Well, gang, here is my take on how the angels could have been in heaven, having free will and, yet, some of them could be disobedient to God. REMEMBER, we are looking at a subject that is highly speculative and mostly OPINION. The best I can do regarding this subject is to refer to some Scripture and some medieval theology. I refer to the medieval stuff because medieval Christians wrote a lot about the angels and their fall. However, even with the medieval theologians, there were a number of opinions on this matter.

If you want to skip all the background information, just go to the last paragraph for my summary.

Generally speaking, the Christian-consensus-view would run along the following lines. FIRST, Satan and the other fallen angels were all part of the angelic creation, and their natural powers did not and do not differ from those of the angels who remained faithful. Like the other angels, they are pure spiritual beings without material bodies, and in their original state they were created and placed in a condition of so-called “probation.” St. Jude may be referring to this: Jude 6 "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." The condition of probation was believed to be that state between their creation and full beatitude--meaning having received the full vision of the Godhead.

The SECOND point would be the manner and purpose of this period of probation. Thomas refers to it this way:

“The angel is above the time of corporeal things; hence the various instants regarding the angels are not to be taken except as reckoning the succession of their acts. Now their act which merited beatitude could not be in them simultaneously with the act of beatitude, which is fruition; since the one belongs to imperfect grace, and the other to consummate grace. Consequently, it remains for different instants to be conceived, in one of which the angel merited beatitude, and in another was beatified.” -- Thomas, Summa I, 62, 5

I think what he was saying is that, even though the angels exist in a realm above time; there was still a logical progression in the succession of their acts. The succession went from their 1) creation by God to a point of; 2) their own willful turning to God’s fullness or a willful turning away from God’s fullness to, finally 3) the beatification of most of the angels and the fall of some of the angels. The progression from their creation to their willful response to God is what Thomas considered the “probation” period, so to speak. This leads to the next question, why would Satan and the other fallen angels turn away from God’s fullness?

Why Satan turned away from Beatitude…

If we are comfortable with understanding Isaiah 14 as a picture of what happened to Satan, then we do know that the key issue in Satan’s fall was his pride (also, 1 Tim 3:6). Beyond that, we are speculating. That being said, here we go again with Thomas:

“But he desired resemblance with God in this respect--by desiring, as his last end of beatitude, something which he could attain by the virtue of his own nature, turning his appetite away from supernatural beatitude, which is attained by God's grace. Or, if he desired as his last end that likeness of God which is bestowed by grace, he sought to have it by the power of his own nature; and not from Divine assistance according to God's ordering. This harmonizes with Anselm's opinion, who says [De casu diaboli, iv.] that "he sought that to which he would have come had he stood fast.”-- Thomas, Summa I, 63, 3

In common language, Thomas seems to be saying that Satan desired to reach his own fullness of being without the assistance of God. This, of course, is the very epitome of pride. This, then, leads to another question. Was there a specific reason why Satan and the fallen angels decided to do it their way? Here is where we may have a little more Scripture to under-gird our thinking.

The reason for the turning away…

Although nothing definite can be known as to the precise nature of the probation of the angels and the manner in which many of them fell, Christians have postulated that the mystery of the Incarnation was revealed to them during their probation. In other words, they saw that a nature lower than their own (a human nature) was to be joined to the Person of the Son, and that all the host of heaven must bow before the majesty of Christ; and this, it is believed, was the reason for the pride of Satan. There are passages of Scripture, specifically in the Psalms that are cited within Hebrews that may indicate this revelation of the Incarnation: “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6; Psalm 96:7). Additionally, the twelfth chapter of Revelation may refer, at least in a secondary sense, to the original fall of the angels.

Finally, the Fathers agreed in understanding that Isaiah 14:12-15 applied (beyond its historical significance) to a deeper significance of the fall of Satan and generally consider that this interpretation is confirmed by the words of Jesus to his disciples: "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven" Luke 10:18. The Lord’s words were regarded as a rebuke to the disciples warning them against the danger of pride that was found in Satan.

In summary, the progression goes as follows: 1) creation of the angels; 2) probation with revealing of the Incarnation followed by willful response; ending with 3) elevation of the blessed angels to full beatitude and the casting down of Satan and the fallen angels. There you have it, what do you think?

O.K. I am currently working on two blog-posts; one is very speculative but the other one is INSANE! One is about how and why Satan and some of the angels fell from heaven--interesting, fascinating and fairly light-hearted stuff. The other one is on the dreaded subject of PREDESTINATION! But before I put my neck on the line about predestination, would you be willing to risk sharing what you think? I promise not to point fingers and allow anyone to be excommunicated--no burning-at-the-stake-stuff. What do you think? I really believe we might learn from each other. I invite your comment.

My last blog-post was only a question as to whether or not we will be able to sin in heaven or have free will in heaven. I got some really wonderful and interesting comments that I personally found enlightening and helpful; but, it is probably time for me to offer my opinion. First off, let me say that this is my OPINION. What I am about to write is not essential Bible doctrine. Actually, what we believe about our exact state of being in heaven is largely speculation—for all of us—so I am writing this with a lot of inherent humility. I will try to base what I believe on some Biblical concepts, but the subject itself is not that clear in the Bible, so this is simply my best opinion.

Let me also say that what I am going to share comes largely from Christian medieval theology. Yes, I am a Baptist pastor. You may ask, “What in the world is a Baptist pastor doing messing around with medieval theology?” Well, first of all, my seminary background is in church history and, secondly, I think we can learn a lot from those that have gone before us. Just like us, they were not perfect and they were not writing Holy Scripture, yet, they can offer us some solid insights. Let me put down a quote and then make some comments:

“Now just as the actually colored is the object of the sight (meaning the color of an object is what we see and must look at to see any object), so is good the object of the will. Wherefore if the will be offered an object which is good universally and from every point of view, the will tends to it of necessity, if it wills anything at all; since it cannot will the opposite…consequently, that good, alone which is perfect and lacking in nothing, is such a good that the will cannot not-will it: and this is Happiness (or Felicity).” St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa, I-II, A. 10, Art. 2

First of all, what Thomas is saying is that our sight is “drawn” toward the color that is in objects. If there was no color in objects we could not see them, they would be invisible (like the alien in the movie Predator). Likewise the human “will” has an object that it is drawn toward and that is the “good” or what we think is the good. Our will is the power that draws us toward something we think is good. We can’t help this, we are naturally drawn toward things we think are good for us—even if later we discover that it wasn’t a “good” at all but something that was bad for us—an evil. In this regard, think of a piece of cheese in a mouse trap. The mouse will naturally be drawn toward the cheese. It doesn’t know that as soon as it grabs the cheese, the trap will spring and pin it to the trap. The point is this, if you put straight poison in the mousetrap (that was not doctored-up with something attractive to the mouse), the mouse would not go near the mousetrap. The mouse is naturally drawn toward those things that are ordered for its good—like food. Likewise, humans are naturally drawn toward good things. But here is the “kicker”, we have the ability to make all kinds value judgments about things and tell ourselves that what is bad for us is good—we have freedom of choice. We don’t need mousetraps, we can create our own, and the Devil loves to help with this. We can trap ourselves into all kinds of evils even as we tell ourselves we are just going after the “good life.”

Now here is the point. Thomas is saying that when we are presented with the absolutely perfect good that has no defect in it at all, we will automatically choose it and not turn away from it. The medieval word of the absolutely-perfect-thing is Happiness or Felicity. Specifically, these words identified the relationship between humans and God when we come directly into His amazing presence. He is the absolutely, infinite, perfect Good and the state of being that we will enter when we encounter God in heaven is called Felicity. When we have Felicity, we will be totally satisfied and our free wills will come to rest. We will not want anything more and never swerve from God because there is nothing greater than Him that can be had. We will not even be able to image anything greater than Him. Anything less than God will be seen as a “non-good” in His presence and unworthy of choosing. Our wills will adhere to God like Velcro. This is also called the “Beatific Vision” or the direct contemplation of God.

What do you think?

Okay, folks, time for a brain-tickler. Pretty much all Christians recognize that in Heaven there will be no more sorrow, pain, suffering, tears and sin. Great, we all say, but how exactly can it be that we have free will and, yet, not sin in heaven? Nice platitude, but how does that work? Are we just going to be saintly robots that forever repeat “Holy, holy, holy?” Obviously, love implies the potential for hate and the ability to choose one or the other. Will the ability to choose be gone in heaven? What are your thoughts? Share your insights and comments.

Isn’t God mean-spirited for sending people to hell when He could just judge them and cause them to cease to exist? Ever wondered about this—it is a question for which many Christians do not have an answer.

Without going into a lot of detail let me set the groundwork for a quote I am going to give you. The basic principles of eternal life, from a Christian perspective, go as follows:

1) The human soul, once created by God when the individual is generated by his/her parents, is immortal. Animal souls are not by nature immortal. Human souls are immortal.
2) The human soul is designed to be united to a body and it is an unnatural state for the human soul to be separated from its body.
3) After death, the human soul is separated from its body and is kept by God.
4) At the resurrection, all humans, whether righteous or unrighteous will be given everlasting spiritual bodies.

Now here is a quote from Thomas Aquinas reflecting on our question about God being mean-spirited.

“Nor must one deny that there will be a resurrection of all, although not all cleave to Christ by faith, and are not imbued with His mysteries. For the Son of God assumed human nature to restore it (that is, human nature). Therefore, what is a defect of nature (he means the separation of the soul from the body because of death) will be restored in all, and so all will return from death to life. But the failure of the person will not be restored except in those who have adhered to Christ; either by their own act, in believing in Him; or at least through the sacrament of faith” (SCG IV, 81, 15).

What Thomas is saying, in summary form, would be the following:

1) Christ came and died for humanity so that all could be restored to everlasting life through a general resurrection of the dead.
2) Not all people are going to heaven. Our location in eternity is dependent on our faith in Christ. Even though all people will be resurrected, some will spend eternity in hell for there refusal to believe.

The reason why all people will be resurrected is because all human souls are immortal by nature. God created human souls to be immortal, but He also created them to operate with a body. Therefore, it is a matter of God’s justice to restore all humanity to their proper state, which is to have an immortal soul with an immortal (resurrected) body. It is also a matter of justice for God to reward humans for what they have done in the body. If they have, as Romans 2:7-8 says, “7…by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil there will be wrath and anger.” In other words, it would be unjust for God to do otherwise.

Bottom line is this: the human soul is by nature immortal and it would be unfitting and unjust for God to destroy a “good” that He has created (the immortal human soul). Furthermore, because the human soul is designed to work with its body, God will justly give to all human souls an immortal body. Additionally, it is just for God to reward and punish how humans have acted in this life. If the righteous receive eternal bliss then it follows (according to justice) that the wicked should suffer eternal separation from God.