Do you believe in angels?? 77% of Americans do.

[powderman]

Do you believe in angels?  By Joel Miller
Published October 21, 2012
FoxNews.com    A friend once messaged me to mention an encounter with an angel. The way he started his note is very telling: “Would you think your old friend crazy. . . ?” Though we agree on many things, there was a basic and curious assumption that while one of us might believe in angels, the other might regard such belief as loony.
 
It turns out that he had little cause for worry, as I do believe in angels. In fact, some 77 percent of Americans do, according to an AP-GfK poll late last year.
Belief in angels is actually quite widespread in certain parts of the world, though far from universal. While Italians and Croatians are on par with Americans, for instance, no more than a third of Danes believe in angels—somewhere between 25 and 33 percent, according to the European Values Study. The English are similarly low; just 36 percent believe in angels, according to Gallup.
These numbers seem to roughly correlate to belief in God. Americans, Italians, and Croatians overwhelmingly profess belief in God, while less than half of Danes and barely half of Brits do so.
 
We are looking here at a cultural dividing line. On the one side live those who believe in the divine, in the spiritual. On the other live those who do not. The former are obviously more likely to believe in angels, and the latter—materialists and secularists—definitely not.
That the line exists is unremarkable, as is the disbelief of the secularists. What I find most intriguing, going back to my friend’s concern, are the Christians who find reason to disbelieve. The surveys point to some of this skepticism; people who profess belief in God do not necessarily believe in angels.
 
There are many reasons for this, but I’m struck by two primary reasons. The first is that materialism has inoculated our entire culture against the spiritual, and even professed believers are more affected by this than most of us realize.
 
Stephen Freeman, an Orthodox priest and popular blogger, often speaks of the two-story universe to explain things. Since the Enlightenment we have a tendency to divide the spiritual and the material and cordon them off in separate domains.
By consigning the spiritual to the second story, in time we forget it’s there. Like a trinket in the attic, it has little bearing on our daily lives. Angels become an afterthought in a two-story universe—if they’re ever considered at all.
 
The second reason is that the fear of superstition leaves many believers uncomfortable with angels. Any serious focus on angels smacks many of us as, variously weird, naïve, and possibly even idolatrous. Discounting angels serves as a defense mechanism against the excesses of the New Age movement or folk piety run amuck.
 
Both of these two reasons are problematic. The first tends to demote God to a theoretical concept rather than an active presence in our world. And the second tends to make him a solitary friend in a narrow relationship. Both tend toward a sort of reductionism, tightening the bounds of spiritual experience to an ever-shrinking area. Angels are a casualty in both scenarios.
 
Whatever these two extremes, healthy Christian spirituality walks a middle path populated by angels, and the best place to become acquainted with this balanced and helpful way is by looking at the early church and how they understood the spiritual world—something I attempt in my book "Lifted by Angels."
 
Augustine famously envisioned the created order split in two camps, one of light and the other of darkness, one of love and devotion to God and the other of pride and alienation from the Creator. He termed these camps “the city of God” and “the city of the world.”
Note that there are just two cities in this scheme. Augustine said that we should not “suppose four cities, two of angels and two of men.” Rather, “[w]e may speak of two cities, or communities, one consisting of the good, angels as well as men, and the other of the evil.”
Unlike the secularists who disbelieve in angels, and Christians who keep them at arm’s length, Augustine presents us a picture of immediacy and proximity; there’s no second story to separate us. In his view, heaven isn’t far off. Its borders cross our very own, and we share our city with angels. No surprise then that Augustine elsewhere suggests we consider them our neighbors.
 
Traditional Christian spirituality assumes the presence of angels. While we should eschew pop culture notions and take pains to ensure that our understanding squares with the ancient and honored view held in the church since its beginning, we should nonetheless embrace the belief.
Angels, as Augustine and all the theologians of the early church recognized, share the world with us.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/21/do-believe-in-angels/?intcmp=features#ixzz29zRjr7F6

[Conan The Librarian]

Doesn't hurt to believe in stuff like that, so why not?
 
Probably better to believe because we have an elderly woman near death in my family and the notion of heaven gives her a great deal of comfort. So like a lot of things, it may be a good idea to just "put it in your back pocket for when you need it."

[williamlayton]

There are good spirits---angels and fallen spirits--fallen angels.
I find this subject to be an open and shut case.
Blessings

[Cuts Crooked]

I believe in 'em! 'Cause I'm married to one!

[Old Fart]

I believe in 'em! 'Cause I'm married to one!

Nice! Now make sure you leave this thread open where she can see it. 

[Anna]

The people who have seen one of the "Archangel's " sure do believe in them !

[Conan The Librarian]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/wat/archive/wat042400.htm
 
A related article.
 
 

[kynardsj]

I was 13 years old back in 1966 when my grandfather died. My 14 year old 1st cousin and I were out in the yard that night talking about him. There were clouds in the sky everywhere but an open circle over the house. You could see the moon thru the open circle in the clouds. While we were looking up a human shaped something with white wings and wearing a white robe or gown flew across the opening. We both looked at each other and said at the same time " Did you see that ?" To this day I believe it was an angel.

[powderman]

I believe in 'em! 'Cause I'm married to one!

 
Me too, I married her sister. POWDERMAN. 

[Conan The Librarian]

Cuts Crooked, i'll have to use that line, when she least expects it.


Kynardsj, I had a similar experience and it was very moving and memorable. Mine was a hole in northern lights instead of clouds.

[BUGEYE]

because of an incident in 2001, I am a firm believer.

[Anna]

because of an incident in 2001, I am a firm believer.

This is without a doubt the most difficult thing that we try to explain in human behavior. When perfectly normal people from all walks of life, suddenly come forward and recall an encounter
with an Angel. Sometimes it isn't just the mental reaction that has to be sorted through, but the physical effect can also be very apparent. And sometimes it doesn't change their outlook or way of life
one bit,but deep down they are always different in one way or the other.

No matter who they are, they know what they saw or felt when it happened. Even when they were only a bystander who saw an event that may have been happening to someone else.In others it will shake
everything about them to the very core,and not always in an evangelical way. Surgeons and ER personnel are a large portion of that group along with Firemen and EMT responders. Out of the nature
of their profession they are more likely to keep something like this bottled up for years. Even until it gets to the point that they have got to tell someone about it in complete confidentiality.

It's like I said, it is the" Arch's" as they call them that seem to cause the most graphic encounters.
Those border on an induced insanity and not one that is developed. Immediate changes in skin tone, hair, and nervous conditions usually ensue after an encounter with one of these. So if you have one
go ahead and tell your story. People in this group are some of the very few that pass any test as to
the validity of their story's, or their accounts of an event in their lives. 

[yellowtail3]

Calling Frank Peretti...

(I thought The Visitation was his best work, by far... I could relate to it)

[Conan The Librarian]

I can't emphasize enough how important this belief is to my aged mother in law. It gives her a lot comfort in her the frail years of her dotage. These matters of faith really come into full bloom in the truly aged.  Whether angels exist is irrelevant. The important thing is the belief and how it helps people get through life.

[BBF]

..............
.............................  Whether angels exist is irrelevant.......................

I beg to differ, it would make a huge difference to a large number of people including myself.

[Conan The Librarian]

Why is that?

[Anna]

If you have got to ask BBF that when he was very clear in his statement , then what's the point in your asking ?

[williamlayton]

My wife can add to this--if she will.

[williamlayton]

My name is Ann.  I am william layton's wife.  I was traveling alone in my car up Highway 6 from Hempstead, Texas going to my parents' house in Marlin, Texas.  When I started slowing down for a light in Hearne, a car started pulling into my lane.  There was no way I could get out of the way.  But incredibly, my car seemed to be pushed over to avoid a crash.  The only way I could figure out what had happened was that an angel was watching and moved me out of harm's way.
 
In her own words.
Blessings

[Brett]

My mother who past on last October was a firm believer in Angels.  She said that one came to her and comforted her when she was in the hospital giving birth to me.   Mom was 40 at the time and I was 2 months early so she was very concerned.  She said a beautiful blond lady dressed in white came to her bedside and told her not to worry that everything would be alright.  I guess it did because I'm here and mom lived to be 90.  It may have just been a nurse but when she asked about the "blond nurse" who comforted her later she was told that none of the nurses on the floor that day were blond.   

[BUGEYE]

My mother who past on last October was a firm believer in Angels.  She said that one came to her and comforted her when she was in the hospital giving birth to me.   Mom was 40 at the time and I was 2 months early so she was very concerned.  She said a beautiful blond lady dressed in white came to her bedside and told her not to worry that everything would be alright.  I guess it did because I'm here and mom lived to be 90.  It may have just been a nurse but when she asked about the "blond nurse" who comforted her later she was told that none of the nurses on the floor that day were blond.   

my story is way too long for me to type, but had some similarities to this one.
believe her.

[BBF]

It seems that Angels come in two genders or at least can appear to be depending on the occasion.

[Anna]

It seems that Angels come in two genders or at least can appear to be depending on the occasion.

That's what they say. And be it known that people who are insane don't ever talk about Angels or say they have seen one. Sure you have your con artist, but once cornered their story's are easily
debunked. Believe it or not, we actually have a set of questions that we use to determine if a story
is true or not. Then there is hypnosis , now that is where it all comes out. Sometimes even things the
patient couldn't remember on their own.

[bulletstuffer]

For the record...of course there are Angels!


Bulletstuffer

[Anna]

My name is Ann.  I am william layton's wife.  I was traveling alone in my car up Highway 6 from Hempstead, Texas going to my parents' house in Marlin, Texas.  When I started slowing down for a light in Hearne, a car started pulling into my lane.  There was no way I could get out of the way.  But incredibly, my car seemed to be pushed over to avoid a crash.  The only way I could figure out what had happened was that an angel was watching and moved me out of harm's way.
 
In her own words.
Blessings

Ann, it is only my opinion . But what you may have encountered was an Archangel, it was not your time to go and someone was not playing by the rules of innocence and free will.
You in your faith, may have become a detriment to something that evil was trying to achieve  elsewhere. So in its anger it may have attempted to eleminate you so to remove you from that equation.There is no telling how big a hole your absence would have caused then or even in the near future.This is the true paradox in time, where one small event can cause a cascade of other events to happen where as before they would not have occurred. One such thing is very aparent to me,your husband is a very good man, your devotion to your parents is another one. Your passing would devastate your family at a time they need you the most. And God was not finished with his plans for you just yet.