Chuck,
According to scripture, angels are spirits (Hebrews 1:14), but they
interact physically (Genesis 18; 19:1-17; 32:24-29; Judges 6:11-21; Acts
12:7-9), as well as deliver messages. The deity, as the source of all
creation, is obviously in control of every aspect of it. But this cannot
be as a cause among other causes. However, this is different in kind from
the causal connection in the angelic activities. It is not always spirit
to spirit, as visions may be. So how does angelic "stuff" act on our
matter? One answer that has been given is that this spirit is matter that
is out of phase with ours, something that cannot be detected. But that
makes it totally noninteracting. So that does not seem explanatory. Since
angels are apparently not confined to earth, they fit the definition of
ET. All this, of course, merely adds to the confusion, which fits what I
often told my classes: when the confusion becomes total, you have become
a philosopher.
Dave
On Thu, 18 Jan 2001 22:34:11 -0500 "Vandergraaf, Chuck"
<vandergraaft@aecl.ca> writes:
Dave,
I did mention that this topic has been discussed before and I quite agree
with your thoughts. I suppose, if you consider angels as ETL, there have
been many encounters recorded in the Scriptures and those encounters
would have been between fallen and non-fallen creatures. Yet, it is not
clear to me how "real" (in the sense of material) these angels are. At
times they are portrayed as having physical attributes but they seem to
appear and disappear in the strangest way, as if they didn't (always)
have to obey our physical laws. Note that I'm saying that angles are not
real; all I'm saying is that they don't appear to be made out of "stuff"
like we are. I suppose this could start a whole new discussion. ;-)
Like yours, my imagination is somewhat limited when it comes to this sort
of topic.
Chuck
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