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<DIV>Lance, with all due respect to what you have been taught, and those who
were your teachers, the Bible says very little about angels, and the Old
Testament seldom even uses the term, explaining almost nothing when it is used.
Christians are taught many things that do not appear in the Bible. Some of it is
derived from Biblical references. I mean, there is something that <EM>could</EM>
mean what later Christians decided it <EM>does</EM> mean, but it could have
meant many other things too. Some of it is simply filled into gaps in what the
Bible does say, again, possibly true, but not authoritatively established.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think it started with Greek philosophers among the early gentile
converts, who had to EXPLAIN everything. (The trinity, for example, is not in
the Bible, but the Greeks had to explain WHY Christians were to baptize in the
name of father, son and holy ghost. The truth is, we don't know why, we just
know that Jesus said to do it. Jesus never explained what the relation of the
Son to the Father, or the Holy Spirit to either one, really was. I have
occasionally toyed with Jesus's question "Why do you call me good? There is none
good but God" as direct refuatation of the Trinity. But I don't know, anymore
than the Nicene Council knew.) One thing the Jewish rabbis had right was, and
still is, that they have no theology. They do not claim or pretend to be able to
explain the nature or character of God. That is simply beyond human
ability.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The notion that Satan is a fallen angel is derived, and I mean derived, not
revealed, from a very obscure passage in the Old Testament about "Lucifer, Son
of the Morning." It is not at all clear from the original that this was an
angel, or has anything to do with the separately named Satan, who is never
identified as an angel either. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It could all be true, but it is not clear and plain Biblical revelation. As
C.S. Lewis remarked in the introduction to <EM>The Screwtape Letters</EM>, the
existence of fallen angels who try to tempt humans "is one of my opinions. My
religion would not be in ruins if this opinion were shown to be false. Till that
happens -- and proofs of a negative are hard to come by -- I shall retain it."
Personally, I take the opposite approach. I see little reason to believe in
devils, or fallen angels, or Satan as the arch-enemy of God, but my religion
would not be in ruins if it turned out to be true. I don't believe much about
angels either. When the Bible says one appeared and said certain words, I accept
that as true. What the angel was, what its nature and origins and capabilities
are, I have no idea.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
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