Bait and Switch

I just finished reading this book. Now if you want to get a good theological discussion going just bring up the Nephilim. These men of renown/giants of old characters appear in Genesis, Numbers and Enoch.

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

At work a discussion came up between the U.F.O. crowd and the rabid Baptists. There are a few different credible interpretations of that scripture. However, the alien-abduction crowd has latched on to this verse.

So I got a novel out of the library called "Nephilim". I read about three hundred pages of the novel and realize it's a Christian novel. It was pretty good, and since I usually only read non-fiction I was surprised to actually finish it. I then noticed it was published by Zondervan, a Christian publisher. I think I liked it because it was so far out it didn't get heretical like the Left Behind series; since the Nephilim isn't the church splitting issue that the second coming is.

It reminded me of a coworker who was reading a Christian Romance Novel. Of course the two guys in the OR get hold of this literary masterpiece and start reading it. Now it wasn't Justine but it sure wasn't Jane Austen either. It was sort of like a Harlequin Romance without all the adjectives. Betty Baptist is getting all defensive about her little paper back book. She is insisting it's a serious piece of literature. My buddy then asks her what's the difference between a romance novel versus a Christian romance novel. She is thinking when my buddy says "the difference is that in a Christian romance novel the guy on the cover with his shirt unbuttoned is wearing a three inch cross on his chest." Perhaps a Christian novel is good when you don't realize it's a Christian novel until the last few chapters.