Becoming an Angel

I remember hearing some variant of this line all the time concerning the death of loved ones:
"They went to heaven and became angels, so they can watch over us"

Now I'm under the impression that being an angel is more of a role rather than a specific species, since so many kinds seem to exist. Under that impression I don't see anything that would really stop something from filling in that role and becoming an angel... yet I often hear that nothing else but those that were angels to being with can be true angels.

So my question is this: Do you think non-angels could become angels? If a deity...let's say God for ease of use, decided he wanted some other spirit/soul to become his celestial servant, what's stopping him from making said spirit into specifically an angelic spirit? If they can't be angels, what would they be?

Well, first up, I don't believe in "souls/spirits" anyway so to me the concept of taking a human "soul" and turning it into an angel makes absolutely no sense.

The question at the core though, I think, is why would a god bother? If it can make servant-entities at will, why would it bother altering a pre-existing entity, instead of just making a new and perfect one?

If you take angel as meaning "messenger of the divine," then yes, any being can be an angel. However, if you take it a step further to mean an energetic being created by a higher power to be a messenger, then no I don't believe a physical being could become an angel.

I'm with Archer in the concept of, "why would an omnipotent Creator do so?"

I do believe, however, in the concept of Ascension, the process by which one becomes Angelic. Angels are created to serve a purpose and are directly connected to the divinity that made them, similarly I see the process of Ascension as the divinity creating such a connection to another being.

Angels who are loyal and are connected have a reflection of glory from that divine being as a result of their connection, I believe that this strengthens them in their ability to carry out their duties and orders, however as many Fallen Angels claim to have near the same abilities after Falling, that connection is only the aforementioned "glory." (I'd like to take a time out right here to apologize for sounding like a fluffy preacher talking about "glory" as a palpable thing as though it were electricity you get by plugging into the socket on the wall). If a non-Angelic entity is then connected, it would gain whatever benefits this connection brings, but should they "Fall" then would be back to square one.

I believe that we can alter our energy to pose as angelic, but nothing more than that. I believe in ascenscion, but I believe in it in very much the same way as the Hindu concept of reincarnation. If you've proven yourself in one life, you can proceed to a "higher" one, until you become one with the creator, which is very much like being an angel, from what I can tell.

very much so, as Brahman in the Hindu belief is related to the whole of Parramatman, of which each soul is attempting to rejoin.

I don't think you can become an angel and probably never will, but it's a personal belief of mine.

--Sarah

since an Angel is most commonly identified as one that is created by a specific deity as a servant, no creature that came into being can fulfill that requirement of Angelic status...

one such thing that could be one's point of view as to why

Quote:The question at the core though, I think, is why would a god bother? If it can make servant-entities at will, why would it bother altering a pre-existing entity, instead of just making a new and perfect one?

Just for the hell of it? For some other motive that we couldn't understand because we are not deities (perhaps motley could offer some insight <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> )? Why would any spirit bother with anything, or any living creature bother with anything? There's just too many answers to that why and none of them are provable. Hence why I'm not asking that question.

And I'm not just talking about human souls, that was just an example. I'm talking about anything; be it human, elf, cat, dog, or even shadow. Anything that was not originally an angel.

'Just for the hell of it' sounds like a good answer to me! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s --> Deities work in mysterious ways and all that stuff...and every parent's end game involves some variation on 'because I said so!'

My opinion is that any benevolent nonphysical being eventually gets referred to as an angel by monotheistic humans. Cause if you're not with us you're against us. If it's not an angel it's gotta be a demon, right? Which in my opinion leaves the field wide open.

I guess it depends on if you think of 'angel' as a species or as a job.

Hmmm...putting myself in a god's shoes...now how hard can that be? <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

If someone came up to me volunteering for the job and it looked like they could pull it off with some minor adjustments, why would I say no?