DaveL Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 When we think of the term Angel, it's commonly associated with someone who is good, perfect, kind etc. However, as Satan was supposed to be one, so I guess they are not all good then. Has anyone seen any lately flying around? Do they really hangout with fairies at the bottom of the garden. Any thoughts on our winged messengers? http://skepdic.com/angels.html http://newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Benson Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Just this past weekend I saw a tabloid newspaper at the supermarket. The front page had a picture of an angel that was struck and (killed?) by lightning on someone's farm. So there is concrete PROOF angels exsist! If angels exsist, then god, jesus and holy spirit have to exsist too. Repent now all atheist sinners! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sokudo Ningyou Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 My roommate thinks angels are just a descriptive term for aliens. Seriously. And he's a Lutheran. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveL Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 Remember all those recent shows on TV about Angels. It usually had something to do with being in a car accident, seing a guardian angel and living to tell the tale..."I wuz saved by my guardian." Oh yeah wasn't Michael Landon an Angel in some sappy show where people cried alot? EDIT Yes here it is! 'Highway to Heaven' that show really sucked. http://www.tv.com/highway-to-heaven/show/498/summary.html and 'Touched by an Angel' http://www.tv.com/touched-by-an-angel/show/245/summary.html I was well into my deconversion when that one was on. Missed it totally. Well there you go. If it's been on TV it must be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Actually, I find it ludicrous that there is such fluffy niceness attached to the whole idea of angels, especially among Christians, who should know better. It seems to me that there are a lot more examples in the Bible of angels being the ones God sends when he wants some killing done. Especially some really over the top killing, like complete genocide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveL Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 Good point Loren, Checkout the references to 'Angels' and 'Death' in the Blue Letter Bible. http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/wor...59647-9329.html They have been tranformed into guardian figures for young children. The skepdics dictionary notes that: Even if they exist only in the imagination, however, angels can be very useful. They can serve as monitors of behavior and protectors of children. A parent can try to control a child's behavior by convincing the child that an angel is always watching over him or her. The angel is presented as being a kind of guardian, but the child will hopefully realize that the angel is also keeping track of all deeds, good and bad, even those done when mommy and daddy aren't around. Their function as messengers and instruments of Gods power has been transformed into cosy watchers of babies. They have become much more feminine in their depiction. The New Age movement has begun to use them in healing practice: Angel therapy is a type of New Age therapy based on the notion that communicating with angels is the key to healing. Angel therapists believe they facilitate healing by helping their patients get in touch with angels who will guide the patient in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerpentIntheMidst Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 It seems to me that there are a lot more examples in the Bible of angels being the ones God sends when he wants some killing done. Especially some really over the top killing, like complete genocide. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> that's how i get my killing done...no fingerprints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 My roommate thinks angels are just a descriptive term for aliens. Seriously. And he's a Lutheran. When I was still trying to justify religion to myself, I thought something like that might be true, also. But there's no proof. Angels are myths, nothing more. Other religions had angels, too. If there is any truth to the myth at all, it has been lost through the ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtdude Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 I've always enjoyed the depictions of angels in the great churches in Europe...Leonardo da Vinci's representations of angels in particular (the Annunciation) and the other Renaissance artists are just fabulous. They remind me of the Greeks and Romans' myths of nymphs and satyrs lounging beside a glassy pool, surrounded by trees and flowers. Very nice, but oh so difficult to find those grottos! Angels portrayed in Russian Orthodoxy are also very mysterious, if not more severe in their artistic rendering. So nice to look at in the candlelight. I guess the artistic side of angels I like, but the whole "realty" thing about them is pure unadulterated bunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narcissist Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Yeah, I used to believe too, along with all the other christian baggage. I read a couple of books on angels + demons, and its close relative, "warfare prayer". Both, initially, scared the crap out of me (so much for "freedom from fear"). But this was around the mid nineties when "prayer warriors" were replacing "the Toronto blessing" and preceding "WWJD" as the latest fashions in contemporary christian marketti... I mean theology. I soon realised that this was a great way to sell books and continued on the path which eventually led to my abandonment of christianity. I do see angels occasionally, but only when I'm looking at the right sort of websites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Actually, I find it ludicrous that there is such fluffy niceness attached to the whole idea of angels, especially among Christians, who should know better. It seems to me that there are a lot more examples in the Bible of angels being the ones God sends when he wants some killing done. Especially some really over the top killing, like complete genocide. I always wondered about that. My grandma used to tell me that an angel would come punish me if I didnt behave. (really scared me, she would allude to the slaughter of the first borns in egypt), so i wondered why angels were considred guardians. of course I dont believe in angels anymore but my favorite way to imagine angels is from the videogame Tales of Symphonia. In the game the angels are all nicey-nicey messengers for the respective god, that is until they show their true colors and turn out to be evil conspirators, fooling the human race with fake preaching for their own gain. then the game proceeds to battle mode and you get to finish them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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