Archangels and other heavenly creatures

I was just briefly reading the Archangel Michael thread and was wondering ...

1. How many other supernatural beings are there in Christianity.

2. Isn't this rather like a pantheon of gods? (With lesser gods having weaker powers)

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I was just briefly reading the Archangel Michael thread and was wondering ...

1. How many other supernatural beings are there in Christianity.

2. Isn't this rather like a pantheon of gods? (With lesser gods having weaker powers)

In Christianity, angels are not gods. They are spirits, and not of flesh. They are messengers, protectors, harbingers, and take on different forms as the need arises. Angels are more intelligent and powerful than human beings but much of their existence is spent serving human beings. We are told by God not to worship angels as they are merely creatures.

Christians, because of our partnership with Christ, actually rank above angels and one day it is said we will actually judge them.

Originally posted by sumydid
In Christianity, angels are not gods. They are spirits, and not of flesh. They are messengers, protectors, harbingers, and take on different forms as the need arises. Angels are more intelligent and powerful than human beings but much of their existence is spent serving human beings. We are told by God not to worship angels as they are merely creatures. ...[text shortened]... ship with Christ, actually rank above angels and one day it is said we will actually judge them.

Your answer to Q.2 is therefore NO (unsurprisingly)
What about Q.1 ??? how many species?

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Your answer to Q.2 is therefore NO (unsurprisingly)
What about Q.1 ??? how many species?

I think you are going to have to go to the third Heaven to get your answer.

Originally posted by sumydid
In Christianity, angels are not gods. They are spirits, and not of flesh. They are messengers, protectors, harbingers, and take on different forms as the need arises. Angels are more intelligent and powerful than human beings but much of their existence is spent serving human beings. We are told by God not to worship angels as they are merely creatures. ...[text shortened]... ship with Christ, actually rank above angels and one day it is said we will actually judge them.

I wouldn't believe they'd have free will, but there was the Lucifer/Satan incident. Weird stuff.

Originally posted by RJHinds
I think you are going to have to go to the third Heaven to get your answer.

My post starts "In Christianity" ... I am interested in what Christians believe not in what might be. (Since I believe all supernatural creatures are fiction)

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I was just briefly reading the Archangel Michael thread and was wondering ...

1. How many other supernatural beings are there in Christianity.

2. Isn't this rather like a pantheon of gods? (With lesser gods having weaker powers)

Do you mean types or names? I'll assume types, as I could name all the names. As far as I know there are 2 types: God himself and the angelic host.

However what caught my attention was the thought that we too are supernatural - after all we are created and therefore the natural state of our molecules has been supernaturally manipulated. Then again, we are made of earth stuff and are therefore very not "heavenly" in that sense.

So maybe there are 3 types of supernatural being with 3 orders:

God - heavenly/eternal
Angelic - heavenly/created
Mankind - temporal/created

Originally posted by wolfgang59
My post starts "In Christianity" ... I am interested in what Christians believe [b]not in what might be. (Since I believe all supernatural creatures are fiction)[/b]

That seems strange to me that you would be interested in what
Christians believe on fictional creatures. To each his own they say.
There are some books written, speculating on these fictional creatures.
But I figure I have enough other things to learn about and I am going
to wait until I get to Heaven for that, since angels are not anywhere
near the top of my priority list.

Originally posted by RJHinds
That seems strange to me that you would be interested in what
Christians believe on fictional creatures. To each his own they say.
There are some books written, speculating on these fictional creatures.
But I figure I have enough other things to learn about and I am going
to wait until I get to Heaven for that, since angels are not anywhere
near the top of my priority list.

Some people have broader minds than you and are interested in the language, food, customs and religion of others.

I am interested.

Pity you cannot answer.

Can anyone out there?

Originally posted by sumydid
In Christianity, angels are not gods. They are spirits, and not of flesh. They are messengers, protectors, harbingers, and take on different forms as the need arises. Angels are more intelligent and powerful than human beings but much of their existence is spent serving human beings. We are told by God not to worship angels as they are merely creatures. ...[text shortened]... ship with Christ, actually rank above angels and one day it is said we will actually judge them.

Because of our thinking, we assume that angels are more intelligent than us. You put a barrier between us and them, (us and "God" ).
To me this is the core problem with with christianity. It is a lie that has been perpetuated for many hundreds of years to keep the church in power and to keep man in his place. (We are actually psycically connected to "God" and his "angels" )

The truth ,imo, is that there is no difference between us and the divine.
Christianity tells us that we are sinners and hence our only way to redeem our sins in through the acceptance that JC is the only way to heaven , to submit to him and be saved through his grace.

My take on christianity is that JC said that we all have the potential to realize christ-conciousness through our own efforts. To understand that we can be christ-like through understanding our own egos. (this sort of thinking is alligned with the gnostics)

True religon is actually is a system of psycology that leads us to the spiritual dimension which we all have the potential to do through our understanding of our connection with the divine. The separation is the illusion as is death and hell.
The bible has just enough mis/dis-information to keep us in doubt, stop us unifying our planet via the people who have, for many generations been lead to think that we are mortal and separate from "God" , who is immortal.

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Because of our thinking, we assume that angels are more intelligent than us. You put a barrier between us and them, (us and "God" ).
To me this is the core problem with with christianity. It is a lie that has been perpetuated for many hundreds of years to keep the church in power and to keep man in his place. (We are actually psycically connected to ations been lead to think that we are mortal and separate from "God" , who is immortal.

but one of the big problems is when people try to attain God via their "own efforts"

this is what the pharisees were doing and it is what many "religious people" continue to do to this day -- but Jesus made it clear that all they were doing was "cleaning the outside" and then proudly patting themselves on the back.

Jesus instead called on people to imitate the tax collector who "knew he was a hopeless sinner" and knew that it was impossible for him to attain God via his "own effort" -- but the irony is that it is precisely in this act of "giving up one's own effort" that allows one to find God.

The great irony throughout the gospel is that the more sinful and hopeless a person was, the more likely it was that they would come to Jesus and find healing. But the more "righteous" a person was, the more likely it was that they would oppose Jesus.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Some people have broader minds than you and are interested in the language, food, customs and religion of others.

I am interested.

Pity you cannot answer.

Can anyone out there?

Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way
is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are
few who find it."

Originally posted by RJHinds
Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way
is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are
few who find it."

I have a strength statistic of 14. I roll an 18 on my bend bars / lift gates attempt. Do I pass the narrow gate?

Originally posted by RJHinds
Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way
is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are
few who find it."

Some people take that passage to mean that large Christian sects are not in line for salvation and small ones are.

Originally posted by Phlabibit
I have a strength statistic of 14. I roll an 18 on my bend bars / lift gates attempt. Do I pass the narrow gate?

no -- you only enter if you roll a 0