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Sons of God and Daughters of Man: Covenant Compromise and Divine Judgment (Genesis 6:1–4) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the deep dive where we put away
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the assumptions, stop skimming the uncomfortable parts of
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Scripture, and really settle in for a close, focused look at
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what the text is actually revealing.
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It's a great mission, and today we are tackling a passage that
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has, I think, generated more speculation than almost any
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other in the Old Testament Genesis charter, 6 verses one
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through 4. This little section, it's often
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famous for, you know, questions about giants and angels and
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strange creatures, but it's not here for that kind of
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sensational curiosity. That is the crucial point our
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source material drives home. I mean the sons of God and the
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Nephilim. They so often over shadow the
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real sobering theological work this passage is doing.
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So our mission today is to look past all that mythology and
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really try to understand why Moses included this specific
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narrative right before the flood.
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We really have to see this passage as a critical piece of
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literary architecture. It functions as a hinge.
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That's the keyword. It links the hopeful genealogy
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of Adam's righteous line that came just before it with the
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catastrophic, necessary judgment that immediately follows.
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The passage is really demanding that we do a deep theological
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reckoning with sin, with the integrity of a spiritual
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community, and with the nature of divine judgment itself.
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So we need to frame the core narrative problem it's trying to
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solve. I mean, if we accept that the
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line of Seth, the worshipping line, was still active, how
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could the human world move so quickly and so completely to a
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state of total depravity? Yeah, How'd it get so bad so
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fast? How did the world get so rotten
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that only Noah and his immediate family were left standing?
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Our sources show that this whole story in Genesis 6, it hinges on
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the morality of a covenant people who willingly and
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tragically abandoned their distinctiveness.
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That's the heart of the matter. So let's unpack that.
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The architectural positioning of this text.
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Genesis 6.1 to 4. It's not some random insertion.
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You called it the pivot point, the vital explanation connecting
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2 entirely contrasting states of human existence.
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Exactly. To understand the collapse, we
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first have to understand what was supposed to stamp.
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And that takes us back to Genesis chapter 5.
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We absolutely need the context of Genesis 5, the genealogy, you
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know, with its recurring solemn refrain.
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And he died. It reminds you of the pervasive
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reality of the curse. Sure, mortality.
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The mortality inherited from Adam.
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However, chapter 5 isn't just a death register.
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It's tracing the godly line of Seth, the third son born after
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that catastrophe of King killing Abel.
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This is the line that carries the promise of the woman's seed
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from Genesis 3.15. And what was the defining
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characteristic of this line? What made them distinct?
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Their defining characteristic was spiritual allegiance.
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The narrative notes that it was in the days of Enos, who was
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Seth's son, that people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
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And what does that mean exactly? Calling on the name of the Lord.
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It signifies public corporate worship.
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It's a declaration of allegiance.
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This was the active, visible center of God's saving purposes
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on earth at that time. They walked with God, as Enoch
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famously did, and they maintained a spiritual boundary
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against the rebellious world around them.
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This Sethite line was really the last bastion of hope for
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humanity. The hope is clear.
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Then you can trace God's plan through this preserved spiritual
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lineage. But then we hit the hinge in 6.1
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to 4, and immediately afterward the entire environment has
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changed. Completely changed in Genesis
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6.5 to 7. The verdict is delivered.
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And it is a stunning verdict. It's devastating because it is
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total. The Lord looks upon the earth
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and determines that the wickedness of man was great in
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the earth, and crucially, that every intention of his heart was
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only evil continually. Only evil continually.
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That's such an absolute statement.
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It is this is a verdict not just on, you know, surface actions,
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but on the relentless, uninterrupted malice of the
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human will. It is the theological
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justification for total global judgement.
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The chasm between the worshipping line of Seth in
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chapter 5 and this universal evil of chapter 6, verse 5.
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It's enormous. So that hinge those 4 verses and
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6.1 to 4 has to bridge that moral gap.
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It has to diagnose the precise mechanism of this total moral
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collapse. It has to.
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The narrative up to this point established 2 distinct
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humanities. After the fall we have the
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canine line which is detailed in chapter 4 and it's characterized
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by self glorifying culture and violence.
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Right, Limac. You have Lamech boasting of
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murder, celebrating arrogance, and founding a culture that was,
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you know, technically advanced. They had music, metalwork, but
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it was hostile to God. This is a culture building its
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own Kingdom for its own glory. And on the other side, you had
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the Sethite line marked by allegiance and worship.
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Exactly. The hinge tells us the two
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merged. It narrates the tragic, defining
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moment when that spiritual barrier collapses the covenant
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community. The Sethites, the ones who were
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supposed to be the light, failed because they abandoned their
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distinctiveness. Instead of marrying within the
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community of faith, preserving the godly lineage and
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confession, they look outward and they merged with the
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unbelieving world. This mixing then explains how
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the corruption became universal. It wasn't an infection from the
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outside so much as a surrender from the inside.
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That's a great way to put it. If the righteous minority loses
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its identity and merges with the wicked majority, then only
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wickedness remains, and that justifies the flood as both
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inevitable and righteous. When you put it that way, the
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redemptive historical stakes could not be higher.
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They really couldn't. If the Sethite line, the
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carriers of the promise that leads to the Messiah, is fully
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absorbed into the self willed Canite world, then the entire
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promise from Eden, Genesis 3.15 is jeopardized.
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It's almost extinguish. Almost.
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That promise is dependent on the existence of a consecrated, set
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apart people. Without them, there's no line
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for the seed to come from. So the flood, which on the
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surface seems so destructive, is actually God acting to preserve
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his promise. It is a profound act of
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preservation. The compromise that's documented
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in 6.1 to 4 shows that the Promise Line itself was on the
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verge of spiritual extinction through assimilation.
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The flood is seen there for not as an arbitrary act of
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vengeance, but as a unnecessary surgical intervention.
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To save the patient. To preserve the possibility of
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redemption by isolating Noah, who's the last man found
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faithful in that line of Seth. It's a tragic story of moral
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decay, but it's framed by God's unshakable resolve to uphold his
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covenant. That makes the narrative flow so
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much clearer. The focus is entirely on why the
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human race, promise bearers included, lost its way.
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This clarity, however, forces us to address the passage's central
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interpretive difficulty. The crux Interpret them as it's
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called. The sons of God.
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Identifying the benet Elohim or sons of God in Genesis 6.2.
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The interpretation you choose dictates whether you read this
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passage as a comment on human failure or is this strange Side
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Story about supernatural transgression.
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OK, so we need to evaluate the three primary historical options
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here and do it neutrally. Let's do it.
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Let's begin with the view that is the most sensational and
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certainly the most popular in, you know, modern media and
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speculative literature. The angelic view.
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The angelic view. This one claims the sons of God
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were fallen angels or spiritual beings who somehow materialized
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and took human women as wives, and the result was the Nephilim.
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And there is some lexical support for that, right?
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There is support for this view often points out that in other
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biblical texts, notably the book of Job, the phrase sons of God
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undeniably refers to celestial beings to angels.
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So this suggests A literal transgression between the
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spiritual and physical realms led to this unique generation.
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And historically, this view has deep roots.
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I mean, it appears even in Second Temple Jewish literature,
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like the Book of One Enoch. So why is it rejected by our
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sources as the primary interpretation of what Moses
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intended? Well, there are two main lines
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of rebuttal. The first is a canonical
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conflict about the nature of angels.
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Jesus taught in Matthew 22.30 that angels neither marry nor a
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given in marriage. Now, some might argue that their
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fallen nature allows for disobedience to this rule.
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But the fundamental assumption throughout Scripture is that
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angels do not possess reproductive capabilities in the
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way described here. If they could take wives and
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procreate, it raises some serious theological questions
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about their nature that the Bible just doesn't support
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anywhere else. And the second objection is
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contextual, isn't it? It sort of distracts from the
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main arguments of Genesis. Precisely if Moses, his primary
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purpose was to explain why God judged humanity, Focusing on the
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sins of angels immediately shifts the blame and attention
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away from human accountability. Right becomes their fault, not
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ours. Exactly.
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The text transitions seamlessly from the marriages in verse 4 to
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the verdict on human wickedness in verse 5.
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The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great.
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The narrative flow shows that the true 'cause of the Flood was
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human depravity, not some peculiar instance of angelology.
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This view, in the end, it pulls the focus away from the sober,
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practical truths of covenant failure and into really
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speculative territory. That makes sense.
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The passage is justifying God blotting out man, not blotting
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out a new species of Angel hybrid.
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OK, so moving on to the second human interpretation, the royal
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or tyrant view. The Royal view is based on the
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ancient Near Eastern cultural context.
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It argues that the sons of God were powerful despotic human
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rulers or elite families who claimed divine or semi divine
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status. Which was a common thing in that
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part of the world. Oh, very common.
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A common trope in Mesopotamian royal ideology.
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The sin here is 1 of tyrannical abuse.
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They violently seized women and says they took as their wives
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any they chose to consolidate power, turning marriage into a
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tool of domination. Their offspring, the Nephilim,
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would be these strong, renowned warlords.
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That certainly explains the violence and despotism which are
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clear characteristics of the pre flood world.
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But what is the main weakness of this view within the context of
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Genesis itself? Its primary weakness is that it
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relies too heavily on concepts of formal political structures.
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You know established kingship, royal ideology that Moses hasn't
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introduced yet. In the immediate narrative
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context of Genesis Four and Five, the defining categories
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are spiritual and genealogical. The line of Cain versus the line
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of Seth. Right.
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Moses is tracking covenant fidelity, not political
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structure. So while the description of
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tyranny might fit the Nephilim, identifying the Benny Elohim as
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political rulers doesn't arise organically from the established
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narrative contrast. It feels a bit like reading
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later ideas back into the text. Which brings us to the third
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view, the covenant or Sephite view, which our sources argue
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best maintains the textual flow and the covenantal structure of
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Genesis. Yes, in the covenant Seth I view
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the sons of God are interpreted as human beings, specifically
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the godly line of Seth. And why are they called sons of
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God? They're called this because they
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belong to the covenant community, the visible
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worshipping line that began to call upon the name of the Lord.
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This is consistent with a broader biblical analogy.
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God calls Israel his covenant people, His first born son.
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To be a son of God is to be a part of his family by election
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and allegiance. So it's a relational covenantal
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term. Precisely.
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And if the sons of God are the Setites, then who are the
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daughters of man? The daughters of man represent
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the broader mass of unredeemed humanity, predominantly the
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canine line which is defined by its self willed nature and
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rebellion. The tension, therefore, is
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spiritual. Not just social.
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Not just social The marriages weren't just social mismatches.
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They represented the crossing of a critical spiritual boundary.
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The Sephite men who were charged with preserving the spiritual
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line chose wives based on worldly criteria,
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attractiveness, site preference rather than covenant, loyalty
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and faith. That coheres perfectly with the
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narrative that's already been established in chapters four and
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five. It shows the internal moral
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failure of the covenant community itself.
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It connects all the docs seamlessly.
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This view confirms that the failure was internal.
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The godly line became obsessed with the physical and the
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pleasing, sacrificing spiritual separation for personal desire
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and this choice. It dissolved the distinctiveness
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of the Sethite community, leading to that rapid total
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corruption that made the flood necessary.
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So the judgement was justified because even the keepers of the
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promise willfully polluted the well of humanity.
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That's the tragic conclusion. I have to ask the question that
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I know you, the listener, are thinking right now.
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If these were just regular, albeit spiritually compromised
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human beings, why do the resulting offspring, the
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Nephilim, have such mythological fame and strength?
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Doesn't the explanation feel a little underwhelming if the
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consequence is just a generation of strong men?
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That is the strongest counter challenge to this view, and it
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requires us to clarify the nature of the Gibrim.
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If we look ahead, the text describes them as mighty men who
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are of old, the men of renown. We have to resist the urge to
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translate this as superhero. Or physically giant.
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Or physically giant. Instead, we have to interpret it
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through the lens of moral judgement.
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The sources highlight that the term Gibrim refers to a moral
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status, not necessarily Physiology.
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These men embodied the apex of a worldly, self glorifying
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culture. So they weren't necessarily
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physical giants, but they were moral giant giants, giants in
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terms of worldly ambition and power.
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Exactly their might with their social and political dominance.
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They were men celebrated for their strength and violence in a
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culture that valued brute power and fame, renown over piety and
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obedience. Their very existence magnified
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the world's sin. OK, so Mesis is emphasizing that
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the result of the Sethite compromise was not spiritual
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renewal, but the creation of an even more aggressively wicked,
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culturally impressive, and militarily dominant society that
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was completely hostile to God. And that heightens the
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justification for the Flood. The best of both worlds, so to
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speak, produced the worst of all worlds.
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Having settled that the sons of God were covenant members, we
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can now turn to the psychology of their downfall.
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The sources make a really compelling argument that this
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was not a new or unique sin, but a conscious repetition of the
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foundational moral failing that happened back in Eden.
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It's a masterful piece of literary work by Moses.
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He deliberately structures the language of Genesis 6.1 to 4 to
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mirror the pattern that we find at Genesis 3.6.
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Why would he do that? To establish the consistent and
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cyclical nature of human depravity.
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We call this the threefold pattern of primal disobedience,
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and it's always rooted in walking by sight, not by faith.
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OK, let's track that pattern precisely, starting with the
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sensory initiation. The first step is initiation by
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sight saw. In both Genesis 3 and Genesis 6,
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the transgression begins with a physical sense overwhelming
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spiritual restraint. Eve, looking at the forbidden
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fruit, saw that the tree was good.
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And the sons of God. Likewise, the sons of God in
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Genesis 6.2 saw that the daughters of man were
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attractive. The insight here is crucial
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because the sources note the specific word choice connects
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the 2 events. It's not a coincidence.
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It is not. The word translated attractive
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in 6.2 is the Hebrew word tov, which means good.
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It is the exact same underlying judgement that Eve made.
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They looked at what was forbidden or at least
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spiritually detrimental, and they judged it to be 12 good or
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desirable according to their senses.
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So both cases spiritual command was instantaneously superseded
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by visual attraction. That's it.
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This highlights that sin isn't always driven by, you know,
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overt malice. Often it's driven by a faulty
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aesthetic judgment, prioritizing sensory appeal over divine will.
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It's the constant temptation, isn't it?
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The sight, the physical perception of goodness or beauty
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becomes the governing principle. It does, and this takes us to
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the second internal step, escalation by desire and
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perception. The sons of God saw the canine
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women and they found them desirable.
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They prioritize their unrestrained preference, their
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physical desire over the spiritual demands of covenant
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loyalty and the necessity of keeping the line distinct.
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This confirms that heartbreaking truth of human nature.
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Even after God has established a covenant line, even the pious
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are inwardly vulnerable. You're seeing the total
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depravity of the human heart at work.
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Even those who had the light, who called upon the name of the
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Lord, chose based on immediate external sensory data.
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They were governed by the flesh, by what felt right or looked
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appealing in the moment, rather than by the slow, demanding work
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of spiritual discernment and allegiance.
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So the beauty of the daughters of man became a stumbling block
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because the sons of God were already inwardly prone to
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wander. That's right, and that leads to
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the culmination, the final decisive action #3 conclusion in
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self will taking. The pattern completes.
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It does. Eve took of its fruit.
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The sons of God took as their wives any they chose.
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And that phrase, any they chose, is the defining moral
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indictment. It just screams self will right?
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Not who God chose or who is spiritually.
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Suitable No, they were not constrained by spiritual
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obedience or family counsel or the perceived will of God for
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their lineage. They exercise complete personal
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autonomy in a matter that had profound covenant shaping
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consequence. They dissolve the spiritual
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boundary themselves. Precisely.
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Moses uses this conscious echo. Saw, judged it good and took
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based on choice to demonstrate that the compromise was not
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incidental. It was a failure to live by
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faith, which requires submitting 1's desires and decisions to
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God's known boundaries. The Sethites, the bearers of the
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Covenant promise, chose to walk by the sight of their eyes,
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repeating the sin that began humanity's downfall, and in
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doing so, they infected the entire world system.
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This makes the resulting verdict just unavoidable.
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When the covenant people behave identically to the rebellious
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people, there's no distinction left, and really no defense
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against the coming judgment. There's none.
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The stage is now set for judgment.
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But before the flood begins, God speaks a crucial word in Genesis
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6.3, and it sets a limit on his interaction with humanity.
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This brief statement reveals so much about God's justice and His
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operation of common grace. The Declaration is one of the
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most theologically dense lines in the chapter.
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My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh.
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His days shall be 120 years. We have to dissect this
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statement clause by clause to really understand the mechanics
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of God's justice. OK, let's start with the limit
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on the spirits action. My spirit shall not abide in man
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forever. This verb, which can be
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translated as strive or contend or abide, is central to the
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concept of common grace. Can you unpack that for us?
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Common Grace. Sure.
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It tells us that the ongoing restraint of sin in the world is
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not automatic. It's a deliberate, active, and
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personal work of God's Spirit. Fallen humanity, if you just
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leave it to its own devices, would immediately reach the
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absolute moral low that's predicted in verse 5.
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But God, through His Spirit, is holding sin back.
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He's keeping humanity from becoming as evil as it could be.
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And God is saying here this striving will not continue
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indefinitely. He's going to cease this
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restraining action. Yes, the phrase is a declaration
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of judicial intent. God is saying I will not
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continue to exert this benevolent restraint on a race
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that has so thoroughly rejected me.
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The Spirit's patience has a defined expiration date, and
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when that spirit withdraws, the full measure of human wickedness
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becomes manifest, necessitating immediate judgement.
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And the reason given for this cessation of restraint is so
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powerful, for He is flesh. The term basher or flesh here is
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key. It's not just about physicality,
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meaning because man is physical being.
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It's a moral, A theological term.
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It defines humanity in its fallen state, weak, frail, and
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enslaved to its base appetites and moral weakness.
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So they've chosen to live by sight, by their desires, by
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their flesh, rather than by the spiritual boundaries he
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established. That's it exactly.
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God is essentially recognizing that the covenant community
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failed to live by the Spirit and has joined the world in living
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by the flesh. So the Sephites had become
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Busher. That's right.
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Having compromised their spiritual position, they had
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chosen the path of frailty and corruption, and that
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necessitates judgement. God sees their state and
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recognizes that apart from a continued unmerited outpouring
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of restorative grace, which they have now universally forfeited,
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no human lineage can preserve itself.
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The moral status demands separation.
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Which leads directly to the specific time frame.
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His days shall be 120 years. This is the defined boundary, it
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says. A divinely appointed period of
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grace and warning 120 years before the Flood's execution.
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Now, it's crucial to understand this isn't about human lifespan,
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right? Absolutely.
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This does not announce an immediate reduction of the
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individual human lifespan. Noah's descendants still lived
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far longer than 120 years post flood.
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Instead, it is a clock on God's patience for the entire world.
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A countdown. And during this time, Noah is
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actively building the ark. Exactly.
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The 120 years showcases God's long-suffering character.
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He doesn't act instantly in wrath.
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He gives a massive, visible, practical deadline.
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This period of forbearance serves as a type in redemptive
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history. Judgment is always preceded by a
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bounded warning, an opportunity for repentance.
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So the flood becomes a foreshadowing of the final
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judgment. It does.
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It reminds every generation that God's patience is real, but it
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is not infinite. Let's talk about the culture
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that arises during this period of limited grace, the culture of
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the Nephilim. We established they were not
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necessarily mythological giants, but the Gibberum and the men of
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renown. What does their existence tell
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us about this compromised society?
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Their existence proves the devastating consequence of a
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spiritual compromise. These Gibberum were the
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aggressive, powerful elites. They were celebrated, famous
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men, men of renown. That focus on renown seems
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critical. It is, it shows a culture
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obsessed with self glorification, seeking to make a
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name for themselves through military dominance, through
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violence and cultural achievement completely divorced
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from God's purposes. This is in direct contrast to
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the Sephite ideal of calling on the name of the Lord, which is
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recognizing God's fame, not their own.
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Precisely the culture that resulted from these mixed
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marriages exalted power, fame, and reputation over
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righteousness and humility. The Nephilim were the product of
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a world where the only success that mattered was worldly
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success. Their notoriety confirmed the
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world's comprehensive guilt. So the verdict in 6.5 that every
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intention of the heart was evil continually is demonstrated by
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the fact that even the most celebrated figures in that
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culture were simply emblems of violence and self worship.
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Yes, the creation of a celebrity culture based on violence and
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worldly power rounded out the picture of universal depravity,
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and it made judgement absolutely necessary.
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Which brings us to today. Genesis 6 is far more than just
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a historical record. It's a profound moral warning
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flair directed at the covenant people of every age, including
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the Church today. It is.
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It elevates the spiritual seriousness of marriage and the
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absolute requirement for corporate holiness and
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distinctiveness. The sources position the
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narrative to focus squarely on the practical implications for
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those of us living under covenant today.
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What is the core lesson regarding relationships?
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The lesson is rooted in that walking by sight pattern.
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The Sethites treated marriage as a neutral social arrangement.
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They chose partners based on the site, physical attraction,
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worldly desirability, rather than on faith and spiritual
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allegiance. They sacrificed covenant loyalty
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for aesthetic and personal preference.
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They did, and the scriptures show this failure pattern
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doesn't stop in Genesis 6. No, it's a recurring theme.
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It is a recurring tragedy throughout redemptive history.
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Time and again, mixed marriages between the people of God and
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those outside the covenant community LED directly to
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idolatry and moral compromise. It eroded the covenant from
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within. We see with the Israelites, in
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the Canaanites with Samson, and catastrophically with Solomon,
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whose foreign wives turned his heart away from God.
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The theological principle is crystal clear.
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Intimate relationships are never spiritually neutral.
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Never. The passage implies and affirms
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the later New Testament command not to be unequally yoked.
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Genesis 6 shows that this isn't just optional advice.
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It is a serious boundary necessary for spiritual
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survival. A believer who marries an
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unbeliever is repeating the fundamental sin pattern of the
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Sethites. They're dissolving the spiritual
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boundary that union, by its very definition, brings the
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principles of the ungodly world, the daughters of man, directly
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into the heart of the covenant family.
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So marriage must be reserved for those who share the same
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allegiance and the same hope. Absolutely.
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The covenant allegiance demands that the pursuit of a spouse be
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governed by faith and obedience, not just by sight and emotion.
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The consequences of treating marriage as a merely secular
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choice or generational spiritual decay.
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As Genesis 6 demonstrates through the Nephilim, the
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boundary between those who belong to the Kingdom and those
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who belong to the world dissolves the moment the
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covenant person chooses preference over consecration.
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Moving beyond just individual relationships, Genesis 6
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delivers a foundational lesson on what you called corporate
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distinctiveness. This is perhaps the most
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searching lesson for the church today.
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The crisis in Genesis 6 was not merely the level of wickedness
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outside the camp. The real crisis was that the
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people of God, the sons of God, cease to be recognizably
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different. They became indistinguishable
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from the world and their choices, their values and their
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desires. And the church faces the same
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danger when it compromises its standards of faithfulness for
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the sake of, say, relevance. It is the exact same snare the
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contemporary church is often tempted to adopt the world's
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metrics of success, size, entertainment, value to cultural
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acceptance, financial status over the biblical standard of
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faithfulness to doctrine, holiness and life, and reverent
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worship. When we pursue those metrics, we
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are choosing based on sight. That's right, we're prioritizing
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what looks good or attractive to the wider culture, rather than
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choosing by faith in the often unpopular path of obedience.
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And this leads to blurred lines where the church can start to
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look more like a successful social club than a set apart
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spiritual body. And that is the definition of
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reenacting the sin of Genesis 6. The covenant integrity requires
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the church to maintain clear, humble, and loyal boundaries.
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The maintenance of church membership standards, the
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practice of spiritual discipline, and an uncompromised
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confession of faith are vital. To blur these lines in the name
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of accessibility or cultural blending is to repeat the
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compromise that necessitated the flood.
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The focus has to be on faithfulness to the word, not on
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pleasing the eye of the wider culture.
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We must return then to the sense of urgency that's established by
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that 120 year limit. That time limit is our ultimate
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theological reality check. Christ himself invoked the days
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of Noah as the pattern for the time preceding his return.
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A time characterized by business as usual.
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Exactly. People eating, drinking,
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marrying, entirely oblivious to the imminent judgement.
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The world was absorbed in its worldly affairs, walking by
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sight, assuming that tomorrow would be just like today.
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We too live in a bounded era of common grace.
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The clock is ticking for us as well.
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We do. The 120 years reminds us that
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God's patience, while vast, is finite.
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This has to translate into a compelling urgency for us, a
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zeal for personal holiness, a seriousness about the spiritual
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boundaries within marriage, and an urgency and discipleship and
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proclamation. We have a set time to call
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people to the refuge before the final day of judgement rise and
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the door of refuge closes. Definitively, Genesis 6 is a
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powerful argument for the seriousness of the present.
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Day, it really is. You know the story of Genesis 6,
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the failure of the Sethites. It documents the comprehensive
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inability of humanity to maintain covenant fidelity.
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It sets up that long, tragic pattern of failure throughout
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the Old Testament and serves A crucial function.
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It magnifies the necessity of Christ.
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All the human attempts of being faithful sons of God collapsed.
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This prepares us for the arrival of Jesus, the true and faithful
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Son of God, who alone maintained perfect obedience in the midst
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of a crooked and perverse generation.
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He is the only one capable of preserving a holy people and
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carrying them through the judgement of wrath, acting as
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the true and final arc. So this entire deep dive is a
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summons to holiness and vigilance.
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Genesis 6 calls us to examine our own lives.
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Are we living a set apart people?
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Or have we allowed the world's values to define our decisions,
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especially in critical areas like relationships and ambition?
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It's a challenging question. We have to submit our personal
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desires and our aesthetic preferences to the greater
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authority of spiritual allegiance.
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We are continually faced with the choice.
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Do my choices reflect walking by sight, prioritizing what is
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appealing to the eye in the flesh, or walking by faith
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constrained by God's covenant will?
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And finally, reflect on the nature of the wicked society
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created by that compromise. It resulted in a culture of
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mighty men and men of renown, people celebrated by the world
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for their dominance, their strength, and their fame.
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Consider this sobering application.
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If the Church today seeks to be defined by being mighty and
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renowned by the world standards, by adopting worldly metrics of
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success, influence, and attraction, is it not already
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repeating the same moral failure, the same prioritizing
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of the visible and the self glorifying that ultimately
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necessitated the first great judgment of the flood?
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That question should guide how we approach every aspect of
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Christian living.