# What's Up With Angels?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [January 27, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192 "2008-01-27T15:10:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/1 "2008-01-27T15:10:17Z")
They don’t seem to factor in these days! In the Old Testament times, they were frequently mentioned as interacting with humans. In NT times, JC had contatc with them, and they are mentioned as being present at his birth. But, after Paul, they seem to have faded out… except for some Christain mystics of the Middle Ages, they don’t seem to have any presence.
So, what are they up to these days?
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/2 "2008-01-27T15:47:58Z")
The term “angel” (“malak” in Hebrew) literally means “messenger, emissary” (in the sense of someone bringing a formal message from a ruler); the name Malachi literally means “my messenger”. Under the influence of Zoroastrian metaphysics, it took on the sense of “one of a species of supernatural being, especially the lowest rank thereof.” The play between the two meanings is important to the early parts of the Book of Revelation, where the “angel of the Church at Ephesus” actually is intended to mean “the bishop, as spokesman for God, of the Church at Ephesus,” but also carries the sense of “guardian angel over…”
Many conservative Christians would say that you’re mistaking the **work** of angels, which goes on every day, for the **apparition** of angels, which is rare and conditioned on a special exertion of the divine will.
Me, I keep a neutral viewpoint. God sends messengers, sure. Most often they’re human beings doing His will. It’s easy to mistake them for the deranged dude who “has a message from God” (which happens to correspond closely with his own personal prejudices and beliefs). Supernatural spiritual entities? Maybe. It’s not an article of faith, and I have no proof either way.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/3 "2008-01-27T16:03:28Z")
Well, the Old Testament takes place over a long time and involves some unique characters so I wouldn’t take it to mean that angelic visits were common to the rank and file population.
There’s also a ton of modern tales from people claiming to have been visited by angels. I’ll leave it for you to decide if these people are correct or not but, even in the Bible, angelic vists are usually private affairs where the visit or vision is only experienced by one or a couple of people. Or, if there’s a lot of folks involved, most are unaware of the angel’s divine origins (see the story of Sodom). Joseph Smith’s supposed angelic visitation was the start of the Mormon faith. Soldiers claimed to have seen angels at the [Battle of Mons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons) during WWI.
Malcom Goodwin in Angels: An Endangered Species suggests that modern accounts of angels tend to get conflated with accounts of UFOs or alien visitations these days and I’d guess anyone claiming to have seen either is dismissed as a crackpot whereas, back in the day, claiming to have seen an angel got more respect.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/4 "2008-01-27T20:39:06Z")
Although it doesn’t answer the question of “What happened to angels after biblical accounts?”, here’s all you ever wanted to know about angels: [Staff Report: What’s the deal with angels?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mangels.html)
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/5 "2008-01-27T23:34:55Z")
You don’t watch Oprah much, do you? She’s had lots of shows about people’s angelic experiences.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/6 "2008-01-28T00:40:05Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]
Although it doesn’t answer the question of “What happened to angels after biblical accounts?”, here’s all you ever wanted to know about angels: [Staff Report: What’s the deal with angels?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mangels.html)
[/QUOTE]
Your link didn’t work for me…
[Try this one](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mangels.html)
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/7 "2008-01-28T01:50:33Z")
(Sorry, I fixed the link in my original post)
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/8 "2008-01-29T05:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jophiel]
Soldiers claimed to have seen angels at the [Battle of Mons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons) during WWI.
[/QUOTE]
Angels? Thought it was [heavy fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mons) by “the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, (who,) in a classic rearguard action, held nine German battalions while suffering severe casualties until being cut off and finally overwhelmed on the 27 August at Etreux, only 240 men surviving. But they secured the unmolested withdrawal of their division, II Corps falling back to Le Cateau and I Corps to Landrecies.” This was still when the BEF was fielding trained soldiers, who could crank out MANY more-or-less-aimed rounds per minute from their SMLEs, so many that German units believed they were advancing against machine guns.
I **really** hate it when supernatural forces are credited with what was hard work by heroic men.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-angels/435192/9 "2008-01-29T06:39:35Z")
I’m not saying it _happened_ just as I’m not saying that any angelic visitation happened. I’m just saying that tales of angelic visits didn’t end in the first century.