While I can still imagine a God entity, I find the frequently mentioned Biblical concept of angels more of a challenge. Neither fish nor fowl, these awkward creatures straddle the oceanic divide between godliness and humanity. God has an army of them. In between visits to the Heavenly Feather Emporium and Bleaching Salon, they find time to dabble in such diverse activities as bearing news (good or bad), protecting innocents, slaying male babies, going on dates with the daughters of the earth, and escorting dead people to their new villa in the sky.
Angels, we are told by those who have seen them, are ubiquitous, massively built fellows with wings and tonnes of 'tude. They usually wear white robes and do good deeds. It has become fashionable in some subcultures to believe in a “guardian angel”, supposedly a departed soul with nothing better to do than defying the laws of physics on your behalf.
Where, mythologically speaking, did these guys come from … and why would an all powerful god need such a vast army of go-betweens?
Still, I’m not complaining - if it wasn’t for angels, we would be denied a number of pretty awesome flicks such as Dogma and Michael!
Of course angels are neither fish nor fowl. Anglers don’t catch angels and they probably don’t lay eggs. (I mean the angels, not the anglers.) They’re insects.
I’m rather partial to angels (the dust collecting kind), a remnant of growing up with them littered in my bedroom, from angels reading books (to inspire me to study) to angels holding babies (to inspire an aspiration to be like my mother and breed like a bunny rabbit). I still have a few laying about.
Logically though, they’re the most obvious “proof” that god is’nt omni whatever, why would such a being require assistance from an army of angels/demons if it was?
Demoted angels
A third belief held that they were a class of "demoted" angels.[22] One popular story held that when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became devils, and those caught in between became fairies.[23] Others held that they had been thrown out of heaven, not being good enough, but they were not evil enough for hell.[24] This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a "teind" or tithe to Hell. As fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subject of the Devil.[25] For a similar concept in Persian mythology, see Peri.