Angels--What Are they?

[PatrickHenry]

Do they exist at all? I have never seen one.

But the Bible talks a lot about them and the first thing they say to humans is "Don't be afraid."

Biblical angels are likely to be real scary.

Anybody give them any cred?

[Suburbanite]

nope

[Samildanach]

Yep they are what man will genetically engineer himself to become.
you have to admit it would be pretty handy to have wings and be able to fly. Incidentally it would solve all of our traffic problems.

[crayola]

Angels are defined in New Testament as "ministering spirits". May also be characterized as "administrators" of the word of God, or the churches of God, meaning interpreters and also "overseers". Ministers of light and darkness, good and evil, clean and unclean. Example of the unclean or corrupt words as ministers of darkness is shown in the book of Revelation as: "and I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mout h of the false prophet." These were spirits of demons working miracles.." (Rev.16:13-16)

"Spirit" is defined as "the word or words" in the mouth of men. Words are spoken by reason. "Come let us reason together.." saith the Lord.

Reason is acquired by knowledge learned. Man learns good and evil knowledge and chooses which is most beneficial to his life on earth. "For lack of knowledge my people perish".

The prophets in the old testament seemed to have been indulging in a bit of philosophical reasoning during their moments of "ponderings" and advice giving to the Israelites.

"That which a man sows, that shall he also reap", in both good and evil.

[Technosoul]

First of all I would object to the statement the "the are aliens pretending to be angels" - who said they were pretending anything, just because humans once called them angels instead of gods from the heavens (sky)?

And so older texts discribe angels as being physical beings that visited earth from the sky and that they were more advanced in some aspect.

We have Biblical interpretatons that angels are the messingers of a God in heaven.

We have in fact angels that are said to be manifestations in visions, dreams, or the imagination. In a state of altered consciousness such visions encountered during such an extra-reality experience seem to be very real.

Biblically the devil is also discribed as a fallen angel.

In music and art we sometimes mention that other people are our "angel baby" or "earth angel" - that's called falling in love. We might see a new born baby as being like an angel, or our saintly mother. Those ideas seem to dominate human perception.

Likewise angels are symbolic of humans finding their wings, freedom, to be like a bird that can fly from our cocoon like a transformed worm into the butterfly. Becoming the UFO (unidentified flying object of a soul taking flight from the physical cocoon of the body). RE: Carl Jung.

And so the word "angel" can have lots of meanings depending upon what you are talking about as an interpretation. It is too late to try to isolate that title or name to mean just one idea.

[crayola]

You are right, the word "angel(s)" can have lots of meanings according to the interpretation utilized.

"Are we not all ministering spirits"? A biblical indentifier of mens thoughts via reason applied. This one appeals to me moreso than other less reliable sources, as "Reasoning" enables the form of truth throughout humanity, does it not?

[Technosoul]

Yes, but of interest word-wise is that the old Greek meaning for the word "reason" - translated to english - means "of god". And so in effect if Angels are messingers of God then we could say that reason is an angel in spirit. Kind of a Guardian Angel I would think. (forgot to mention the guardian angel one last time).

Historically the first known use of the word Angel was in Babylon, which was a farming out post for the kingdom of Sumer. In the beginning the god who was called the Heavenly Father was called An (or Anu - father of the universe). and he had children who visited earth. At first they called all the visitors gods but then wanted to have words that showed a difference between the father and the children, so they came up with the word AN-GEls AN and the ANGELS. the Father and the children. As the first "godhead" was a whole family.

Through their teachings the angels brougt to the earthly humans the philosophy by which to reason things out.

The outpost of Babylon wanted a Shem port of their own and so they built the famous tower of Babel. Aka "stairway to heaven" which was basically a tower ladder that could reach the cockpit of a flying ufo type vechicle that the visitors used to journey from earth to the sky and back again. Nowadays we would call those types of angels "aliens".

But as mentioned we also have the great spirit, the Mind of the Most High which is different then the alien visitors that are called gods, angels or aliens.

This great spirit is often called Mother Nature or the name is left "unspoken" out of respect.

In which case an angel could be like a indwelling spirit that would manifest as reason, or as a revelation in our thoughts. And could even take on a visionary image of our choice when needed, some would see them as animal spirit guides, where as others might vision something simular to those paintings of angels which are so common. Some with robes and some might just flash you in the nude - or they might just be seen as a flash of light or as the voice of the Thunder Beings. Bright light is often connected with any visual encounter. We have some chemicals in our brain that causes that perception of light when in the presence of the Other. And as well UFOs have bright lights. Giving rise to the concepts of Ra (sun god) and enlightenment.

But most interesting are the guardian angels, they are like an invisible force which can actually save you or block some danger from harming you. And not as a imaginary fantasy, but not everyone will recall or have such an experience.

Well, those are some the facts about Angels.

Oh yeah, forgot about the Anahiem Angels, great game eh? Can't leave out the sports fans.

[Lava]

crayola:

"Angels are defined in New Testament as "ministering spirits"."

"May also be characterized as "administrators" of the word of God"


Technosoul:

"We have Biblical interpretatons that angels are the messingers of a God in heaven."


Now I only know one thing on planet earth that fits all the above perfectly: people that show up and somehow really lift one's spirits, turn despair into hope, pain into peace, etc. We call them angels.

They tend to be met with 'oh wow' and 'gosh,' and some kind of renewal and/or realisation.

Theyre mostly people you only see once: meet them regularly and they quickly quit being angelic :)

It is easy to see the shift of usage to describe physical beauty.


Lava

[Starboy]

Angels are just explanations. What actually happened is anybodies guess.

Starboy

[Technosoul]

Originally posted by Lava, crayola: "Angels are defined in New Testament as "ministering spirits"." "May also be characterized as "administrators" of the word of God" Technosoul: "We have Biblical interpretatons that angels are the messingers of a God in heaven." Now I only know one thing on planet earth that fits all the above perfectly: people that show up and somehow really lift one's spirits, turn despair into hope, pain into peace, etc. We call them angels. They tend to be met with 'oh wow' and 'gosh,' and some kind of renewal and/or realisation. Theyre mostly people you only see once: meet them regularly and they quickly quit being angelic :) It is easy to see the shift of usage to describe physical beauty. Lava

So the biblical angels who walk in the fire and did not catch on fire, in the story about Daniel and his friends, were just normal people?

The TV show "touched by an Angel" is entertaining but a little silly.

What about the angel that visited the Vigin Mary in her bedroom late at night? Just some guy from off the street who wanted to be "nice".

Now I know about the book "Angels Amoung Us" by Ruth, who also wrote the book "Aliens Among Us" about us "Walk-ins". None the less, that might be one way to use the word angel, we often call other people angels when they do something real nice, I think I did menton that in my presentation.

Even old blues singers do that "Sweet black angel, I love how she spreads her wings ..... etc.

We have a store near my house called "Pet Angels" also. And in that famous book about angels in mythology they showed pictures of lots of animals with wings that normally don't have wings.

And so the word does have many meanings and not just one meaning.

[Technosoul]

Originally posted by Starboy, Angels are just explanations. What actually happened is anybodies guess. Starboy

Anybody can guess, but in my case I did not have to guess, cause I knew.

[Lava]

QUOTE Technosoul

>So the biblical angels who walk in the fire and did not catch on fire, in the story about Daniel and his friends, were just normal people?

Well, if you believe everything in the bible thats upto you, you'll need to work it out. We do however know that people have indeed walked over firey coals without harm.


> What about the angel that visited the Vigin Mary in her bedroom late at night? Just some guy from off the street who wanted to be "nice".

With respect I dont really think Mary was a virgin. Of course it was the only explanation she could give if she wanted to stay alive. Remarkably, she got away with it. If stories like that were circulated nowadays no-one would take them seriously. Back then people were a tad less educated I guess.

Re her angel, I've no idea whether it was a person, a dream, whether she'd eaten bread made with mouldy wheat, or whether it was just another of her tall stories. To put myself in her shoes for a moment, there must have been some serious doubts about her claimed virgin story, she needed a bit more to it to strengthen peoples' belief enough for them to let her live. You realise that back then marriage of a women found to not be a virgin meant a death sentence for her?


> And so the word does have many meanings and not just one meaning.

Yes I agree with you on that. Strong words do tend to find derivative uses. But its original core meaning? I suspect there is only one.


Lava

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Technosoul,+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Technosoul,)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Starboy, Angels are just explanations. What actually happened is anybodies guess. Starboy

Anybody can guess, but in my case I did not have to guess, cause I knew.[/b][/quote]

Let me guess, you became an undercover angel, penetrated their organization and are working on your exposé that will blow the whole thing wide open.

Starboy

[Lava]

I dont believe 'angels' explains anything, any more than 'miracles' does. (Note I believe miracles are perfectly consistent with the laws of science.)

Lava

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Lava, I dont believe 'angels' explains anything, any more than 'miracles' does. (Note I believe miracles are perfectly consistent with the laws of science.) Lava

Sure, of course. You see it all the time in science, "and then a miracle occured."

Starboy

[Lava]

I'm beginning to wish a miracle would occur on this forum.

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Lava, I'm beginning to wish a miracle would occur on this forum.

Then conjure one up. You are the one convinced of miracles.

Starboy

[Technosoul]

Originally posted by Starboy,+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Starboy,)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Originally posted by Technosoul,@ <!--QuoteBegin-Starboy, Angels are just explanations. What actually happened is anybodies guess. Starboy Anybody can guess, but in my case I did not have to guess, cause I knew.

Let me guess, you became an undercover angel, penetrated their organization and are working on your exposé that will blow the whole thing wide open.

Starboy[/b][/quote]

No, I mean I just got done explaining the many different meanings for the word or title - angel. And as well gave the historical backgound, and so I covered all the bases, because I already knew it.

If you had done the same researh you would also have known.

[Technosoul]

You see we have on one hand the skeptics who claim to represent science and on the other hand you have the Christians who claim to understand the bible. Our forum is made up of mostly those two groups and is lacking anyone with real spirtual experience of a first hand nature.

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Technosoul, No, I mean I just got done explaining the many different meanings for the word or title - angel. And as well gave the historical backgound, and so I covered all the bases, because I already knew it. If you had done the same researh you would also have known.

So what? The term spirit also has many meanings. Who cares about the prosaic meanings that everyone has first hand experience with. Such uses also have many other words that can be used instead of angel. The intent of the OP was clear. There is a specific kind of angel it is talking about.

Starboy