Freeper Research Project: Enoch and Astronomy

8/27/03 | Various Freepers

[PatrickHenry]

I haven't looked into the matter.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Interesting! I will have to refer my dad to this post over the weekend.

I’ll post my thoughts once I am sure what they are.

Any references to the Book of Gad the Seerer? Always wanted to read that one.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for sharing your concerns!

I've followed some of your posts and suspect we may have a similar view on many things - saved by faith not by works, inerrancy of Scripture, etc.

Certainly, exploring ancient manuscripts is not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoy it a great deal.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post! And congratulations on your work on the Lunar Calendar! I do hope you'll share your findings with us here.

You might be interested in checking out this analysis of the Enochian calendar. It was the second part of the Latter Day Saints article excerpted above.

Indeed, the book of Enoch has become extremely popular with fringe philosophies and new agers. It is challenging to weed through all those hits when searching online in order filter down the historical information we need for this research. LOL! Oh well, the effort has been worth it.

Great catch on the phrase "in the days of Noah!" Thank you!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post!

Kind of hard to call anyone with an opinion like that a "scholar."

Indeed. That is the mindset of scientific materialism -i.e. look for the natural explanation only. In the extreme, it leads to the shocking consequence of strong determinism.

[Alamo-Girl]

I prefer to read from a text that is devoid of (potentially erroneous) comments that often distract, and devalue a reading session.

An excellent point. The Amplified Bible is very distracting to me. Charlesworth's is presented more like the traditional Schofield Bible with ample footnotes on each page of translation.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you oh so very, very much doxteve!!! Your words are a treasure to me. May God abundantly bless you in everything!

[Sir Gawain]

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[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for the lead and the two cautions on interpretation! They will be most helpful in this effort. Hugs!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on how Greek astronomy might have influenced the Essenes! It might be complicated however by the fact that the book of astronomy is recalling what the angels were describing to Enoch in his heavenly travels - thus it is a mixture of theology and astronomy in the text.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post!

In this case the 'agenda' is easily discerned; the book of Enoch is clear and specific on who and what the Nephilim were, and the modernists will not accept the very idea that the demons are the spirits of half human, half cherub beings. In fact, some try to deny the existance of demons at all.

Indeed. Much of the resistance to Enoch from the beginning had to do with the demonology. Oddly, the description of the angelic orders may also be the reason it has become popular among the "new age" philosophies.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your post! I look forward to your comments and any your dad might have!

The thread which spawned this one was all over the board on ancient manuscripts but we never got to the book of Gad. Perhaps after we finish Enoch, we ought to explore some of the other manuscripts or subjects?

[jam137]

I've followed some of your posts and suspect we may have a similar view on many things - saved by faith not by works, inerrancy of Scripture, etc.

I'm glad for that.

Certainly, exploring ancient manuscripts is not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoy it a great deal.

Your project of looking at the astronomy of Enoch is kind of interesting to me in and of itself, in terms of trying to understand what the writer(s) was trying to communicate and how that fits in with the time it was written. I therefore will follow what is being discussed in this thread. But, I will not go down the path of trying to make this part of a "personal canon" of Scripture, and I think you shouldn't do so either.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Heavy duty. I'll need time to read through all this.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your reply!

I'm glad you'll be watching and I hope you'll find something interesting as we explore the subject in more detail.

I'm not looking at the subject of canons, but I do find that God speaks to me in many different ways. I'll never forget one spiritual truth that came from a little blue haired lady in church. The subject was Peter's failed attempt to walk out to Christ on the water. Her reaction was that "sinking wasn't his job."

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your post! Indeed, it's mighty heavy reading - but you may find it interesting. We'd appreciate any leads or comments or research you may have!

[quietolong]

bump for later

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for bumping by!

[Doctor Stochastic]

The best calendar to date has been the one by Omar Kkayyám. (It wasn't adopted by the Persians or Arabs either.) Omar suggested 31 leap years for each 128 years. This is accurate enough that tidal forces will change the Earth's orbit before enough errors accumulate to need an intercalculary adjustment. Gregory's committee did know about Omar's work. They rejected the idea in because they considered the 4 and 100 year adjustments to be easier to handle.

[jam137]

But, to know whether God is speaking in a particular instance, we have to compare what is being said to some sort of rule, i.e., "canon." That is why canonicity must be an issue when discussing the Book of Enoch, if we are considering it in terms of whether or not it is somehow "inspired" (which you seem to be doing).