbitrary choice of one people, as the favourites of heaven; and that people the countrymen of the author: Of their deliverance from bondage by prodigies the most astonishing imaginable: I desire any one to lay his hand upon his heart, and after a serious consideration declare, whether he thinks that the falsehood of such a book, supported by such a testimony, would be more extraordinary and miraculous than all the miracles it relates; which is, however, necessary to make it be received, according to the measures of probability above established.** David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, second to last paragraph.