Pagan angelkin here, responding somewhat to the confession by the Christian angelkin, but also more general thoughts. I understand anon was trying to sort out feelings and genuinely trying to understand, but it really rubbed me the wrong way as a wingless, non-Christian angel.
Honestly, speaking as a former Christian, this is kind of why the community is averse to Christianity. A lot of Christian people, while claiming to support others, also have the underlying holier-than-thou attitude or belief that the people acting or believing non-Christian are "disrespectful" even though they themselves don't actually have as much knowledge about their own religion to make that claim.
Now, speaking as someone who has studied Christian theology and angelology from a historical and cultural anthropological lens, technically you can also say the winged humanoids of modern Christianity "aren't angels". Why? Because angels in the Bible actually don't have wings.
They had no described appearance prior to the creation of humanity, and afterwards, are described to look no different from humans. The portrayal of winged angels came much later in Christianity's history, after adopting Greek motifs such as the wings of the gods Nike or Hermes. "Angel" as a word even came from this, from the Greek "angelos" meaning "messenger".
In line with this, the nine choirs of angels don't have full basis in the Bible; Christian theologians to this day actually still argue whether the wheels from the book of Ezekiel are even considered angels.
My point isn't that certain beings aren't angels of course. It's that even Christians have an ever-changing view towards angels. What is a "real angel" to you isn't a "real angel" to another culture or even to another denomination of Christianity. "Angel" etymologically just means a messenger or servant spirit of a god.
Winged angels, wingless angels, animalistic angels, non-humanoid angels, non-Christian hierarchy angels? All valid.
Because throughout human history, nobody truly knows what angels are. And that's how it's meant to be, that we are incomprehensible and never fully grasped by human minds.
🌌
Pagan angelkin here, responding somewhat to the confession by the Christian angelkin, but also more general thoughts. I understand anon was trying to sort out feelings and genuinely trying to understand, but it really rubbed me the wrong way as a wingless, non-Christian angel.
Honestly, speaking as a former Christian, this is kind of why the community is averse to Christianity. A lot of Christian people, while claiming to support others, also have the underlying holier-than-thou attitude or belief that the people acting or believing non-Christian are "disrespectful" even though they themselves don't actually have as much knowledge about their own religion to make that claim.
Now, speaking as someone who has studied Christian theology and angelology from a historical and cultural anthropological lens, technically you can also say the winged humanoids of modern Christianity "aren't angels". Why? Because angels in the Bible actually don't have wings.
They had no described appearance prior to the creation of humanity, and afterwards, are described to look no different from humans. The portrayal of winged angels came much later in Christianity's history, after adopting Greek motifs such as the wings of the gods Nike or Hermes. "Angel" as a word even came from this, from the Greek "angelos" meaning "messenger".
In line with this, the nine choirs of angels don't have full basis in the Bible; Christian theologians to this day actually still argue whether the wheels from the book of Ezekiel are even considered angels.
My point isn't that certain beings aren't angels of course. It's that even Christians have an ever-changing view towards angels. What is a "real angel" to you isn't a "real angel" to another culture or even to another denomination of Christianity. "Angel" etymologically just means a messenger or servant spirit of a god.
Winged angels, wingless angels, animalistic angels, non-humanoid angels, non-Christian hierarchy angels? All valid.
Because throughout human history, nobody truly knows what angels are. And that's how it's meant to be, that we are incomprehensible and never fully grasped by human minds.
🌌