Angels indestructable?

[Guest]

Dopes anyone have any scriptural basis for this idea?

I asked this question at church today. The pastor repsonded by affriming the idea with three main arguments, all of which are totally unconvincing, IMO:

- They were already around when the heavens and earth were made.
- Death/ dying is never used in coneciton with angels.
- The angels are cast into the lake of fire which burns forver and ever.

None of these ideas are compelling because.

- The first argument says nothing about the ability of angels to be destroyed.
- The second one is actually proved false by the third one. The lake of fire is called the second death and the angels are thrown in there!
- The third argument rests on assuming the lake of fire to be place of everlasting conscious suffering, which I'm personally unconvinced by.

[Guest]

By indestructable to you mean immortal? When Daniel prayed it took the angel , if i remember correctly some time to reach him because he had to battle the prince of Persia, another angel. So if they had a battle then someone won and someone lost which would suggest they were'nt indestructable.

[Guest]

Dopes anyone have any scriptural basis for this idea?

Hey! Be polite! Don't call us "Dopes"

Yes, we must know what you mean by "indestructable". Do you mean "cannot be annihilated"? I have never seen any scripture which indicates that angelic beings, fallen or otherwise, are ever annihilated. Neither do I see Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, as annihilating human beings at any time.

The Greek word for "destroy" is "apollumi." In the passive tense, the word means "lost". It was used in Christ's parable where the loving father said, "This, my son, was lost and is found." Now his son was not annihilated, though as far as the father was concerned, he might as well have been --- until he repented and returned.

Paul used "destroy" in a way quite differently from "annihilation":

... in order that the testing of your faith, much more valuable than perishing [being destroyed] gold, being tested through fire, may be found to praise, and honour, and glory at he revelation of Jesus Christ...

When gold goes through fire, it is not annihilated. Yet the original form of the gold ore perishes, or is destroyed, and the pure gold comes forth. So it is with our faith. When it is tested, the weak original form is destroyed, and the pure, powerful faith comes forth and we will receive praise, and honour, and glory when Jesus is revealed. As I see it His revelation is His second coming.

I think this is the kind of "destruction" that will occur for those who enter the purifying fires of Gehenna. Their old wicked self will be destroyed, and the purified individual will come forth.

[Guest]

frank peretti says that angels (good and evil) can destroy each other in his books (this present darkness and piercing the darkness).

is that authoritative?

TK

[Guest]

Dopes anyone have any scriptural basis for this idea?

Hey! Be polite! Don't call us "Dopes"
Woops!

Yeah, I meant angels being immortal. It's not really a major point I guess, but it's just one of those things I'd always assumed but never really bothered to find scriptural evidence for.

[Guest]

I'm writing a response based on what's on top of my mind now.

I think we all agree that angels are created beings. As such, it is more likely that they are not indestructible. Immortality is accorded only to God. Perhaps the question is more like what power in the universe could make angels cease to exist. A number of suggestions can be made i.e. angelic power, demonic power, natural forces, or God Himself. I'd go for the last one.

Blessings!