One sorrowful night at the local funeral home……..
x: He was so young. I’m sorry for your loss. Now you have an angel in heaven.
y: I do?
x: Yes, isn’t that comforting?
y: But I’ve known that my whole life. My guardian angel was assigned to me at my conception.
x: No, I mean your cousin, laying here in this beautiful coffin. He is now an angel watching over you.
y: No, he isn’t. Where did you get such bad theology?
x: Huh? Bad what?
y: Humans never become angels, and angels never become humans. They are two different genres of creatures and always will be.
x: Um, I was just expressing condolences with a nice cliché I hear all the time.
y: Yes, and I appreciate your intent to console, but condolences ought to be based in truth. What gives you the idea that a human being turns into an angel after death?
x: Well, pop culture, I guess. It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart, for one.
y: It’s a fun movie around Christmas time, but poor theology. Nowhere in Divine Revelation is it even hinted that humans ever become angels.
x: Oh? Are angels that different?
y: Angels are persons in so much as they have intellect and free will, but they’re not human persons. Angelic persons are very different creatures inasmuch as they have no bodies, they are pure spirit, and they know things more directly, immediately, and perfectly than do humans. They understood the fullness of their eternal decision when they said either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to God subsequent to their creation. We humans, on the other hand, are given second chances since we’re physical creatures who mature through time and space, can err, change, and repent.
x: Are you talking about their choice to either remain angels or become demons?
y: Yes! Angels have free will, as do humans, and those who rejected their Creator chose the everlasting misery of Hell. Since misery loves company, these demons are on a mission to take down as many of our souls as they can. But neither angels nor demons were ever human.
x: But aren’t angels similar to humans?
y: In one sense, but also considerably different in another. Because they’re pure spirits they take up no space, are not detectable by physical senses, and do not reproduce, grow, or mature. This carries further implications.
x: Like what?
y: Well, since they’re not physical and don’t reproduce, they don’t share a specific nature with other angels like humans do with other humans via reproduction. Hence, each angel had to be created immediately by God as his own species.
x: Wow. That makes sense since as pure spirits they don’t reproduce; but it’s hard to comprehend! So, analogously, it would be akin to God creating one man, one turtle, one giraffe, and one of every species on earth?
y: Yes, that’s what the world of angels is like. “Angels” are a genre like “animals”, and not a species like “lions.”
x: I get it. Fascinating.
y: And yet, they are all personal spiritual beings with intellect and will. They serve God as messengers, and we can communicate with them through prayer.
x: But can’t we do that with humans that have died too, since we’re all united in Christ?
y: Yes, but humans that die, if they attain salvation, become saints, not angels. In short, a saint in heaven is a disembodied human soul. They anticipate the resurrection of their bodies at the end of history. Humans, unlike angels, are bodily creatures by nature and, with the general resurrection after Christ comes to judge the living and the dead, will live in a glorified bodily state forever. Human death is the result of original sin, but it has been conquered by Christ.
x: Then, will angels and saints dwell together?
y: Yes. Both are created to live forever in the fullness of God’s presence. Angels and saints are citizens of heaven, but forever different in their being and nature.
x: I see. So, let me say, then, that I hope and pray that your cousin is now a saint, not an angel.
y: So do I, my friend; so do I. Let’s pray for him in case he’s being spiritually refurbished in purgatory.
x: Will do. And by God’s grace, let’s try to become saints ourselves.