Why did God create the angels?

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I tried to search for a topic like this, but couldn’t find any. I may just be bad at searching! So…I’m sorry if this has been addressed and all that…

God doesn’t NEED the angels to do anything, so why are they there? Just so some of them could rebel and get cast out? I don’t get it…

Thanks
 
I tried to search for a topic like this, but couldn’t find any. I may just be bad at searching! So…I’m sorry if this has been addressed and all that…

God doesn’t NEED the angels to do anything, so why are they there? Just so some of them could rebel and get cast out? I don’t get it…

Thanks
There’s plenty of reasons, I’m sure, but this one of those things where I just say, “God had a reason, and I don’t presume to know it, so I’ll just wait till I die to find out. 👍”
 
I suppose I don’t know the theological answer. However, God doesn’t need anything. He didn’t need to create us, or insects, or the cat sleeping next to me, or the mountains or the stars, or anything. And these are just the visible things. I believe God creates to express His love, His creativity, and His beauty. And all things He has created work in one way or another toward His glory. It’s so neat. 🙂
 
There’s plenty of reasons, I’m sure, but this one of those things where I just say, “God had a reason, and I don’t presume to know it, so I’ll just wait till I die to find out. 👍”
Fair enough!

Thanks dshix…I always like your (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
I tried to search for a topic like this, but couldn’t find any. I may just be bad at searching! So…I’m sorry if this has been addressed and all that…

God doesn’t NEED the angels to do anything, so why are they there? Just so some of them could rebel and get cast out? I don’t get it…

Thanks
God doesn’t need anything at all. Not men, not Our Lady, not to take flesh and dwell among us. Yet, he has willed many things. It is especially shallow the idea that God would create creatures in order for them to rebel. You confuse the freedom of will granted to all creatures (even the spiritual ones) with the Divine Will (which is holy and does not will sin or evil).

The book “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma” by Dr. Ludwig Ott brings together some essential teachings of the Church and is a standard reference. There we find:
God set a supernatural final end for the angels, the immediate vision of God, and endowed them with sanctifying grace in order that they might achieve this end. (Sententia Certa.)
The angels were subjected to a moral testing. (Sententia certa. as regards the fallen angels, Sententia communis as regards the good.)
The evil spirits (demons) were created good by God; they became evil through their own fault.
The primary task of the good angels is the glorification and the service of God. (Sententia certa.)
The secondary task of the good angels is the protection of men and care for their salvation. (De fide on the ground of general teaching.)
Every one of the faithful has his own special guardian angel from baptism. (Sententia certa.)
Any dogma is an infallible doctrine, divinely and formally revealed by God as a necessary truth for salvation. Infallibility on matters of faith and morals pertains to both the Extraordinary Magisterium (an ex cathedra pronouncement of the Roman Pontiff or a de fide statement of an Ecumenical Council) and to the Ordinary Magisterium (the perennial teaching of the Pope and the Bishops in union with him around the world).

In this context, we have different theological distinctions. When we say De Fide, we mean a teachinng of the highest level of theological/doctrinal truth. When we say *Sententia Certa *we mean a theologically certain opinion, without final approval but clearly deduced from revelation. When we say Sententia communis, we mean a common teaching widely held, and generally accepted by theologians, but not dogmatically asserted. (source)

In short, the above is the official teaching on the angels (very summarized, of course) which is known to be truthful. 🙂
 
I tried to search for a topic like this, but couldn’t find any. I may just be bad at searching! So…I’m sorry if this has been addressed and all that…

God doesn’t NEED the angels to do anything, so why are they there? Just so some of them could rebel and get cast out? I don’t get it…

Thanks
I suppose one answer as good as any would be out of love, which is the same reason G-d created the universe and all its creatures, including humans. Certainly not out of need for companionship, praise, or worship, since G-d is complete unto Himself.

As far as rebellion is concerned, Judaism has a different view on that compared to Catholicism in that the former does not believe the angels have the free will that we humans have that would enable them to rebel. This would include Lucifer.
 
I tried to search for a topic like this, but couldn’t find any. I may just be bad at searching! So…I’m sorry if this has been addressed and all that…

God doesn’t NEED the angels to do anything, so why are they there? Just so some of them could rebel and get cast out? I don’t get it…

Thanks
The word “Angel” appears 346 times in the Revised Standard Version Bible. You can read every verse containing the world angel at quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=simple&format=Long&q1=Angel&restrict=All&size=All.

***Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? *(Matthew 26:53)

Our modern view of angels is quite distorted from what we read in the Bible. Angels are God’s messengers, ministers and warriors.

-Tim-
 
God doesn’t need anything at all. Not men, not Our Lady, not to take flesh and dwell among us. Yet, he has willed many things. It is especially shallow the idea that God would create creatures in order for them to rebel. You confuse the freedom of will granted to all creatures (even the spiritual ones) with the Divine Will (which is holy and does not will sin or evil).

The book “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma” by Dr. Ludwig Ott brings together some essential teachings of the Church and is a standard reference. There we find:

Any dogma is an infallible doctrine, divinely and formally revealed by God as a necessary truth for salvation. Infallibility on matters of faith and morals pertains to both the Extraordinary Magisterium (an ex cathedra pronouncement of the Roman Pontiff or a de fide statement of an Ecumenical Council) and to the Ordinary Magisterium (the perennial teaching of the Pope and the Bishops in union with him around the world).

In this context, we have different theological distinctions. When we say De Fide, we mean a teachinng of the highest level of theological/doctrinal truth. When we say *Sententia Certa *we mean a theologically certain opinion, without final approval but clearly deduced from revelation. When we say Sententia communis, we mean a common teaching widely held, and generally accepted by theologians, but not dogmatically asserted. (source)

In short, the above is the official teaching on the angels (very summarized, of course) which is known to be truthful. 🙂
RC… Thank you for the informative response.
I am not shallow or confused.
 
As far as rebellion is concerned, Judaism has a different view on that compared to Catholicism in that the former does not believe the angels have the free will that we humans have that would enable them to rebel. This would include Lucifer.
We don’t quite believes that the angels have free will to rebel - much less for fallen angels like Lucifer to repent.

We believe that at one time, when He created the angels, He did not allow them to see the Beatific Vision but, rather, subjected them to a moral testing. Those whom by free will chose to rebel against Him (Lucifer and a part of the heavenly hosts) made an irrevokable decision; same for those who chose to remain faithful. So afterwards the holy angels do not have the ability to rebel, nor do fallen angels have the ability to repent. Otherwise, Christ would have given them the possibility of redemption, just like he gave it to us 🙂
RC… Thank you for the informative response.
I am not shallow or confused.
Never meant to say that, sorry if it sounded that way. I just came from a thread where we are discussing double predestination and I was summarizing what Calvin and Jansenus said - that’s what I had in my mind when I spoke of a shallow idea, rather than your perfectly sound question 🙂
 
RC… Thank you for the informative response.
I am not shallow or confused.
Never meant to say that, sorry if it sounded that way. I just came from a thread where we are discussing double predestination and I was summarizing what Calvin and Jansenus said - that’s what I had in my mind when I spoke of a shallow idea, rather than your perfectly sound question 🙂
 
That which is good has the natural desire to share itself beyond what is necessary. God, therefore, created angels, as well as everything else, out of desire rather than necessity. He created different types of angels because he seems to delight in wondrous variety (as observing visible reality indicates).
 
Well I don’t doubt that you frequently contribute more depth to any discussion here on CAF! I don’t have the patience to deal with the Calvinists… My rather pedestrian question was poorly worded I suppose. 👍
 
Never meant to say that, sorry if it sounded that way. I just came from a thread where we are discussing double predestination and I was summarizing what Calvin and Jansenus said - that’s what I had in my mind when I spoke of a shallow idea, rather than your perfectly sound question 🙂
Well I don’t doubt that you frequently contribute more depth to any discussion here on CAF! I don’t have the patience to deal with the Calvinists… My rather pedestrian question was poorly worded I suppose. :rolleyes:
 
The word “Angel” appears 346 times in the Revised Standard Version Bible. You can read every verse containing the world angel at quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=simple&format=Long&q1=Angel&restrict=All&size=All.

***Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ***(Matthew 26:53)

Our modern view of angels is quite distorted from what we read in the Bible. Angels are God’s messengers, ministers and warriors.

-Tim-
Yes, of course, angels serve as messengers from G-d. I neglected to point that out in my post.
 
I don’t believe the Church has a position on the matter. Whenever we ask “why,” often we will not know the mind of God. However, we do know that He loves us, and the angels went before us, in a sense, as a precursor to what we face now. We must choose obedience or disobedience to God, just as did the angels before us. In a sense, they even minister to mankind in that they went first, to show the way to joy and union with He Whom is love. In other words, the angels are created for our salvation.
 
There’s plenty of reasons, I’m sure, but this one of those things where I just say, “God had a reason, and I don’t presume to know it, so I’ll just wait till I die to find out. 👍”
I wonder if we need to wait? I never gave angels too much thought except the earthly ones.
But After I woke up from a car accident, but before other help arrived, someone spoke to me. before I even knew where my husband was. I could barely turn my my head, and my window had blown out completely. She was blonde and and wearing all white; I thought a jogging suit, which would be a safe color as it was very late evening. But not too many jog at night in NY, do they?
“You are fine. You will be fine. I won’t leave you. Everything will be okay. They are coming,” she said. She touched my arm, and made it warm as it was winter and very cold. “They are here,” she then said. I asked the police as soon as they arrived, which was just a moment later, and asked if there anyone around matching this description. There was not.
I have wondered a bit more regarding angels since then.
The police and EMTs were angels, too, though; they took wonderful care of me even as I screamed at them. Poor guys…
 
It is an interesting question. He doesn’t NEED them, true. A similar question can be asked regarding man. Why did God create man? He doesn’t NEED us either!
 
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