I always wanna point this out because I was taught in church that angels were a totally seperate being from humans. In fact I was taught that Lucifer was cast out because he would not serve humans. Meaning he was a different kind of being than humans and he thought angels were better. When people say oh uncle George is an angel now it always strikes me as someone who didnt read their bible well. Am I wrong? Ive only seen a few people being referred to as angels in the bible and was taught that it was a misinterpretation. The actual term should have been messenger.

I  was taught that angels were different than people as well.  And I was also taught that Lucifer or the Devil or whatever name you want to call him, was one of God's angels and he turned bad, so he was cast out of heaven.  I don't remember the reason why however.

Our Wednesday night sermon series this spring was on heaven.  Our pastor did a great job with clearing up some common misconceptions... one of those points was that humans are not angels.  In heaven, humans will not become angles.  We have always been human, we will always be human. 

This was part of the blurb on angels that we were taught:

God has created two sorts of personal beings: humans and angels.  Angels are "intelligent moral agents" that are not embodied or ordinarily visible, but are able to manifest themselves in what appears to be a physical form (as referenced throughout the Bible).

Like humans in the beginning, angels were also on "probation" (ie: their status before the Fall).  While all of humanity fell into sin, some angels (Lucifer among them) did as well.  Those angels who fell were cast out of heaven.

Angels reside in heaven, where they go out at God's command to render service to Christians.  These angels protect believers (not sure on the specifics of that or how it works) and observe what goes on in the church (fuzzy on details there as well).

The Bible implies that angels have a special ministry to believers at the time of their death (escorting the souls of believers into heaven at the moment of their death, for example).

In certain instances in the Old Testament, the "Angel of God" is in some sense God acting as His own messenger, and is often seen as a preincarnate appearance of God as the Son.

Sorry if that's more info than you needed, but I found the study (especially the part on angels) really interesting.  It was basically just a really long way to say, "You're not wrong.  People and angels are different."  :)

Ah thank you. That was not TMI. Rarely can there be too much info in a conversation like this. What sparked this thought in my head was a TV show called Ghostly Encounters. I had it recorded on my DVR and I know it was old so I have no clue when the origional air date was but I just watched it tonight.

Anyway the topic was Angels and Demons. All the people where convinced that either someone they loved had become an angel and protected them somehow or some malevolent person became a demon and tormented them. Most of them claimed that invoking a christian prayer got rid of the demon or made them feel at peace with the angel so I have to assume they were christians. That smacks of a person not reading their bible to me.

I believe that angels are not "dead people."  Dead people are spirits.   I believe we have guardian angels, but I prefer to call them "spirit guides."

There are some people who believe that angels and other elementals can carnate on earth.  One of the major pushers of this belief is Doreen Virtue.  I've read some of her stuff and some of it feels like "truth,"  but a bunch of other concepts feel like bull. 

Good question, Christina.

In my belief's and channelings ,  Angels were never human or people. Thats why we have both spirit guides And Angels to guide us.  Humans can't become Angels but they can become spirt guides. This might be a little out there depending on what you believe, but recently i was meditating/channeling with both my angels and spirit guide and i asked them if they could communicate with each other, because i rarely communicate with them at the same time. And they said yes, but they are on different planes or dimensions.

I dont mean to step on the toes of people who believe in a non christian concept of angels. Im talking people who claim christianity as their religion but still think people become angels. Thats just not how it works in the bible.

ETA Im also not trying to tell people how to worship but it doesnt make sense how the concept can be twisted into people becoming angels with its from what I remember pretty plainly stated that angels are a seperate kind of being.

My mother is christian and last i knew she believed people can become angels. I'm not sure why.

I don't know that I've met a Christian who believed that people became angels.  (I'm sure they are out there). 

They have always been pretty separate in my book.  I know some people will say, "so-and-so is an angel now" after they have died, but at least as far as I know they are being more euphemistic.  I've heard this especially when people are talking to smaller children about someone who has died.  I think that has more to do with this culture's (culture meaning America, not Christians specifically) views, attitudes, fears, of death, which is another topic.

One difference between angels and humans is that angels have no faith.  That may sound odd, but think about it.  They don't need faith to believe in God - they KNOW in the very concrete sense that God exists - they've met Him.  So they don't have faith like humans do. 

Who says the Bible is the authority on angels?  I very much believe that people who cross over have a vested interest in what happens here, and will often look after (though not interfere with) those whom they loved here in the material world.   I think Spirit Guides and Angels are the same thing, though not all Angels are Spirit Guides.

Lisa, I'd love to talk to you more about your experiences.  I have had "readings" by someone who supposedly has access to the Akashic record, and "channels," for lack of a better word, information about past and present lives.  Most of the srtuff she touched on was spot-on. 

As I said Im not talking about a non christian concept of angels. Im talking about people who claim to be christian that believe that a person can become an angel or demon.

Chris, If you only want Christian responses, maybe you'd getter better results posting this in the Christian forum.

L, Who is ZJ? Zombie Jesus?

Devo is here on my 15th anniversary. Sadly, my wife isn't the fan I am. Oh well.

Ah but I got an answer in this forum ;)

I'd be more than happy to talk about it L. Just let me know what you want to know.. =).. I love talking Angels. They found me a seat on the subway instantly today! lol..

Bob - go.  You will not regret it.  It will probably be one of the only times you will get to see them.

I have not seen them yet and cannot die until I do.  Duty Now For The Future is my favorite all time, I think.  They were so incredibly ahead of their time.  I have an awesome blinkie of GWB saying "Devo was right about everything!" and wearing an energy dome. :)

Lisa, will PM you went I get some time. :)

Chris - sorry, I hadn't read your second response when I wrote that.

NP L its kinda buried in there.

These are the random things that bug me and keep me awake when I should be sleeping. I wonder about stuff other than religion too but religion is a big one for me. Most religions dont really make total sense to me so I wonder about them.

I think that angels and humans are different creatures.  But I have read that angels take on human form.  So, sometimes I wonder if maybe angels take on the forms of people who are familiar to us (Grandma or whatever) when they appear to those who are in danger so that we will not be afraid.  Hence, the loved ones/angel connection.  It's kind of an "out there" thought, but it is something I have pondered. 

From what I understand Tracey they do take a human like form but not of other people. They take a form that humans can recognize as familiar. At least thats what I remember. I tried to look it up but I dont know where to look. I tried just searching angels and then adding different words but I got no real results from the bible search that I use.

I guess in ordinary speech I'll refer to something as an angel when I mean spirit. My concept of angels is that there are a few of them, Michael and his brothers and sisters, and that they are messengers from God, when he was too busy to come down himself (to wrestle with Jacob, perhaps), or to take care of other matters for the Almighty.

I believe that we are energy, that our spirit, our soul, our spark of the divine, the thing that makes us uniquely us, is energy, and since I know that energy is neither created or destroyed, our spirit survives after we've worn out this particular body. I'm hazy on the details after that. :-)

My second wife died here night before last. She had been ill for some time, refused to go to hospice, so we had her come here, since we have this big old house and it's convenient and comfortable for the kids, and we set up a bed and such in our living room. (Have I mentioned that I'm married to a saint?) She died quietly. I felt her spirit stay with us for awhile, about an hour. I gathered one of my sobbing daughters close to me, and I said, "Mom is an angel now, can you feel her here with us?" I used "angel" because it is a familiar word, a comfort word. For precision, I should have said "spirit" and not "angel" but precision of word choice was not on my list at that moment.

Chris, I don't know if that's an explanation or not. I offer it FWIW.

I actually stumble on if aliens and angels are different.   I think that people can become angels, like enoch.

 That's just me though.

From what I understand, angels are spiritual beings that have never had a physical body; however can appear in any form, including human or any element that can be 'sensed'.   Some people think that anyone or anything who has 'helped' them in a time of crises; especially spiritually or uplifting of their soul is an angel.  I don't disagree... 

Do you think Les is less "hazy on the details" now? And has his spirit been reunited with that of his "angel wife"?