Rousseau_CHN

I promise to do that if you, atheist and theist alike, could answer the one question that is bothering me: Angels.

Why is it that man have to face temptation and suffer pain to be with God? While Angels, on the otherhand, were already created to be with God--without facing temptation of suffering pain?

It just doesn't seem fair.

Rousseau_CHN

...and God being a God of Justice and Fairness.

Melkor

I think that some of the "reasoning" behind it is that Angels™ don't have Free Will™. In that sense, being in the presence of God isn't so much a "reward" as it is a burden.

braces_for_impact

According to standard christian doctrine Angels do have free will, how else would Satan rebel? This does leave open that this life is not required and we could have simply been put in the presence of god. Which opens a viscious can of worms in my opinion.

viscousmemories

I wonder if angels are still rebelling and going to join Lucifer these days. If angels had "free will" prior to Lucifier's being cast out, surely they still do. Isn't it disturbing to think that your guardian angel might get pissed off some day and turn on you?

Melkor

I'm not really certain that Satan did rebel.

The Bibbbbble is a bit obscure on that particular point.

Arvel Joffi

Easy answer.

Ancient myth for primitive cultures that people just WON'T FREAKIN' LET GO!

That said, let's continue evolving now. Move along. Move along.

Shake

Two short answers:

1. Go rent Dogma
2. What ArvelJoffi said!

braces_for_impact

I do think that it's interesting (and another bible/dogma contradiction). Melkor is right when he says the bible is ambiguous on the point of Satan's fall, in fact it never mentions it at all. There is a passage about Lucifer in Isaiah, but that refers to a king, not Satan. Nor does Genesis say anything about Satan tempting Eve, it says serpent. Satan in the bible is actually god's angel, his function is to tempt and be an adversary. (In fact, Satan is greek for adversary). There are several biblical references where Satan is in a place of importance and hardly referred to as god's archenemy, until we get to revelations.

But as I have posted the likes of this several times this week already, I now go to the snack machine for a candy bar.

Good day!

Melkor

In fact, some translations of Job, for instance, make it sound like Satan is in fact just another facet of God's consciousness... almost as if he is talking to himself in the various dialogues that go on in that book.

I'm rather of the opinion that "Satan" as the popular concept is much less rooted in the Bibbble than most "Christians" think.

Or, as I have seen discussed around here, the concept of "Hell" as a part of the afterlife, for that matter.