From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

Some "Biblical scholar" (a term which can apply to just about any Tom,
Dick or Harry who opens the Bible) is loudly complaining that he was
sacked by the Vatican because he insisted on translation "elohim" as
"aliens". Frankly, my sympathies are with the Vatican.

In the first place, the bloke appears to admit that he was influenced by
von Daniken. Anyone who is such an ignoramus that he is influenced by
von Daniken's nonsense forfeits the right to be called "scholar".

I read "Chariots of the Gods" when it first came out, but gave up after
the chapter where von Daniken "proves" that the pyramids were built by
aliens by dramatically claiming, "where are all the ropes" for dragging
stones around the place. Only a month or two previously I had been in
the Cairo Museum and seen the ropes, so straightaway I knew that von
Daniken was either ignorant or a liar.

However it is reasonable to consider what "elohim" does actually mean.
In the Bible it is used with a wide range of meanings - God, gods,
angels, judges or even as an adjective meaning "mighty".

Without denying that Hebrew has all those meanings, it is interesting to
see how cognate languages use "el" (of which elohim is the plural).
Akkadian ilum (god); Ugaritic il (god), Canaanite il (El the chief god)
and it is believed that there was a proto-Semitic root "il" meaning "god".

While it is true that the different groups held differing views of god,
none believed that god was a mortal spaceman and all certainly believed
that god was not-human (whereas this chap thinks that the elohim were
very similar to humans if not actually human).

It see no reason at all to abandon the meaning of "god" for "elohim".

God bless,
Kendall K. Down
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