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Regarding Angels and Free Will
Hey guys, I have a few questions regarding Angels, and I was wondering if you guys can help me.
The first one is; Were angels created with free will? And if they were, do they still have free will? If Satan chose to rebel against God, and have 1/3 of the Angels follow him, does that not mean they had free will?
The second one is; Now the angels witnessed God's love and glory first-hand, right? Why would they ever want to turn away from God, and betray him? When one experiences God's glory, isn't it the most joyous feeling one could have? Why would one want to go against that? And if it was because of the angels' pride, does that mean that there was/is sin in heaven?
And the third one is; Man, through Adam, fell because of his pride, and therefore we took on a sin nature. Now if Satan, who fell because of pride even before man did, fell, how come the angels do not have a sin nature? I have heard answers that we do not believe in original sin, but it makes sense that our natural flesh desires worldy pleasures. Why would angels be any different? Did not Satan desire to be the "God of this world"?.
Thanks a lot for your time, effort, and help, and God bless,
Bassem
The first one is; Were angels created with free will? And if they were, do they still have free will? If Satan chose to rebel against God, and have 1/3 of the Angels follow him, does that not mean they had free will?
The second one is; Now the angels witnessed God's love and glory first-hand, right? Why would they ever want to turn away from God, and betray him? When one experiences God's glory, isn't it the most joyous feeling one could have? Why would one want to go against that? And if it was because of the angels' pride, does that mean that there was/is sin in heaven?
And the third one is; Man, through Adam, fell because of his pride, and therefore we took on a sin nature. Now if Satan, who fell because of pride even before man did, fell, how come the angels do not have a sin nature? I have heard answers that we do not believe in original sin, but it makes sense that our natural flesh desires worldy pleasures. Why would angels be any different? Did not Satan desire to be the "God of this world"?.
Thanks a lot for your time, effort, and help, and God bless,
Bassem
Comments
The first one is; Were angels created with free will? And if they were, do they still have free will? If Satan chose to rebel against God, and have 1/3 of the Angels follow him, does that not mean they had free will?
Yes,the angels have free will.
[quote author=bassemtossoun link=topic=7757.msg101184#msg101184 date=1237787026]
The second one is; Now the angels witnessed God's love and glory first-hand, right? Why would they ever want to turn away from God, and betray him? When one experiences God's glory, isn't it the most joyous feeling one could have? Why would one want to go against that? And if it was because of the angels' pride, does that mean that there was/is sin in heaven?
Yes, it was pride. There is no sin in heaven. As for pride I have an idea for the answer but I dont know if it is correct so I dont want to post something that is wrong.
[quote author=bassemtossoun link=topic=7757.msg101184#msg101184 date=1237787026]
And the third one is; Man, through Adam, fell because of his pride, and therefore we took on a sin nature. Now if Satan, who fell because of pride even before man did, fell, how come the angels do not have a sin nature? I have heard answers that we do not believe in original sin, but it makes sense that our natural flesh desires worldy pleasures. Why would angels be any different? Did not Satan desire to be the "God of this world"?.
I am not 100% certain on this either, but as far as I know we do not have a sinful nature because God created ONLY good not evil. We are the ones with our weakness and sin corrupt our nature. Aswell we inherit the consequence of the original sin.. not the original sin itself, from my understanding that is...
I hope I am not forming heresies here.. ;D
Somebody please correct me if I am wrong
please keep my weakness in your prayers
-your sister in Christ
[quote author=bassemtossoun link=topic=7757.msg101184#msg101184 date=1237787026]
The first one is; Were angels created with free will? And if they were, do they still have free will? If Satan chose to rebel against God, and have 1/3 of the Angels follow him, does that not mean they had free will?
Yes,the angels have free will.
[quote author=bassemtossoun link=topic=7757.msg101184#msg101184 date=1237787026]
The second one is; Now the angels witnessed God's love and glory first-hand, right? Why would they ever want to turn away from God, and betray him? When one experiences God's glory, isn't it the most joyous feeling one could have? Why would one want to go against that? And if it was because of the angels' pride, does that mean that there was/is sin in heaven?
Yes, it was pride. There is no sin in heaven. As for pride I have an idea for the answer but I dont know if it is correct so I dont want to post something that is wrong.
[quote author=bassemtossoun link=topic=7757.msg101184#msg101184 date=1237787026]
And the third one is; Man, through Adam, fell because of his pride, and therefore we took on a sin nature. Now if Satan, who fell because of pride even before man did, fell, how come the angels do not have a sin nature? I have heard answers that we do not believe in original sin, but it makes sense that our natural flesh desires worldy pleasures. Why would angels be any different? Did not Satan desire to be the "God of this world"?.
I am not 100% certain on this either, but as far as I know we do not have a sinful nature because God created ONLY good not evil. We are the ones with our weakness and sin corrupt our nature. Aswell we inherit the consequence of the original sin.. not the original sin itself, from my understanding that is...
I hope I am not forming heresies here.. ;D
Somebody please correct me if I am wrong
please keep my weakness in your prayers
-your sister in Christ
Thank you much for your help. Your answers were great and helped a lot. Hopefully someone can help answer the questions that you could not. Thanks so much for your help once again and may God Bless you.
Bassem
I am not 100% certain on this either, but as far as I know we do not have a sinful nature because God created ONLY good not evil. We are the ones with our weakness and sin corrupt our nature. Aswell we inherit the consequence of the original sin.. not the original sin itself, from my understanding that is...
I hope I am not forming heresies here.. ;D
Somebody please correct me if I am wrong
Correction, we have a sinful/corrupt nature due to Adam's sin. We do not inherit Adam's original sin, that is true, but we inherited the sinful nature. Here are two of Anba Youssef's statement regarding this:
The verse "For that all have sinned," is to be regarded as explanatory of the belief that death passed down to all, in consequence of the sin of the one man. We are born with Adam's sin and its consequence, which is death; for death is the wage of sin. Adam's sin has infected all his posterity; and the corrupt nature inherited from Adam drags all his posterity into sin. When St. Paul says, "so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned" he can only mean, that all are held to have taken part in that first sin. All are born with a sinful nature; and the seeds of this evil soon vegetate, and bring forth corresponding fruit. There has never been one instance of an immaculate human soul since the fall of Adam not even St. Mary. St. Paul also says, "For if by the one man's offense death reigned" (Rom 5:17) and "Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men" (Rom 5:18).
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Rom 5:19).
David the prophet says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalms 50[51]:5).
and
The consequence of Adam's sin is not guilt but death and the corrupt nature. Death means being separated from God. Adam and Eve's disobedience made them both dead. A dead person cannot give life. Therefore, we are born dead, and it is only through baptism that we are born again regaining the image of God, which Adam had enjoyed before his fall. Thus, everyone born from Adam is dead and this is different from bearing the sins of our fathers and father's fathers since God made it clear to us that no one will bear the guilt of his father or his son, "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself" (Ezek 18:20).
Thank you soo much for the correction, please forgive me.
please keep me in your prayers
-sister in Christ