Indeed? That doesn’t sound too surprising to me. “Easter” with the bunnies and eggs has nothing whatsoever to do with Christ, and isn’t the name “Eostre” supposed to be that of a pagan goddess of fertility, mentioned in the Bible?
There’s also Christmas, which, I thought it was just chosen at that date because it’s shortly after Winter Solstice, which is around the time the ancient festival Saturnalia started. Wasn’t Christmas an adaptation of Saturnalia?
I wonder just how far do Babylonian, Greek, Roman, and other beliefs / holidays / etc go here, where they really weren’t ordained by Jesus the Christ or the Father.
Some of the biblical angels/messengers are described as having wings, but very few.
The popular images of angels in western European culture and its derivatives are not derived from scripture, but from Roman art. The early Christian artists borrowed from the Romans for their iconography. Early depictions of
Christ are based on the god Apollo. The images of “cherubs” as winged babies are derived from the Greek god of romantic love, Eros(known as Cupid in the Roman pantheon); while the most common generic image of angels – a winged female human with a halo – are derived from Nike, Greek goddess of victory (Roman name Victoria).
These conventions were heavily popularized during the Renaissance period; but were used for centuries prior.
Didn’t the “Winged Angel” thing start in the Renaissance, or maybe a bit before it, though? I’m not the most well versed in it, but somehow I have a bit of trouble imagining it happening around 1,000 AD.
@Barry Tone
If one of my fraternity brothers hadn’t dropped off the face of the Earth after he broke up with his ex, this would be the perfect article for me to discuss with him. He studied ancient Greek in undergrad: I have no idea if he followed through on his plan to go to seminary and become a preacher or not.
Either way, posts like this (and the discussion of biblically-accurate angels) are the best part of this site: come for the clop and stay for the discussions on Old Testament Hebrew & Greek.
IIRC, the idea that humans get a halo and wings to become an angel upon admission to heaven was popularized by cartoons, but I don’t remember if they were Disney, WB, or another studio that first popularized the misconception.
Biblically speaking, it is in the book about people “not being married or given in marriage” when revived. I don’t think the whole “winged angel” thing is accurate, though, for multiple reasons; one example is stated here: @Barry Tone
Oh, and the word “Angel” is Greek. The original Hebrew word, “Mal’ak,” is an equivalent of “Messenger.” Not just for “Angels of God,” but literally any messenger.
Here’s an Article I found interesting, on this subject. Also, “Yahweh” (as said in the article) is the name of the Elohim (God) of the Hebrews. (It may not be entirely accurate, though.)
I’m not even certain that “Angels” talked about in the Bible itself actually HAD wings and halos. Going through the OT, they seem like they just looked like any other person on the street. Judges 13:16 seems to indicate this; Manoah didn’t realize he was speaking to an Angel. Either Manoah had no working eyes to see, or the Angel looked like any other man without wings.
Your post is bad and the biblical angel meme is mostly accurate, with some caveats.
Let’s look at the actual verses in question here.
Ezekiel 10:9-13:
9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. 10 As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 11 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about[b] as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. 12 Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. 13 I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” 14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Sure, you could plausibly argue that the ophanim (the wheel-within-wheel-covered-in-eyes angels) were “vehicles” of some sort. But they are generally regarded as their own class of angels, as is made clear in other Jewish texts of the time such as the Book of Enoch. And besides that, the hayyoth / cherubim are specifically stated to each have FOUR ANIMAL FACES. They don’t have to look around because their faces point in all directions. Cherubs are not cute little Cupid babies with wings.
in Isaiah 6 we have seraphim who have wings, hands and feet
That makes it sound like they were regular two-wing angels. Again, let’s take a look. Isaiah 6:2:
2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
Yes, they had wings. Weird-ass bent-in-nonsense-directions-to-conceal-their-full-glory wings.
I’d trust medieval religious artists to know their Bible and angelology better than modern twitter memers.
Why would you trust European artists, from a time when printers didn’t exist yet and the Bible hadn’t yet been translated into their native languages, to accurately depict beings originating from Jewish mythology? Those guys could barely figure out what cats looked like, let alone angels. Whereas modern artists all have immediate access to dozens of competing translations of the Bible and the Jewish apocrypha.
Oh, and you totally skirted over Revelation. From Revelation 4:5-8:
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
Would you look at that, more animal monsters covered in eyes and wings. So, pretty much exactly the “biblical angel meme.”
Now, were there angels in the Bible that looked like regular humans? Yes! But just regular humans. Not guys with wings. Think Castiel from Supernatural. Regular-ass human-without-wings angels appear, for instance, in the story of Lot. (Oh, or they could be giants, like the nephalim. I’m not going to get into them because they aren’t well-described in the Bible, but it seems like they’re supposed to be some sort of half-angels that just look like giant humans. Still no wings though.)
As far as I’m aware, though, there isn’t a single angel in the Bible who fits the “regular guy but with wings” image. Those really do seem to be a later artistic interpretation with little to no scriptural basis. Biblical angels that look like regular guys don’t have wings and Biblical angels that do have wings either have six of them, 2/3s of which are just there to keep you from beholding their true form, or else they have multiple faces or animal heads or they’re covered in eyes.
The meme isn’t inaccurate; and if we were to get as pedantic as OP did, then the classic angel does become inaccurate. Cherubs aren’t cute little babies, and angels who appear as humans don’t have wings. But really, it doesn’t even matter. The imagery of the winged humanoid has become so intrinsically tied to angels, we won’t stop seeing artists representing them as so. Give me scary angels and winged bird people alike, idc, both can be interesting.
@Background Pony #5464
Oh no a background pony said they did a thing guess I need to commit to self die now that I have been totally owned by their facts and logic and willfulness to perpetrate this stupid f*cking dumblr maymay.
Christ are based on the god Apollo. The images of “cherubs” as winged babies are derived from the Greek god of romantic love, Eros(known as Cupid in the Roman pantheon); while the most common generic image of angels – a winged female human with a halo – are derived from Nike, Greek goddess of victory (Roman name Victoria).
=/
Love It!
=3
Probably all of them…the image above is not safe for children.
If one of my fraternity brothers hadn’t dropped off the face of the Earth after he broke up with his ex, this would be the perfect article for me to discuss with him. He studied ancient Greek in undergrad: I have no idea if he followed through on his plan to go to seminary and become a preacher or not.
Either way, posts like this (and the discussion of biblically-accurate angels) are the best part of this site: come for the clop and stay for the discussions on Old Testament Hebrew & Greek.
IIRC, the idea that humans get a halo and wings to become an angel upon admission to heaven was popularized by cartoons, but I don’t remember if they were Disney, WB, or another studio that first popularized the misconception.
Biblically speaking, it is in the book about people “not being married or given in marriage” when revived. I don’t think the whole “winged angel” thing is accurate, though, for multiple reasons; one example is stated here: @Barry Tone
Oh, and the word “Angel” is Greek. The original Hebrew word, “Mal’ak,” is an equivalent of “Messenger.” Not just for “Angels of God,” but literally any messenger.
Here’s an Article I found interesting, on this subject. Also, “Yahweh” (as said in the article) is the name of the Elohim (God) of the Hebrews. (It may not be entirely accurate, though.)
So is the popular misconception that humans become angels when they go to Heaven
screaming intensifies
“They said to ne be afraid!”
screaming
I’m not even certain that “Angels” talked about in the Bible itself actually HAD wings and halos. Going through the OT, they seem like they just looked like any other person on the street. Judges 13:16 seems to indicate this; Manoah didn’t realize he was speaking to an Angel. Either Manoah had no working eyes to see, or the Angel looked like any other man without wings.
…Dude, seriously, get up!”
That’s so sad,you’ve been proven wrong with facts and yet you can’t get behind it
Edited
from that thread you linked
back to reddit
Edited
Bruh you’re dramatic
Calm down man,your being the hardest person on yourself.
Oh no a background pony said they did a thing guess I need to commit to self die now that I have been totally owned by their facts and logic and willfulness to perpetrate this stupid f*cking dumblr maymay.
damn right they did!
Imagine thinking ancient near-east people didn’t get fucked up on some dank ass shrooms at least once or twice in their lives.