by Chris Fletcher

Created on: July 02, 2008

In order to accept the idea of angels walking among us here on Earth, one must also accept everything else that goes along with them: specifically, whatever religion the believer has taken as their own, the roles of said angels within the confines of that religion, that particular god's perception of what angels are and what they do, and an idealized idea of how they will appear to people what they look like, how they act and so forth.

This seems, to me, to be an incredible number of variables to consider when looking for the physical or spiritual manifestation of angels walking the planet.

To fully immerse oneself into the notion of angels walking around and doing things for people is simply a way of renouncing responsibility for one's actions. The same is true of believing demons wander the planet as well, dipping their fingers into all sorts of situations and causing malevolence. Is it truly so difficult to believe that a person does good things because they are themselves a good person? Where does this need for attributing angelic qualities to them come from? No person is entirely good or bad, and yet it is believed that angels and demons are just that purely good and purely bad respectively. It is a wonderful way of avoiding the culpability of, say, a crime, by stating the perpetrator was under the influence of a demon. I cannot find evidence for this, since the person is responsible, not some fictional entity whose only role is to cause mischief and suffering.

It is fully rational to believe that an individual can possess angelic tendencies, since this is just a way of praising good deeds. Given that the concept of an angel is that of a truly good entity, a real flesh and blood person is fully at liberty to emulate similar behavior. But this is not some divine intervention, whether through a messenger or a god; it is just the socialized reaction of a person with sound values and empathetic views toward others. The same is true of those who cause pain and chaos no demons involved, just people.

And why is it that people no longer deign angels to have wings and halos? Way back in human history, angels were represented as such in countless paintings because this is how people genuinely believed them to appear. Yet such fanciful attire has been abandoned by modern thinking, labeling it impractical or outrageously idealistic. Why should a god decide to strip his messengers of their trademark visage now? There would be no motivation for doing so, as nobody would be able to consciously recognize them anymore. And that is what angels are for, isn't it? If you are receiving a message from your god, surely you should recognize the speaker as someone (or something) qualified to deliver it. By removing the wings and suchlike, the credibility of the angel itself is called into question.

Angels of a sort do indeed walk among us. But they are regular people like you and I; not some wondrous characters from a book. And since they are just people, they are not angels in the stereotypical form. Therefore no, biblical angels are not here - only us and the things we do.

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