PC: non-human angels the default

A Piece of History

Noscoper said:
Anyway you could have the non-human looking angels be the default ?
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As near as I can tell, the whole 'humans become angels' thing comes from a misinterpretation of a Bible verse, from the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
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www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Luke 20 - New International Version

The Authority of Jesus Questioned - One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave...
www.biblegateway.com www.biblegateway.com

So, the POD is simple: don't have people misinterpret this verse. But that's easier said than done, given how old Christianity is and the different purposes religion can be used for.

Noscoper said:
What would be the impact of this.
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We would not see the stereotype that when a human dies, they'll become an angel, since that wasn't in the Bible either. Angels and humans are completely separate beings in heaven.

www.christianity.com

Do We Become Angels When We Die?

The Bible tells us that we, believers, are heirs with Christ. Angels are not, and we do not become angels when we die.
www.christianity.com www.christianity.com


Noscoper said:
How would this affect how Angels are viewed.
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Well, Heaven suddenly becomes a less welcoming place because the idea of humans becoming angels comes from the idea that if you're faithful enough, you get to serve God for all eternity, but I don't think many people would want to go to Heaven if it means being ruled over by demonic-looking beings who are somehow closer to God than humanity is, despite the latter's faith.

Seriously, those angels look like something made by HP Lovecraft.
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

It's a thing in the Old Testament that angels visit people, and aren't even recognized as being more than human until later. Lot and Abram spring to mind. We also have the ambiguous case of the Nephilim - a major tradition claims the 'sons of god' they were descended from were angels.

So it's pretty clear that angels looking like humans has good biblical support.
Of course, as the OP says, angels NOT looking like humans also has support.
 
Mad Bad Rabbit

Mad Bad Rabbit

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stevej713

I think the depiction of angels as essentially human derives from pre-Christian Classical Western artwork that depicted gods in idealized human forms, rather than angelic appearances in the Bible itself. Perhaps if Iconoclasm prevailed in the Byzantine Empire, angels could be given more symbolic depictions in Christian artwork, such as the four sets of wings or the flaming wheel.
 
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Fabius Maximus

Nathan Bernacki said:
Well, Heaven suddenly becomes a less welcoming place because the idea of humans becoming angels comes from the idea that if you're faithful enough, you get to serve God for all eternity, but I don't think many people would want to go to Heaven if it means being ruled over by demonic-looking beings who are somehow closer to God than humanity is, despite the latter's faith.
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Accordingly to Christianity, people who go to Heaven do serve God for all eternity. They just do so as humans, rather than as angels.

Indeed, it seems that the ruling/ruled might even be the other way around: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" says St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6.3.

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
So it's pretty clear that angels looking like humans has good biblical support.
Of course, as the OP says, angels NOT looking like humans also has support.
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I believe the usual explanation is that angels can put on human appearances so as not to frighten us, and the scary HP Lovecraft appearances are their true or default forms.
 

Falecius

Fabius Maximus said:
Accordingly to Christianity, people who go to Heaven do serve God for all eternity. They just do so as humans, rather than as angels.

Indeed, it seems that the ruling/ruled might even be the other way around: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" says St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6.3.


I believe the usual explanation is that angels can put on human appearances so as not to frighten us, and the scary HP Lovecraft appearances are their true or default forms.
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Angels have no inherent material shape, according to most Medieval theological approaches on the matter I know about (in all mainstream Abrahamitic traditions).
 

Walle Ras

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
It's a thing in the Old Testament that angels visit people, and aren't even recognized as being more than human until later. Lot and Abram spring to mind. We also have the ambiguous case of the Nephilim - a major tradition claims the 'sons of god' they were descended from were angels.

So it's pretty clear that angels looking like humans has good biblical support.
Of course, as the OP says, angels NOT looking like humans also has support.
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The Nephilim were not angels.

No one who knows Hebrew thinks that.

What the Torah recorded was power rape.
 
GameBawesome

GameBawesome

There is one thing I can see if people used Biblical Accurate Angels, as above...

How absolutely f****** difficult it would be carve statues to look like one those things

Also, imagine these on Christmas trees
 

A Piece of History

Fabius Maximus said:
Accordingly to Christianity, people who go to Heaven do serve God for all eternity. They just do so as humans, rather than as angels.
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Yeah, but to the regular person, that's not exactly equal. Why should humans be below the angels? It implies there is a hierarchy to Heaven.

Fabius Maximus said:
Indeed, it seems that the ruling/ruled might even be the other way around: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" says St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6.3.
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Yeah, in the Gospel of Peter, it says angels will be judged alongside humans on Judgement Day, so not even angels are above God's scorn.

https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/2 Peter 2:4
 

Thanksforallthefish

'Biblical accurate angels' are ironically more of a modern meme. The Bible mentions angels who look like humans or at least disguise as humans in numerous occassions. The seraphim and ophamin are just another category of angel, not a more "accurate" one.

I could see a more esoteric, perhaps gnostic Christianity putting more emphasis on them. The Christian Bible as we know it today does not get into much details about angels. Christian angelology Is mostly based in secondary sources, many of them of Jewish origin.
 

HARRY

The angels shown are symbolic like the Pyramid with the eye on the US $1 represents God ( All seeing & eternal) in some parts of the bible angelic encounters are described as a roaring of wind hence all those wings. In other parts they are as humans they may be a guest stranger and at least one prophet is said to have wrestled with one which would be hard if it was just a metaphysical form.
 

Fabius Maximus

Nathan Bernacki said:
Yeah, but to the regular person, that's not exactly equal. Why should humans be below the angels? It implies there is a hierarchy to Heaven.
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I mean, Jesus says that certain people will be "great" or "least in the Kingdom of Heaven", so it looks like there is a hierarchy to Heaven, even without angel/human distinctions.
 
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