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Question: Where did the doctrines of the Sethites and the Human leader doctrine originate from?
These doctrines originate from what is now known as the Second Book of Adam and Eve also called the Book of Cave Treasures. The Second Book of Adam and Eve is classed as part of the "Pseudepigrapha" most likely written several hundred years before Jesus’ birth. It was a revered book and quoted in the Jewish Talmud, the Islamic Koran, as well as used heavily by Kabbalist - Jewish Mysticism, and used even in the occult to support the Lilith doctrine., and possibly shape shifting.
Later, during the Medieval era, Jewish scholars used it to derive variations that the “sons of God” mentioned in Gen 6:1-12 refer to human men who were the great leaders, rulers and not to angelic beings. Also, the early Christian writer, St Augustine, seems to have borrow heavily from it to develop the City of God concept and the Sethite doctrine which the 2 Book of Adam and Eve also supports.
This book Books of Adam and Eve contain contrary details to what the bible teaches. For example, it is here we first hear that the line of Seth as being called the ‘son’s of God’ due to their purity. This chapter explains that the Sethites lived on the mountain near the Cave of Treasure, while Cain’s cursed line lived on the plains.
2 Book of Adam and Eve CHAP. XI:3-4
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe095.htm
3 And Seth the elder, tall and good, with a fine soul, and of a strong mind, stood at the head of his people; and tended them in innocence, penitence, and meekness, and did not allow one of them to go down to Cain's children. 4 But because of their own purity, they were named "Children of God," and they were with God, instead of the hosts of angels who fell; for they continued in praises to God, and in singing psalms unto Him, in their cave--the Cave of Treasures.
10 Seth and his children dwelt on the mountain below the garden; they sowed not, neither did they reap; they wrought no food for the body. not even wheat; but only offerings. They ate of the fruit and of trees well flavoured that grew on the mountain where they dwelt.11 Then Seth often fasted every forty days, as did also his eldest children. For the family of Seth smelled the smell of the trees in the garden, when the wind blew that way.
12 They were happy, innocent, without sudden fear, there was no jealousy, no evil action, no hatred among them. There was no animal passion; from no mouth among them went forth either foul words or curse; neither evil counsel nor fraud. For the men of that time never swore, but under hard circumstances, when men must swear, they swore by the blood of Abel the just.
13 But they constrained their children and their women every day in the cave to fast and pray, and to worship the most High God. They blessed themselves in the body of their father Adam, and anointed themselves with it.
14 And they did so until the end of Seth drew near.
Sethiites were viewed as pure in God’s sight. This does not match what Paul reveals in Romans 3:23 as well as Romans 5:12.
Nor does blessing themselves in the presence of the dead either is supported in the bible and anointing themselves with the dead. That practice is occultic. It is practiced today by occultist by laying on the grave sites of famous dead people, or shamans, to receive their power…
This next phrase is found in chapter four:
2 Book of Adam and Eve CHAP. IV:3-4
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe088.htm
3 And God said to Adam, "Look at this devil, and at his hideous look, and know that he it is who made thee fall from brightness into darkness, from peace and rest to toil and misery. 4 And look, O Adam, at him, who said of himself that he is God!
Can God be black? Would God take the form of a woman? Is there any one stronger than God? And can He be overpowered?”
Do you see how the underlined segment supposedly spoken by God violates Gen 1:26 as well as Rev 7:9?
So, you have an ancient text that makes out God as some sort of racist and mocker of women. Seriously, is this the book one should base the doctrine of the Sethites or Human Leaders doctrines as the ‘sons of God’ used in Gen 6:1-12 on?
Let us look at St Augustine’s work – City of God and look for correlation to the 2 Book of Adam and Eve.
Augustine City of God (Book XV)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm
Having treated in the four preceding books of the origin of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, Augustine explains their growth and progress in the four books which follow; and, in order to do so, he explains the chief passages of the sacred history which bear upon this subject. In this fifteenth book he opens this part of his work by explaining the events recorded in Genesis from the time of Cain and Abel to the deluge.
Chapter 1.— Of the Two Lines of the Human Race Which from First to Last Divide It.
Of these two first parents of the human race, then, Cain was the first-born, and he belonged to the city of men; after him was born Abel, who belonged to the city of God. For as in the individual the truth of the apostle's…
Augustine, in his work, The City of God, you will discover that he warns about heavy use of allegory, and mystic interpretations. But, is not Augustine relying heavily the same format to buttress his concept of the two Cities of men which strangely mirrors his variation of the 2 Book of Adam and Eve, mountain race and the plains race of men?
Proof of what I just said below…
Augustine City of God (Book XV)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm
Chapter 2.— Of the Children of the Flesh and the Children of the Promise.
There was indeed on earth, so long as it was needed, a symbol and foreshadowing image of this city, which served the purpose of reminding men that such a city was to be rather than of making it present; and this image was itself called the holy city, as a symbol of the future city, though not itself the reality.
In Chapters 8,9 etc, Augustine writes of Cain and his family tree and spins off into some hefty rabbit trails to build off of to support his view.
Book 15 continues -Chapter 17 — Of the Two Fathers and Leaders Who Sprang from One Progenitor.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm
Since, then, Adam was the father of both lines—the father, that is to say, both of the line which belonged to the earthly, and of that which belonged to the heavenly city—when Abel was slain, and by his death exhibited a marvellous mystery, there were henceforth two lines proceeding from two fathers, Cain and Seth, and in those sons of theirs, whom it behooved to register, the tokens of these two cities began to appear more distinctly.
For Cain begot Enoch, in whose name he built a city, an earthly one, which was not from home in this world, but rested satisfied with its temporal peace and happiness. …
…Further, Seth signifies resurrection, and Enos his son signifies man, not as Adam, which also signifies man, but is used in Hebrew indifferently for man and woman…
…Wherefore I think it not immaterial to observe that in those generations which are propagated from him who is called Seth, although daughters as well as sons are said to have been begotten, no woman is expressly registered by name; but in those which sprang from Cain at the very termination to which the line runs, the last person named as begotten is a woman….
…. Whereby it is elegantly signified that the earthly city shall to its termination have carnal generations proceeding from the intercourse of males and females. And therefore, the wives themselves of the man who is the last named father of Cain's line, are registered in their own names—a practice nowhere followed before the deluge save in Eve's case. Now as Cain, signifying possession, the founder of the earthly city, and his son Enoch, meaning dedication, in whose name it was founded, indicate that this city is earthly both in its beginning and in its end—a city in which nothing more is hoped for than can be seen in this world—
….so Seth, meaning resurrection, and being the father of generations registered apart from the others, we must consider what this sacred history says of his son.
You have two groups, two cities, not much different that what is found in the Books of Adam and Eve.
Book 15 continues - Chapter 22.— Of the Fall of the Sons of God Who Were Captivated by the Daughters of Men, Whereby All, with the Exception of Eight Persons, Deservedly Perished in the Deluge.
When the human race, in the exercise of this freedom of will, increased and advanced, there arose a mixture and confusion of the two cities by their participation in a common iniquity. And this calamity, as well as the first, was occasioned by woman, though not in the same way; for these women were not themselves betrayed, neither did they persuade the men to sin, but having belonged to the earthly city and society of the earthly, they had been of corrupt manners from the first, and were loved for their bodily beauty by the sons of God, or the citizens of the other city which sojourns in this world.
Does this sound familiar to the book of 2 Adam and Eve?
Next, in the City of God book 15, Augustine goes on rabbit trails to support that angelic beings are not what is implied in Genesis 6:1-12.
Book 15 continues - Chapter 23—
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm
Whether We are to Believe that Angels, Who are of a Spiritual Substance, Fell in Love with the Beauty of Women, and Sought Them in Marriage, and that from This Connection Giants Were Born.
In the third book of this work (c. 5) we made a passing reference to this question, but did not decide whether angels, in as much as they are spirits, could have bodily intercourse with women…
For the Greek word ἄγγελος, which in Latin appears as angelus, means a messenger….
From these assertions, indeed, I dare not determine whether there be some spirits embodied in an aerial substance (for this element, even when agitated by a fan, is sensibly felt by the body), and who are capable of lust and of mingling sensibly with women; but certainly I could by no means believe that God's holy angels could at that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4
I think he rather speaks of these who first apostatized from God, along with their chief the devil, who enviously deceived the first man under the form of a serpent.
…But the same holy Scripture affords the most ample testimony that even godly men have been called angels; for of John it is written: Behold, I send my messenger (angel) before Your face, who shall prepare Your way. Mark 1:2 And the prophet Malachi, by a peculiar grace specially communicated to him, was called an angel. Malachi 2:7
…Giants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of God, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection with the daughters of men, or of those living according to men, that is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection with the daughters of Cain…
But some are moved by the fact that we have read that the fruit of the connection between those who are called angels of God and the women they loved were not men like our own breed, but giants; just as if there were not born even in our own time (as I have mentioned above) men of much greater size than the ordinary stature. Was there not at Rome a few years ago, when the destruction of the city now accomplished by the Goths was drawing near, a woman, with her father and mother, who by her gigantic size over-topped all others? Surprising crowds from all quarters came to see her, and that which struck them most was the circumstance that neither of her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature….
…Giants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of God, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection with the daughters of men, or of those living according to men, that is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection with the daughters of Cain.
Further in Chapter 23, City of God, much of the same argument used nowadays is mirrored in both the modern Sethite and human Leader doctrines. Augustine sates not to rely on use apocryphal, sources, but did he not use the 2 Book of Adam and Eve to derive his…
Two separate races of humanity and through sex, the pure race of Cain was corrupted by Cain’s line?
Come on… is it really only about sex or the sin nature which by the way, corrupted all humanity, including Seth's line as well. If not then how can the writings on the subject of how sin entered the world affecting all humanity mentioned in the New Testament be true?
Book 15 Continues - Chapter 23…
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120115.htm
But that those angels were not angels in the sense of not being men, as some suppose,
Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are called apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown to the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures has been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained succession. For though there is some truth in these apocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements, that they have no canonical authority
There is therefore no doubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical Scriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that these were citizens of the earthly society of men,
and that the sons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth, sunk into this community when they forsook righteousness.
Back in Book XIV - The City of God – Augustine states the same themes mirrored in the 2nd Book of Adam and Eve but used the allegory of Cities instead a mountain and flat lands. He uses the same story line, as well, as twist the bible according to his view on predestination as The City of God Book XIV laboriously spins off into..
The City of God, Augustine, (Book XIV) Chapter 28.— Of the Nature of the Two Cities, the Earthly and the Heavenly.
Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self…
Conclusion:
So, what is being presented here is evidence that the Sethite and Human Leader doctrines concerning the son’s of God mentions in Gen 6:1-12, came not as inspired from the bible but rather from an well-known ancient apocryphal Jewish source which is today known as the Books of Adam and Eve, or The Cave Treasures.
Books mind you used by Jewish Mystic Kabbalist with scriptural errors too numerous to list here.
If the book of Enoch, Josephus, Philo, Book of Jasher, Jude and Peters Letters as well as the fragments found in the Dead Sea Scrolls cannot be used either, then, the same rule must apply to Augustine’s work and the Books of Adam and Eve from which the doctrines of the Sethite and human leader point of view originates from...
Now we are back to square one.
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