Why was our function not fulfilled by the angels?

[CaptBell800]

Assuming that God’s purpose in creating man was to make something that could share in His love and creation, why did the angels not fit the bill? They were already created before we were. Why did God make us when He already had sentient creatures serving Him?

 

[Christy_Beth]

I could be very wrong on this, because I heard this as a Protestant (maybe they have a few things right?), but, God created us to teach the angels about his love and mercy. The ones who didn’t sin, like satan did, were to be shown how even fallen creation could lbe redeemed. Not just redeemed, but joyously and miraculously. (Is miraculously even a word?)

 

[OxygenMan]

I could be very wrong on this, because I heard this as a Protestant (maybe they have a few things right?), but, God created us to teach the angels about his love and mercy. The ones who didn’t sin, like satan did, were to be shown how even fallen creation could lbe redeemed. Not just redeemed, but joyously and miraculously. (Is miraculously even a word?)

Miraculously is a word!
Interesting insight, thank you. But the problem is that in a Catholic viewpoint, the fallen angels can’t be redeemed, so I’m not sure why God would teach them this lesson.

 

[chimo]

Assuming that God’s purpose in creating man was to make something that could share in His love and creation, why did the angels not fit the bill? They were already created before we were. Why did God make us when He already had sentient creatures serving Him?

God created man as His supreme creative work that will be very much reflective to His own image and to His likeness. It was never the intention to create angels only. They were created to help Him serve man. An angel has incredible powers but they lack one essential element. They cannot suffer and know what suffering is. They know of it intellectually but that is as far as they can go to relate to suffering. The incredible thing about man is his ability to suffer and to undergo sufferings and experience pain. God experiences this suffering as we all know especially in the revelation of His Son Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus even though He is now glorified through the Resurrection does not exempt Himself from sufferings. The Lord Jesus suffers more than any one of us and it is unimaginable to know what Jesus goes through day by day. Even the angels do not have a clue to what this suffering is. They cannot relate to it. Man however can know. Jesus once told Maria Faustina that when her own sufferings are too much for her to handle then have recourse to His sufferings and start to realize that His sufferings are huge and ernormous and ours are much smaller in comparison.

When we meditate and think about our Lord’s sufferngs ours can diminish a bit. Whenever you see someone suffering more than you, that can help you think less of yourself and point yourself more towards that other person who is in far worse condition than yours. In this same light Jesus is the One who suffers tremondously. Our coming to Him can help console Him and actually bring some relief for Him. Angels can’t do this for Him, since angels do not suffer. What I mean here is that angels cannot know the dimension of God’s sufferings. They glorify Him not because of His sufferings but because they are given that Light to see and love Him in accordance to all that knowledge from their very beginnings. An angel can love God with incredible knowledge but they cannot know the depths of His sufferings. They help God by helping us to come back to Him. They are here to help and lead us into this knowledge they have already acquired by assisting us to encourage faith in us and pointing us to the One who can relate to our sufferings who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[LilyM]

Angels cannot unite in the intimate bond with each other that humans do in the marital embrace. Neither can they share in the work of creation through begetting of children as we can.

Neither can they become part of His body and share in His sufferings as we do, not having physical bodies.

 

[Doxiemom]

Angels were created to be servants of God. They were given awesome powers. The have free will. They adore God.

But it wasn’t enough.

We are created a little lower than the angels. We were made only to love Him. We have free will to do so. No awesome powers. But we were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Angels are spirit. But we have His Spirit breathed into us. Wow.

And, more importantly, we were given a plan of redemption. There never was, nor mention of at any time, a plan of redemption for the angels.

How may know that God knew what we would do and yet He made us anyways? How many of know that His Plan was set before we were a glimmer in His eye?

Same goes for lucifer and his minions, yet no plan for them. How angry that must make him? We are quite a pathetic little band of human sinners yet God sends Himself down as a squaling baby?! How insulting is that, Satan must think.

God can do anything, the whole omni’s we all learned. But God wanted to be loved, to be needed.

Anyone ever had a dog lie on your lap and stare up at you as if you were the best person that ever lived. A dog that would leap into danger to save your life?Who is grateful to sleep in your bed and lick the gravy leftover on you dinner plate and think you are magnificent to let him do this. Lick away your tears? Wag that tail so hard his whole butt wags when you come home?

This is the function we fulfill for God. We all should be lap dogs.