I've never really had a particular interest in looking into Angelology. Other then believing in their existance I've pretty much had a similar visual picture as most people do. Guys with wings that you don't want mess with. And I only say that based upon some of the OT narratives of them annihilating entire armies. Not particularly comforting to the pacifist but that is how it went down according to the vast majority of Christians.
What I found particularly interesting is that not all angels are the same. By same, I'm not speaking of authority or hierarchy, I'm talking of the same species if you will. That was fascinating to me! A taxonomy of angels! In fact, it's probably incorrect to call them human. I will however note that a hierarchy definately exist in the world of angels (with Seraphs being at the top and archangels follow). It's unclear from a catholic perspective if Satan (Lucifer) was a Seraph but we know he was indeed high ranking; along with Michael who is mentioned by name.
Probably better suited for the sub-forum of Angelology but I figured I'd get more of a crowd here.
So if you go back to the beginning, on our account angels were created first and the human species followed. It was with this that God said "create them in our likeness".......So when I read that angels were different species I naturally looked to the begining on what exactly was meant by "likeness". Now, I do want to note that from a catholic perspective it's never been meant to be taken hyper-literally in that we believed God had hands and feet (this is more Mormon theology if I remember correctly) but I personally did out of pious belief (not official teaching) visualize there was some physical likeness (just couldn't piece it together).
Another tid-bit is that one could almost say (although I will note that some catholics might disagree with me here) that these angels served as gods to others. This gets into a whole other topic but figured it was worth sharing.
How does this differ from what you previously thought or visualized?
What I found particularly interesting is that not all angels are the same. By same, I'm not speaking of authority or hierarchy, I'm talking of the same species if you will. That was fascinating to me! A taxonomy of angels! In fact, it's probably incorrect to call them human. I will however note that a hierarchy definately exist in the world of angels (with Seraphs being at the top and archangels follow). It's unclear from a catholic perspective if Satan (Lucifer) was a Seraph but we know he was indeed high ranking; along with Michael who is mentioned by name.
Probably better suited for the sub-forum of Angelology but I figured I'd get more of a crowd here.
So if you go back to the beginning, on our account angels were created first and the human species followed. It was with this that God said "create them in our likeness".......So when I read that angels were different species I naturally looked to the begining on what exactly was meant by "likeness". Now, I do want to note that from a catholic perspective it's never been meant to be taken hyper-literally in that we believed God had hands and feet (this is more Mormon theology if I remember correctly) but I personally did out of pious belief (not official teaching) visualize there was some physical likeness (just couldn't piece it together).
Another tid-bit is that one could almost say (although I will note that some catholics might disagree with me here) that these angels served as gods to others. This gets into a whole other topic but figured it was worth sharing.
How does this differ from what you previously thought or visualized?
