Originally posted by echecero
So how are we different than angels? I was always taught that angels were perfect. Does this mean that the messages carried by angels could have been misconstrued or altered by the angels?
This is a good question I have asked myself. To answer your question directly, I do not believe that an angel is capable of directly subverting an order of God. Such a thing would change the being by its very nature. A creature delivering a false message would not be an angel in the true sense of the term. A former angel, perhaps, but not an angel, and this would be a false message, not an altered one. I'm not going to cop out here by saying that God is omniscient, omnipotent, etc. I am going to give my two cents regarding celestial beings such as angels.
To my best understanding, the major difference between mortals and celestial beings is the degree of choice given to us. Whereas we mortals live our lives much in the "gray" so to speak, such a thing is not possible with divine beings such as angels. As they have perfect understanging of Gods will such things as moral conflict and such do not exist for them. They are functionally omniscient in matters of morality, and as such "gray" does not exist for them. They either choose to be in perfect accordance with Gods will or not to be. It is black and white as they are concerned. Unlike mortals, they are not born into a sinful state (for that matter, they are not born).
Billy Graham wrote a book on the subject of angels a few years back. While I am not exactly a big fan of Billy, I found his book to be an interesting read, many points had very logical basis. Most notably I appreciated a reference that stated that in the after life a reborn soul is vastly more powerful than that of an angel (regardless of where that soul goes). My personal supposition on this theory is in the very essence of the difference between our free will and that of angelic beings. By virtue, a mortal soul has endure a far more volatile crucible than that of a divine being.
An "cult" from the old world called the Golden Dawn was centralized on the notion of angels. While I must profess that I have found the vast majority of their teachings to be baseless cultist babble, the foundations of the organization point toward some interesting notions and literary works that I have found interesting.
In summary, I would explain it as this. Imagine that we were simly given the choice of afterlife upfront. You can choose heaven or hell. Think of it as the red pill/blue pill. You know where exactly where each one will take you. You know exactly what the consequences are. You must be either complete light or complete darkness. There is no imperfection. There is no forgiveness, for there is no imperfection. The understaning is perfect, so the ramification is absolute. Thus is the choice of such celestial creatures created in the light.
This is, atleast, my some of my opinion on the matter. I highly encourage anyone interested in the subject to do their own independent study and come to their own conclusions. I hope my perception can be of use.
Best Regards,
Omnislash
Satanist
02 Aug '05 01:50
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