Are There Angels Beside Us?

March 22nd, 2010 by GuestBlogger

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There has been a lot of books written about angels, telling the reader what they are , where they come from and how they come to the assistance of human beings but none of the authors of those books have actually asked or answered the question do they exist at all.

Should we accept their existence with blind faith or should we in today’s cynical world stop and look at the possibility that the ‘angels‘ which have been reported to have wrought such deeds and acts of help are nothing more than figments of a simple person’s interpretation of a circumstance which is beyond their comprehension?

Many of us have been made aware of the ‘existence’ of the mighty angels that, we have been told, hover around the throne of God and also of the fate of one fallen angel, who tradition has it became the Devil and rules in the nether regions. But to believe any of this we must have Faith we are told, but is that enough?

Because any particular occurrence is unexplainable to us does that mean it has a spiritual origin? Just because we can’t explain it or because others believe differently should we be considered wrong? In the time of Galileo it was considered heresy when a priest declared that the earth went round the sun. All the other religious people of the day said that the sun went around the earth. Because of his views the priest was arrested and burned at the stake.

Why should we deny the beliefs of others if it gives them comfort? Can we honestly say that angels do not exist? Of course we can’t, just as believers cannot prove to our satisfaction that angels don’t exist neither can believers prove that they do.

Why not just accept that things do exist that are beyond our comprehension? Why not just be grateful that due to some unexplained happening lives have been saved and people rescued from what would have been disastrous circumstances?

I think what does make me apprehensive about the existence of spiritual beings is that as soon as one person steps forward and says they have had an encounter with an angel thousands of other people jump on the bandwagon and declare that they too have had such experiences. Common sense must tell us that many of these people are opportunists all eager to spout about their own miraculous encounters when in fact they are out to make a fast buck.

This leaves the experiences of true believers even harder to accept. ‘They’re making it up’ we say, ‘What a load of nonsense’, we reply to their tales of close encounters with what they believe are angels.

The only ones of these people who reach prominence are the ones who can tell the best, most dramatic and heart rending stories. What a shame, just as early Christians were penalised for their faith so the honest people, those who truly believe in the existence of angels will be lumped together with all those shysters who are always out there ready to declaim beliefs, confess to murders or insist that they were abducted by aliens.

Do we really live in a time of such intolerance that people are not free to believe what they want, I don’t think so? As long as the views we hold don’t harm anyone or we don’t attempt to make people believe the way we do by force or threat of injury I think we should all be free to hold our own views on anything at all without threat of punishment.

Now I’m sure if you have read this far you will be wondering where I stand on the question of angels. Do I or do I not believe in their existence? I have never witnessed any dramatic episodes that I could attribute to them and as far as I know none of my family has either. Having said that I cannot deny there are such beings but my big problem is that as someone who believes in God should I attribute the fact that I survived a very serious illness to the surgeon, to the aftercare I received or to God or my guardian angel? I also know that people were praying for my recovery, do I think it was their prayers that made my recovery possible? I hate to feel that by giving credit to one I denigrate the contributions of the others.

I think the bottom line must be that it certainly does no harm to believe in angels if it brings you comfort but don’t expect unbelievers to understand your views. Just go on quietly believing and accepting that you do have a ‘special’ entity that is there to watch over you and to be beside you when you most need help.

I think it best to keep your believes to yourself if you don’t want to be overwhelmed by those people I mentioned earlier who are only too ready to regale you with their spurious accounts of encounters with angels! Those kinds of people make it bad for all of us because if you believe you don’t want to be associated with frauds and if you don’t believe you don’t want to be bored by untrue accounts from people who are just seeking their 15 minutes of fame.

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