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I’m reading through the book of Enoch in the Ethiopian bible. The Ethiopian bible is controversial because some of the books in it are not canonized in the modern Western Bible. Much of our AI enabled scroll sphere is inaccurate. First off, the Ethiopian bible is not older or more accurate than any other bible. The manuscripts preserved in Ethiopia date back to the same time as the thousands of other manuscripts. The controversy is ultimately whether Constantine’s Counsel of Nicaea in 325 was an institutional power play or a sincere consensus of churches to place some definition around orthodoxy, orthopraxy and heresy. My position is that sacred text clearly extends beyond what was canonized in 325, but the council wasn’t really a power grab for control as much as it was a defensive play against many false teachings arising out of the culture. However, the result of canonization was a loss of Christian freedom and an adrenaline shot to those who held institutional control, which set the stage for an alternative tribal religion out of groups of Christ followers.

This back story sets the stage for whether you will believe what I’m offering, because much of it comes from text that only some call sacred. Whether or not you see the uncanonized text as infallible, you will certainly see it as interesting.

“And when the angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamored of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children.” Enoch 7:2

It all starts with Angles marrying and having offspring with the women of ancient earth. This is a massive defilement for angels who are considered Holy. It’s also the treachery and collaboration among angels to do what was clearly contrary to the law of God.

“Then their leader Samyaza said to them; I fear that you may perhaps be indisposed to the performance of this enterprise; And that I alone shall suffer for so grievous a crime. But they answered him and said; We all swear; and bind ourselves by mutual execrations, that we will not change our intention, but execute our projected undertaking. Then they swore all together, and all bound themselves by mutual execrations. Their whole number was two hundred, who descended upon Ardis, which is the top of mount Armon.” (Enoch 7:3-7)

That’s a big contingency. A revolt. An insurrection against the Most High God, the Creator of all.

The judgement of God falls on these angles and a differentiation is made between children of the earth and those of the offspring of fallen angels.

“All the sons of men shall not perish in consequence of every secret, by which the Watchers have destroyed, and which they have taught, their offspring.” (Enoch 10:11)

Without this backstory, the modern bible has gaps which have been filled with 2000 years of church history. The eternal torment and permanent banishment of the fallen traitors of Heaven and their non-human offspring, has morphed over centuries and has been replaced with unbelieving humans. This makes it impossible to understand why the bible refers to humanity as those who “are written in the book of life from the foundation of the earth” (Revelations 13:8, 17:8) The contrast with half-bred fallen angel offspring (watchers) is lost in the modern mind.

But now you have it back.

Consider the Mercy of God in reference to the human race depicted from this text where the fallen “watchers” are put away for the sake of humanity.

“Then shall they be taken away into the lowest depths of the fire in torments; and in confinement shall they be shut up for ever.”

“Immediately after this shall he, together with them, burn and perish; they shall be bound until the consummation of many generations. Destroy all the souls addicted to dalliance, and the offspring of the Watchers, for they have tyrannized over mankind. Let every oppressor perish from the face of the earth; Let every evil work be destroyed; The plant of righteousness and of rectitude appear, and its produce become a blessing. Righteousness and rectitude shall be for ever planted with delight. And then shall all the saints give thanks, and live until they have begotten a thousand children,” (Enoch 10:17-23)

Enoch is on a tour of Heaven after being snatched away. Then he comes to what he calls: “a dreadful place.”

“From thence I afterwards passed on to another terrific place; Where I beheld the operation of a great fire blazing and glittering, in the midst of which there was a division. Columns of fire struggled together to the end of the abyss, and deep was their descent. But neither its measurement nor magnitude was I able to discover; neither could I perceive its origin. Then I exclaimed, How terrible is this place, and how difficult to explore! Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered and said: Enoch, why art thou alarmed and amazed at this terrific place, at the sight of this place of suffering? This, he said, is the prison of the angels; and here they are kept for ever. “ (Enoch 21:4-6)

Can we let this sink in? For two thousand years religion has told the story that the eternal abyss or bottomless pit is where sinners are rejected by God, or where non-christians go after they die. Yet this equally reliable ancient text fills in the story and codifies what the New Testament has been saying all along:

 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Tartarus)and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;” (2 Peter 2:4)

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6)

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

I say this a lot but I truly mean it….sit with this.

Is it possible that the arch of ancient history and a future day of decision isn’t the same threat as we’ve been tormented with by religion? I’m not saying we bear no responsibility for our lives, our choices, and the loves within our inner self, because these really matter, but what if the biblical pit is ultimately for the pride and treason of Heaven, and not for those who fall by the wayside simply by the mere fact that we are entirely human? What if God, making Himself entirely a human, has such a special dispensation of grace for all humanity (as compared to fallen angels), that each and every one of us, who was created in God at the foundations of the earth, has heaven potentiated for us.

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20-21)

“And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer … and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:2-3, 10)

The bible does seem to teach us that the Abyss, or the bottomless pit is not intended for humanity, but for fallen beings and potentially the offspring of the fallen, whom simply cannot exist forever in a perfect world, governed by love and righteousness.

Sit with this and you’ll discover that the real obstacle has nothing to do with Enoch or the cannon of scripture, but with whether we trust what sacred text is actually revealing about the fate of humanity, or if the narrative controlled by religion has been the true influence over our faith.