Just so you don't think I've lost my bitter edge

[cyrano]

We were out driving earlier this week. One of the things I've noticed that's different here is the large collection of churches. And each one has a readerboard out front, most of them taking advantage of this literary real estate to post some ecumenical bon mot. (Can I use 'ecumenical' there? I'm not certain.)
One of them told me that "Angels are God's special helpers". And I was highly annoyed by this, but it took me quite some time to figure out why. "Special helper" is what you call your six year old child when se doesn't dump legos all over the floor while you're trying to vacuum, and picks up hir own dirty clothes. An angel, on the other hand, dispenses the justice of The Lord with a friggin' SWORD MADE OF FIRE. An angel trumpets the birth of the Messiah. An angel wrestles with a prophet to bring him to task. An angel is a being of righteous power--or in Lucifer's case, less on the righteous and more on the power. If your religion is serious to you, don't try to make it cute.
Okay. That's done. Back to fluffy bunnies and happy thoughts.

Comments

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

All quite true. Remember how in the Bible (you know, that book these people supposedly revere as the Holy Word of God), whenever an angel appears to a mortal, the first thing they say is "Fear not"? This isn't some cute catchphrase, it's because (to a mortal) angels are supposed to be TERRIFYING.

I blame the nineties. For some reason, angels were a big fad then, people were putting them in sports (see: Angels in the Outfield) to love stories to those little Guardian Angel pins that every corner schlock shop sold. Something that ubiquitous can't be scary, right?

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And the damned Victorians. Can you imagine how pissed of the Cherubim must have been when they saw those statues of chubby little babies?